SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Bill Parcells was in town. It made headlines on local radio, and the buzz filtered to local businesses.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and two-time Super Bowl champion, and the one who brought Bill Belichick through the NFL coaching ranks, spends plenty of time in this summer oasis in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, a few hundred miles from the hustle and bustle of New York City.
This is a horse racing town — a summer horse racing town — in which the draw is Saratoga Race Course. During the 10-week summer schedule that runs roughly from the July 4 weekend to Labor Day, the town swells from its 28,000 or so residents to north of 100,000.
It is also New York Football Giants territory, which adds to Parcells’ mystique as a racehorse owner and known horseman. He is the identifiable link to football in the area, but a challenger is emerging for the title.
This is home to Cam Toomey. He is not just the top player in New York’s 2028 class. He is one of the top players in the nation. And in this Big Apple escape, he is the apple of many coaches’ eyes in the recruiting game. But it took time to find him in the foothills of the camping and fishing mecca known as the Adirondack Mountains.
Cal, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Kentucky, Auburn, Florida State, Vanderbilt, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Maryland offered him in the past seven weeks. His offer list also features Boston College, Syracuse, Alabama, UConn and Buffalo.
It is a rarity, to say the least.
“It’s awesome, but it’s also really busy, especially for my family to go all over the country,” said Toomey, who is the No. 7 edge rusher and No. 64 player in the 2028 class. “I am just taking it all in, and it’s a blessing because I know nobody from my area gets recruited. So, this is really special to me — and my town, too.”
Until this class, the “nobody from my area gets recruited” is not hyperbole.
