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DT Antonio Alfano

We've had some good players from NY over the years: Steve McGuire, Robert Bass, Vinnie Testaverde, Jim Burt.

Going way back we had all-time great Don Bosseler, who was first round draft choice of Redskins in '57 and I think a member of the CF HOF. Bosseler was from Batavia in western upstate NY.

Going back even further, I think our great RB of late '40's, early '50's, Frank Smith, was from NYC. At some point his family moved to Ft. Lauderdale, because his equally talented brother, Russell Smith, came out of Stranahan around '62 and was supposed to join Pete Banaszak and George Mira in Coach Gus' dream backfield.

Back in '90, I was living in NY and talked to our then-DL coach, Bob Karmelowicz. He was on a spring recruiting visit to NY and NJ. I questioned the value of recruiting NY and he said there was some good talent that he was going to look at. I was surprised.

I still think there is more in NJ and we used to recruit the state more heavily: Greg Mark, Danny Stubbs, Mark Caesar, Bryan Fortay (one of top two QBs in the country that year), Howard Clark, and numerous others. There were a lot of other recruits from NJ: Sean Thompson, James Lewis, that OL who played a lot on '01 team, forget his name. Then Al-Quin Muhammed; that lineman from the Hun School whose name I can't remember, and some others.

Part of that emphasis on NJ recruiting was probably because we had Tom Olivadotti on staff in early '80's. He was from Red Bank. We continued recruiting NJ after he left.

It was a NY RB who hired us in that Sugar Bowl, Derrick Lassic. Several decades earlier, the Elmira Express, Ernie Davis, did the same to us in a regular season game in the OB. Jim Brown came from Long Island.

I was at that game, probably about 1960.

So there is and had been talent from NYS.
 
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hotshot said:
I agree about NYC HS football. It sucks, and always has. We did get Stephen McGuire, and John Brockington was a great RB for Ohio State back in the day, but ... those type guys are anomalies. Jersey football is far superior.
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If you see my post about my 1990 conversation with the late Bob Karmelowicz, I had a question about the value of spending time in the NYC area. He was going to look at some kids at a school I think called Brooklyn Tech. I believe Brockington went there. Bob specifically mentioned Brockington as an example. He did think it was worth spending time there.

Bob was apparently a decent recruiter. When he was at Illinois (before Miami) he beat our super-recruiter Hubbard Alexander for two or three Chicago kids we wanted badly. Frank Hartley was one of them. I can't remember the other(s). There were stories about cheating in that recruitment which was one of JJ's first classes ('85 or '86). I know we were very disappointed in the loss of some kids we wanted badly and whom we thought we had wrapped up.
 
My mom passed when I was in boot camp.
I was 18 years old. I went home on emergency leave for one week. When I got back I had a meeting with the company commander and he offered for me to go home and come back in 6 months. I still had about 2 months left to graduate. I asked him if his wife died would the Marine Corps give him 6 months off and he said no. I told him then I’m saying too.
Everyone goes through sht in life and can’t just pick up and run back home. It’s called being an adult.
Kid is either looking for an excuse to bounce or has something else going on. Plenty of kids have family losses while away and most of them stay.
 
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pacusmc said:
My mom passed when I was in boot camp.
I was 18 years old. I went home on emergency leave for one week. When I got back I had a meeting with the company commander and he offered for me to go home and come back in 6 months. I still had about 2 months left to graduate. I asked him if his wife died would the Marine Corps give him 6 months off and he said no. I told him then I’m saying too.
Everyone goes through sht in life and can’t just pick up and run back home. It’s called being an adult.
Kid is either looking for an excuse to bounce or has something else going on. Plenty of kids have family losses while away and most of them stay.
Click to expand...

Not everyone is built the same way. I had a few very close friends, pretty much my brothers, get killed in middle school. However, being so used to seeing these things in my neighborhood. It didn't affect me. However, I don't sit around saying "ohh these sandy hook survivors are such pussies because they are crying at their friends death". I understand people are different and they all respond differently to things like this.
 
TheMatador said:
We've had some good players from NY over the years: Steve McGuire, Robert Bass, Vinnie Testaverde, Jim Burt.

Going way back we had all-time great Don Bosseler, who was first round draft choice of Redskins in '57 and I think a member of the CF HOF. Bosseler was from Batavia in western upstate NY.

Going back even further, I think our great RB of late '40's, early '50's, Frank Smith, was from NYC. At some point his family moved to Ft. Lauderdale, because his equally talented brother, Russell Smith, came out of Stranahan around '62 and was supposed to join Pete Banaszak and George Mira in Coach Gus' dream backfield.

Back in '90, I was living in NY and talked to our then-DL coach, Bob Karmelowicz. He was on a spring recruiting visit to NY and NJ. I questioned the value of recruiting NY and he said there was some good talent that he was going to look at. I was surprised.

I still think there is more in NJ and we used to recruit the state more heavily: Greg Mark, Danny Stubbs, Mark Caesar, Bryan Fortay (one of top two QBs in the country that year), Howard Clark, and numerous others. There were a lot of other recruits from NJ: Sean Thompson, James Lewis, that OL who played a lot on '01 team, forget his name. Then Al-Quin Muhammed; that lineman from the Hun School whose name I can't remember, and some others.

Part of that emphasis on NJ recruiting was probably because we had Tom Olivadotti on staff in early '80's. He was from Red Bank. We continued recruiting NJ after he left.

It was a NY RB who hired us in that Sugar Bowl, Derrick Lassic. Several decades earlier, the Elmira Express, Ernie Davis, did the same to us in a regular season game in the OB. Jim Brown came from Long Island.

I was at that game, probably about 1960.

So there is and had been talent from NYS.
Click to expand...
Looking at NYC as an entity unto itself is very different from looking at NY State as a whole .I had mentioned McGuire. Bass, I don't remember. Burt was from Buffalo and Vinnie was from Elmont, technically not NYC (by not living in NYC he got to play better competition in Nassau County on Long Island).

Some other NY State guys I know you'll recall were Nick Ryder (a great RB for UM from Haverstraw in Rockland County, NY), and Ben Rizzo (out of the Utica area, upstate). Both early-60s Canes.
 
Cribby said:
Losing my granny at 19 was the second most devastating thing to happen to me , mom being first, last year. Granny was 80 and I new she was dying and that didn’t make it any less crushing, I’d had my *** going home ASAP If id been in this kids boat.

So I don’t blame him , especially if he is as close to his peeps as I was mine.
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I met my grandmother twice in my life and when she passed I was crushed especially because my dad wouldn't let me miss a few days of school to go to her funeral so I can only imagine his pain
 
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RattlerCane305 said:
Gronk's from Greater Buffalo but he's a product of Pennsylvania HS football. They moved to Pitt basically for the sole purpose of improving his HS competition...
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While this is true, he was in Pitt only for his Senior Year, and his older bros who were also pros were all New Yawk.

I'm asking, in your opinion, is he a NY HS product -- where he was a beast for 3 years -- or Penn. where he only spent one year? In this SI piece about his High School career, his Pitt year is barely mentioned. I say he's New York's.

www.si.com

Rob Gronkowski In High School: Dominant Athlete With a ‘Level’

In the Buffalo area, Rob Gronkowski is remembered as an overpowering multisport star whose frustration level as opponents pulled out all the stops always had to be measured
www.si.com www.si.com
 
supersaiyanshel said:
While this is true, he was in Pitt only for his Senior Year, and his older bros who were also pros were all New Yawk.

I'm asking, in your opinion, is he a NY HS product -- where he was a beast for 3 years -- or Penn. where he only spent one year? In this SI piece about his High School career, his Pitt year is barely mentioned. I say he's New York's.

www.si.com

Rob Gronkowski In High School: Dominant Athlete With a ‘Level’

In the Buffalo area, Rob Gronkowski is remembered as an overpowering multisport star whose frustration level as opponents pulled out all the stops always had to be measured
www.si.com www.si.com
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I didn't know he played HS in Buffalo let alone 3 out of 4 years. With with that now being known, I have to change my stance and agree with you brother...
 
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TheMatador said:
If you see my post about my 1990 conversation with the late Bob Karmelowicz, I had a question about the value of spending time in the NYC area. He was going to look at some kids at a school I think called Brooklyn Tech. I believe Brockington went there. Bob specifically mentioned Brockington as an example. He did think it was worth spending time there.

Bob was apparently a decent recruiter. When he was at Illinois (before Miami) he beat our super-recruiter Hubbard Alexander for two or three Chicago kids we wanted badly. Frank Hartley was one of them. I can't remember the other(s). There were stories about cheating in that recruitment which was one of JJ's first classes ('85 or '86). I know we were very disappointed in the loss of some kids we wanted badly and whom we thought we had wrapped up.
Click to expand...
Miami loss Mel Agee to Illinois back in 86...he was a pretty good.player for them and became an nfl draft choice. However, all was not lost as it opened the door for UM to take Russell Maryland
 
TheMatador said:
We've had some good players from NY over the years: Steve McGuire, Robert Bass, Vinnie Testaverde, Jim Burt.

Going way back we had all-time great Don Bosseler, who was first round draft choice of Redskins in '57 and I think a member of the CF HOF. Bosseler was from Batavia in western upstate NY.

Going back even further, I think our great RB of late '40's, early '50's, Frank Smith, was from NYC. At some point his family moved to Ft. Lauderdale, because his equally talented brother, Russell Smith, came out of Stranahan around '62 and was supposed to join Pete Banaszak and George Mira in Coach Gus' dream backfield.

Back in '90, I was living in NY and talked to our then-DL coach, Bob Karmelowicz. He was on a spring recruiting visit to NY and NJ. I questioned the value of recruiting NY and he said there was some good talent that he was going to look at. I was surprised.

I still think there is more in NJ and we used to recruit the state more heavily: Greg Mark, Danny Stubbs, Mark Caesar, Bryan Fortay (one of top two QBs in the country that year), Howard Clark, and numerous others. There were a lot of other recruits from NJ: Sean Thompson, James Lewis, that OL who played a lot on '01 team, forget his name. Then Al-Quin Muhammed; that lineman from the Hun School whose name I can't remember, and some others.

Part of that emphasis on NJ recruiting was probably because we had Tom Olivadotti on staff in early '80's. He was from Red Bank. We continued recruiting NJ after he left.

It was a NY RB who hired us in that Sugar Bowl, Derrick Lassic. Several decades earlier, the Elmira Express, Ernie Davis, did the same to us in a regular season game in the OB. Jim Brown came from Long Island.

I was at that game, probably about 1960.

So there is and had been talent from NYS.
Click to expand...
I believe that OL from New Jersey you are referring to is Ed Wilkins aka "The Dump Truck". I believe he was from Plainfield, NJ. He played from 98-02 If I remember correctly. Was a key backup at guard and I believe he took over for Sherko in the middle of the 2001 season when Sherko hurt his knee.
 
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FrancisSaywer said:
I believe that OL from New Jersey you are referring to is Ed Wilkins aka "The Dump Truck". I believe he was from Plainfield, NJ. He played from 98-02 If I remember correctly. Was a key backup at guard and I believe he took over for Sherko in the middle of the 2001 season when Sherko hurt his knee.
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Did Wilkins start in the Rose Bowl? I think he did.
 
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hotshot said:
I agree about NYC HS football. It sucks, and always has. We did get Stephen McGuire, and John Brockington was a great RB for Ohio State back in the day, but ... those type guys are anomalies. Jersey football is far superior.
Click to expand...
It hasn't "always has."

Especially western NYS.
 
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