Understand this: Life in Florida is slow. Early-bird special slow. Family cookout slow. Relaxed.

Except when it comes to football. High school recruits flow out of the state like a never-ending faucet, a tantamount to the abundance of speed and athleticism available. Mike Holmes, the sophomore Syracuse defensive back and Jacksonville, Fla., native, knows that much. He jumped into the Orange starting lineup last year after a solid – not spectacular – career at Mandarin High School.

‘I would say it was definitely good advantage playing in Florida, because the type of caliber of athletes are high coming out of there,’ Holmes said. ‘I’m not sure why exactly it is or what it is, but that’s one thing I noticed, coming from down there and then watching high school football up here.

‘Size, speed, it’s different.’

By different, of course, Holmes means better.

High school football in Florida supersedes football in most states. Florida boasts 23 of ESPN.com’s Top 150 high school football recruits for next season and competes with Texas and California for schoolboy supremacy.

Perhaps that’s why Syracuse dipped into the Sunshine State to form its secondary of the future, recruiting players forged in the hyper-competitive high school scene. Four underclassmen defensive backs, including Holmes and sophomore safety Randy McKinnon, hail from Florida.

‘Being back home,’ said McKinnon, who also grew up in Jacksonville, ‘it was a time you’re almost playing against D-I athlete every game, every Friday.’

All four have contributed this season. Holmes has started in the secondary every week. McKinnon, Holmes’ roommate, started at free safety early in the season, before Bruce Williams returned from his summer sojourn at wide receiver. Redshirt freshman Keyvn Scott started once at safety and last week at corner, the position he played at the St. Thomas Aquinas School in Ft. Lauderdale. Dorian Graham, Scott’s high school teammate a grade below, saw time against Penn State and West Virginia.

The Florida boys head to their home state Saturday, as the Orange (1-5, 0-2 Big East) take on South Florida (5-1, 0-1 Big East) at noon in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

The four underclassmen have shown their inexperience on the field – Holmes was picked on plenty earlier in the year; McKinnon was torched for a touchdown against Northeastern; Graham struggled against Penn State – but they are the future, even if they play in the present.

‘Whenever you have young guys that are getting on the field,’ Scott said, ‘that’s when you see a team rebuilding.’

But fielding all these Florida recruits begs the question: How do guys from that far down South end up in Central New York?

How, considering all the schools recruiting in the state (not just Florida, Florida State and Miami, but also growing regional powers like Central Florida and South Florida)?

How, considering the Syracuse program’s recent struggles?How, considering the nasty Central New York winter?

Easy, said Jim Salgado, the Syracuse cornerbacks and secondary coach. Salgado recruited Scott, Graham and another St. Thomas Aquinas graduate, freshman running back Jeremiah Harden.

There’s a massive pool of players to choose from, Salgado said. And Syracuse has pull, despite its recent pitfalls. Names like Donovan McNabb and Dwight Freeney still ring out.

‘This is a great school, with a great education and a lot of history and tradition,’ Salgado said. ‘And we’ve had players from down there come up here and be successful.

‘There are former players that are still down there now working, coaching and helping, and they’re always talking Syracuse.’

Olindo Mare, who graduated in 1996 and now kicks for the Seattle Seahawks, played high school football in Florida. So did All-American defensive backs like Markus Paul (class of 1988) and Kevin Abrams (class of 1996). And Donovan Darius, the former Syracuse and Jacksonville Jaguar star, mentored McKinnon and urged him northward.

McKinnon met Holmes at area recruit combines, and the two stayed in touch. They’ve lived together these past two seasons, bunkering down in their South Campus apartment most of the time.

They keep to themselves. After Syracuse’s 55-13 loss to Penn State on Sept. 13, most of the team piled onto a bus outside the Carrier Dome. Holmes and McKinnon walked past the bus, heading off by themselves instead.

The pair log hours playing video games. They got addicted to Call of Duty 3 and Rock Band during the summer. McKinnon sings. Holmes plays drums and guitar.

And Scott and Graham give them grief for it.

‘We don’t really go out,’ McKinnon said. ‘We always stay inside the house. They always mess with us cause we’re always inside the house, and they say we never come out and socialize with the team.’

That’s not exactly Scott’s speed.

‘I like to go out, have fun,’ said Scott, who earned a 4.0 grade point average during his redshirt year.

He also helped recruit Graham, his high school teammate. Graham would call during the season asking about the program, looking for advice. Scott gave him the good (the facilities, the people) and the bad (early morning conditioning).

But Graham welcomed the extra work, the 6 a.m. practices. He’s impetuous at times (‘If I see something that somebody else is doing wrong,’ Graham said, ‘even though I’m a freshman, I kind of hint at it, ‘Hey, is this right what you’re doing?’ I won’t try to attack them or anything.’). But eager to get on the field.

Playing at St. Thomas Aquinas prepared Graham and Scott for the college game. The team won the Class 5A state title last season. Their teammates now play at Auburn, Florida, Miami (Fla.) and Mississippi State.

So stepping onto the Syracuse practice field wasn’t a huge stretch.

These are the kind of players the Orange is looking to recruit. Highly motivated and used to high competition.

And trawling through Florida is a good place to find them. Salgado understands that much.

‘There’s so many of those kids and there’s an abundance down there, obviously,’ Salgado said. ‘And everyone from the country’s going down there. And those kids are leaving. They all can’t go to the same schools in Florida.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on October 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm