Language Barrier & Educational Differences in Recruiting

[Cheesesteak]

Syracuse looks north for football recruits
Language barrier, educational differences can make it tough to find worthy prospects.

February 02, 2004

By Dave Rahme
Staff writer
The Post-Standard

Steve Dunlap has a tough enough time ordering a hamburger in Quebec, let alone locating Division I-A football talent.

"I've gone into McDonald's and tried to order something to eat," Dunlap said, "and they just don't understand me. I've had the girl go back and get her manager, and he can't understand me, either. Finally, it's like, 'Coke. No. 2.' "

Understand this about Dunlap, who will celebrate his 51st birthday Wednesday: He is a native of West Virginia, where he played his high school and college football and spent most of his coaching career before joining Paul Pasqualoni's staff at Syracuse University in 2001. His accent is definitely south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Yet, his responsibility as a recruiter for the Orangemen is north of the border, some of it in areas where English, with or without a Southern drawl, is a foreign language. Syracuse is located roughly 90 miles from the Canadian border, and the major cities of Toronto and Montreal lie within the "six-hour driving radius" Pasqualoni and his staff have identified as SU's main recruiting grounds.

English-speaking Toronto is OK, although as an international traveler Dunlap is often held up at the border or in the airport due to security concerns created by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Montreal and its outlying areas pose additional challenges. Dunlap says he has vacationed every year on Sparrow Lake in Ontario for the last 25 years, but that gives him no advantage in mastering Quebec.

"Montreal at night, trying to find a young man's house in rush hour when it's snowing and the name of every street is . . .," Dunlap said. "Even when they talk to me they have to spell it out. That's a real trick."

It continues when the house is finally located. "The real treat is Quebec province, once you get outside of Montreal, because of the language," Dunlap said. "Do I speak French? I took two years of it. Do I remember any of it? No. In many of the homes the kids speak better English than the parents, so you've got them acting as an interpreter."

Language is far from the only barrier. The school system in Canada differs from the United States, as students go through the equivalent of the 11th grade, then attend what amounts to a prep school for another two years. In addition to playing football at those prep schools, Canadians play summer-league football for teams such as the Windsor Ravens and Ontario Thunder. They can play more than 20 games a year in total, and the extra time in school means they are usually older by the time they are recruited.

"Most are 19, but they can be as old as 21," Dunlap said. "If a kid turns 21 his first fall in college, it costs him a year of eligibility. The first thing I ask a kid is how old he is."

Then there is the overall talent level, or lack thereof, and the enormity of the land mass Dunlap must canvass. He flies into Toronto and Montreal regularly but will also fly into Detroit and drive across to Windsor, Ontario, to recruit prospects in the western part of the province.

"The players per square acre are very few, and there is a lot of ground to cover," he said. "The real problem with Canada, though, is identifying the players."

There, he gets some help in the person of Ron Dias, a former coach at the university level in Canada who sets up a number of combines across the country in which the prospective athletes come to the recruiters instead of vice-versa.

"There may be one May 1 at Windsor University, one the next day in Hamilton, one the next day in Toronto and one the next day in Montreal," Dunlap said. "If it wasn't for him, it would be really hard."

Dunlap got caught in a scheduling bind last season, as Dias held an important combine on Dec. 1, when SU was busy preparing for its season-closing game against Notre Dame. While Dunlap was busy worrying about the Irish, recruiters from other border schools such as Michigan State, as well as those from Boston College, Connecticut, Rutgers and several Mid-American Conference schools were at the combine. They watched the players run timed 40-yard dashes and do vertical leaps, and saw them put on the pads and do some contact work.

"The evaluation process is tricky because of the competition level," Dunlap said. "In western Pennsylvania, for instance, you know what you're getting into. In Canada, you don't. A kid may look like Superman there but just another average guy in South Florida."

It is the job of Dunlap and his competitors to tell the difference. And there is a difference. For instance:

Canada native Alain Kashama (6-foot-5, 256 pounds) recently completed his career as a four-year letterman at defensive end for Michigan.

Mike Labinjo (6-1, 252) recently completed his career as a three-year starting linebacker at Michigan State, where he made 94 tackles, intercepted three passes and recorded five sacks as a senior. Teammate Ziehl Kavanaght averaged 17.9 yards on each of his 11 pass receptions. Also on the roster is Mike Gyetvai (6-7, 323), a massive freshman offensive lineman ranked by Dias as Canada's top overall prospect in 2002.

All, would have looked good in Orange, and all but Gyetvai were recruited before Dunlap began working Canada for SU. Current Canadians on the SU roster are cornerback Thomas Whitfield, who played most of the 2003 season as an extra defensive back on passing downs, and quarterback Matt Hale, who redshirted last season. Reserve cornerback Mo Sidibe did not return for the spring semester due to academics, and defensive end/linebacker Billy Wilson was forced to retire prior to the season due to injuries.

Defensive end Jonathan Pierre-Etienne and offensive lineman David Bouchard are scheduled to sign a letter of intent on Wednesday.

So far, none has had the impact of Canadian linebacker Glen Young, No. 8 on SU's career tackle list with 361; wide receiver/kick returner Pat Woodcock; or offensive lineman Jeff Pilon, players who made great contributions to the team during Pasqualoni's tenure as head coach.

It is players of that caliber who keep Dunlap and his competitors returning to Dias' combines year after year despite the hassles of international travel, a different school system and a huge land mass ruled by hockey, that produces relatively few Division I-A prospects.

When one pans out, it makes navigating those Montreal streets at rush hour in the snow worth it.