At Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pa., they call Ryan Ehrie the gentle giant. It’s a perfect nickname for a 6-foot-7, 292-pound offensive tackle who’s generally calm, collected and knowledgeable.

But, at Freedom High School, they also know that Ehrie can turn into an angry giant very quickly. They know that, to make Ehrie’s blood bubble up like hot lava, it only takes three words:

Atlantic Coast Conference.

‘Don’t even say that,’ Ehrie said. ‘I’m sick of talking about it. I don’t care. Honestly, it pisses me off.’

Can you blame him? Thanks to the ACC, Ehrie – who committed to play at Syracuse in early 2003 – will join a program with an uncertain future. In June, the ACC extended invitations to Big East powers Miami and Virginia Tech. The two schools will join the ACC next season, leaving Syracuse and the rest of the Big East on very shaky ground.

At best, the Big East will extend invitations to two solid football schools and maintain its power-conference status. At worst, the Big East will flounder and Syracuse football will dwell in mediocrity.

Every high school football recruit in the country is deathly afraid of the second possibility, which could make it more difficult to bring top-level football talent to Syracuse. Every high school player already recruited by Syracuse – like Ehrie – is just pissed off, which could make some of those recruits back off at the last minute.

‘I’ll tell you what, Maryland called up with a scholarship offer right after the ACC thing went down,’ Ehrie said. ‘I like Syracuse, so I didn’t take it. But right now, that offer is just sitting there collecting dust. If all hell breaks loose, I’m going to take it. I don’t want to play at a program that’s in trouble.’

But what if Syracuse already fits in that category?

Ask most coaches what recruits want out of a college football program and they’ll tell you the same thing: to play top-level opponents.

Starry-eyed high school football players want to go to a college that plays Virginia Tech and Miami.

‘Kids want that more than anything,’ Rutgers recruiting coordinator Mark D’Onofrio said. ‘When you make a visit to a kid, you always bring your schedule. You want to show them, ‘Hey, you’ve got to play the best to beat the best.”

Syracuse will no longer enjoy showing recruits a schedule that boasts both Miami and Virginia Tech every year. Sure, Syracuse has several contests against Notre Dame and Penn State scheduled down the road. But losing Miami and Virginia Tech hurts.

In fact, it hurt so badly it might have cost Syracuse a backyard, blue-chip recruit. Onondaga High School running back Mike Hart, who recently broke the state rushing record, talked with Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni early in the summer. And at first, he came away impressed.

‘He was talking to me about how Syracuse would go to the ACC,’ Hart said. ‘He got me thinking about a schedule with Notre Dame, Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech, all of those teams in one year. That got me thinking that Syracuse might be a good place to go.’

Two months later, Hart found out Syracuse’s schedule wouldn’t look anything like the dream one he’d imagined. In July, Hart committed to Michigan.

‘The ACC thing definitely affected my decision,’ Hart said. ‘I don’t want to talk bad about Syracuse, because I still like the school and all, but they’re in trouble. I don’t know why any four-star recruit would want to go there with the situation they have.

‘Before, Syracuse could compete for big recruits cause it could always say, ‘If you want to play in the BCS, we’ll give you a chance every year.’ It doesn’t have that anymore. I could see Syracuse falling into the type of category of like a Conference USA Team or something. I could see it being like a Tulsa.’

So far, Syracuse hasn’t seen the sort of decline in recruiting that Hart anticipates. In July – just weeks after Miami and Virginia Tech moved to the ACC – Syracuse enjoyed oral commitment from seven solid recruits who plan to sign this February, including Ehrie.

Nonetheless, those commitments don’t become formal until February, which, according to Ehrie, has Syracuse coaches worried. After the ACC fallout, Ehrie said he heard from Syracuse coaches eager to hear him reaffirm his commitment, which he eventually did.

‘They told me that Syracuse was a great program that would still be OK,’ Ehrie said. ‘They took me through a lot of things and spent some time with me. I decided that I believe them.’

Others may not do the same.

‘A lot of kids who orally committed to Big East schools might be keeping a few other options open,’ said Dennis McCarthy, a New Jersey recruiting expert. ‘At this point, you’d be stupid not to be wary about the Big East’s future.’

Published on September 9, 2003 at 12:00 pm