09-14-10-fo-moore.JPG

Wide receivers coach Rob Moore (left) heads up a large portion of New York City recruiting for the Orange.

(Frank Ordonez | The Post-Standard)

Much of Rob Moore's recruiting focus falls on New York City, where he's responsible for sections 1 and 9 in the five boroughs and Long Island.

So who better to dissect Syracuse's recent struggles in hauling in elite talent from the area?

The name to watch in 2014 is Lincoln High School (Brooklyn) defensive tackle Thomas Holley, a four-star prospect with scholarship offers from almost every major program in the country.

Holley falls into the elite prospect category, and Syracuse has not been landing these types of players.

Last month, I took a look at the top three New York prospects over the last four years, according to Rivals:

2013

2012

2011

2010

Holley tops Rivals' list in 2014, followed by Brooklyn wide receiver Curtis Samuel and Brooklyn defensive tackle Jay Hayes, who has verbally committed to Notre Dame.

Three decades ago, Moore left Hempstead, N.Y., for Syracuse. Today, as the wide receivers coach, he's finding it's a more difficult sell for the elite prospects from the city.

Why?

Moore partly points to the sign of the times with Generation Y, including the rise in popularity with the Madden video game franchise, MTV and ESPN.

"The things that were important to us aren't necessarily important to them," Moore said. "Now it's more about aesthetics and not really about tradition and those other things that football junkies like myself pride ourselves on. These guys are a lot more into the fantasy of football."

Syracuse, of course, will soon have even more financial flexibility with its move to the ACC. The athletic department is expected to earn an average of about $20 million in revenue per year just from the ACC's TV deal with ESPN through 2027.

A new indoor practice facility is already in the works, and it would not be a surprise to see more upgrades to the football program in the coming years. It's simply keeping up with the Joneses of college athletics, Moore said.

But ...

"Some of these places are like the Taj Mahal," he said. "You got iPod docks at their lockers. I mean, stuff that has nothing to do with football."

Moore continued: "You go to some of these schools and some of these kids just think they're too big for Syracuse. At the end of the day you have to have players that want to be here. Period. End of discussion. If you're doing us a favor, I really don't waste my time with those types of players.

"Some of these high school coaches like being recruited, too. Some of them like the fact Urban Meyer is calling them. That's a big deal to them. They have to ask themselves as coaches, is this player going to play at one of those schools? Is he going to get an opportunity to play? Is he going to play in front of his family? And the answer is no. He's not."

Syracuse has pulled in many New York prospects over the years, and several on the current roster are big contributors, such as defensive tackle Jay Bromley, wide receiver Jeremiah Kobena, defensive back Brandon Reddish and offensive lineman Ivan Foy.

In fact, Moore estimated about 90 percent of the New York players have a significant role on the team.

"A lot of these kids forget one thing," Moore said. "When you go to school, all that other stuff doesn't matter. Now you gotta go play football. Now it's about what you can do with the Xs and Os and what you can do between those white lines.

"The thing I tell kids all the time, take those kids that leave New York City and really, really evaluate how well they do. It isn't very good, I can tell you that."

Follow Nate Mink on Twitter @MinkNate or email him at nmink@syracuse.com.