A Potential Recruit Gives Syracuse Football Hope

Very nice article from ESPN Insider about a D-line recruit looking at Syracuse. Enjoy.

Goggins impressed with Syracuse
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Posted by Greg Biggins

Defensive lineman Deon Goggins (Norwalk, Calif./Cerritos JC) has become a hot commodity out West. The tackle prospect took an official visit to Syracuse last weekend and raved about his time back East.

Goggins is an intriguing player and a very athletic defensive tackle. He was a 265-pound running back in high school before adding 20 pounds and moving to the defensive line.
Even with the added weight, Goggins is still very quick and explosive and his recruitment has taken a nice bump after his YouTube video started making the rounds. He took his first visit to Baylor and checked out the Orangemen this past weekend.

"I went in to the Syracuse trip and didn't really have big expectations but it blew me away," Goggins said. "There was so much about Syracuse I didn't know about it. Everyone knows about Jim Brown and the Express but they have great tradition there and have had a lot of great players come through the program.

"They have the No. 1 communications program in the nation, which makes sense since it's right there in New York. When it comes to TV, film, basically anything media related, you want to be in California or New York and that's what area I want to go in to so it was great to see all that up close."

Goggins was also impressed with the coaching staff and spent a lot of time with the defensive staff.

"I love the coaching staff and really connected with all the guys. Coach (Jimmy) Brumbaugh is the defensive line coach and he's an awesome guy. He's real big on technique and loves to teach. I love to learn and he would be a great guy to learn from.

"I also talked with coach (Scott) Schafer a lot, the defensive coordinator, and he's hard-nosed and serious about football and I love him. Coach (Doug) Marrone is going to build something special and you can tell how much love he has for the school. He played at Syracuse, so he has a lot of passion for the school and I know he'll be there for a long time.

"I just loved how much passion everyone at the school has for Syracuse. They have that Orange Spirit there, you can feel it. Even on my plane ride over there, someone asked me if I was Deon Goggins and knew all about football recruiting and told me how much they need me at Syracuse, I was really impressed with everything I saw and I know I would fit in very well there."
Goggins returned home on Sunday and got a call from Washington State and they immediately set up a home visit for Monday.

"Coach (Paul) Wulf came in and they offered me a scholarship," Goggins said. "I set up a visit there for this coming weekend. This is my first Pac-10 offer, so that was pretty exciting and I'm looking forward to learning as much as I can about the program.

"Coach (Todd) Howard at UCLA is talking to me regularly too and I just sent them my transcripts this week. It sounds like as long as everything checks out OK, they're going to offer me as well. So right now, things are good and I'm excited to have some great options. I have two visits left to take after Washington State and I would love to take all of them before I make a commitment anywhere."



Fantastic. Love how they called us the Orangemen too.