Hunt signed his binding letter of intent in a gym packed with family, coaches and fellow students, but the moment served as a reminder of the pain he's endured. His father, Daryl Dockery, 56, died in Georgia due to kidney failure a day earlier. That came a year and a day after the player's mother, Katrina Hunt, 48, died of ovarian cancer.

   "I owed it to them, both of them," Hunt told The New York Daily News. "The 31st, I was a little down because that was (the anniversary of) when my mom passed away and then the next day my dad died, so it was hard. It hurts a lot, but football and basketball are the only things that get my mind off it."

   Though weak due to chemotherapy treatment, Katrina Hunt traveled to Syracuse with her son in November 2009; Terrel Hunt said she would have wanted him to pick the university.

   "I finally got to go where I wanted to go," Terrel said, "especially where my mom wanted me to go."

   LOI thoughts: It's hard not to be pleased with the fact that 30 New York seniors signed for full scholarships with football Bowl Subdivision (i.e., Division I-A) colleges this week. (Full list here.)

   That's up from 26 full rides (plus one partial) last year, 21 in 2009, 19 in 2008 and just 17 in 2007. The previous high-water mark in recent memory was 28 signings in 2004.

   That's an indication that football is on the upswing in New York, though perspective is necessary. Texas, Florida and California each boasted of more than 300 signings Wednesday. New York's haul is in the neighborhood of Maryland, Utah, Indiana, Arkansas and Wisconsin -- all with smaller populations.

   A few observations:    Syracuse remains committed to recruiting the state, locking up nine N.Y. seniors as well as a JuCo transfer and a prep-school player who attended high schools in the state. Though Doug Marrone's focus remains on the metro NYC area (somewhat under-recruited by a number of colleges for many years), he made reference to Rochester always being a part of SU's success in the past and also expressed a need to compete for players from the Buffalo area.

   UB remains committed to the in-state feeder system as well. Coach Jeff Quinn picked up five players from the Buffalo and Rochester area. Army continued a positive trend with three N.Y. commitments. As recently as three years ago, West Point scarcely knew the state had high school football teams.

   The variety of schools coming into New York to get players has improved. While it's not unusual for Rutgers or BC to come into New York to sign prospects -- each got two this year -- Illinois and Iowa looked here for late commitments, and the likes of Kansas State, UNLV and Tulane also were represented.

   looking ahead to next year, Syracuse CBA two-way lineman Ben Barrett has already said he'll attend SU. Whereas defensive end Ishaq Williams of Lincoln High in Brooklyn was this year's most pursued recruit (he signed with Notre Dame), the No. 1 hot commodity in 2012 appears to be Aquinas defensive lineman Jarron Jones. He's already been offered by several schools, including Penn State; strong performances at one or two camps this year could put him on the very short list of New Yorkers to be rated "five-star prospect" in the last decade.

   Speaking of prospects: The recognition continues to roll in for Buffalo St. Joe's quarterback Chad Kelly, who was named one of 50 Old Spice Players of the Year in an ad appearing in USA Today on Thursday.    The Old Spice program recognizes high school football players who "elevate their play and that of their teammates. The honored athlete embodies and exemplifies leadership and performance."

   Kelly would seem to fit the description. As a junior last fall, he threw for 2,159 yards and 24 TDs while also rushing for 1,057 yards and 15 scores.

   Triple threat: I'm sure this has happened before, but it still has to be very rare: Potsdam, ranked second in boys Class B by the New York State Sportswriters Association, has three active players with 1,000 points on its basketball roster.

   Zac Adams reached that level last March during the NYSPHSAA final four in Glens Falls, and Scott Bartenstein got there last week. It was John Coleman's turn on Tuesday during a 93-24 victory vs. Norwood-Norfolk. He scored 11 points to end the night at 1,001.

   "I'm pretty sure that's never happened before in Section

Road To Glens Falls boys hoops site

10," coach Steve Kmack told the Daily Courier-Observer.

   The Sandstoners (15-0) play Massena on Friday. Before the game, Bartenstein and Coleman will be presented with commemorative basketballs.

   A different sort of 1,000: Jersey City (N.J.) St. Anthony basketball coach Bob Hurley, recorded career win No. 1,000 on Wednesday with a 76-46 triumph against Jersey City (N.J.) St. Mary.

   He's the fifth U.S. boys coach to have reached that level in basketball. All-time wins leader Morgan

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Wooten won 1,274 games with DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Md.

   "It's kind of a crazy number," Hurley, 63, told The New York Daily News. "I know that I've been doing this a long time and I know we've been pretty successful because it's a pretty big number. We're obviously very proud of it. Countless people are sharing in it."

   The demands of his job as the director of recreation in Jersey City almost led Hurley to quit coaching in 2005. He retired from that position two years ago.

   "I think the retirement thing has helped a great deal," Hurley said. "All I do now is play with (my grandson, read and work out, then play more with the baby. When I get to practice, I'm always in a good mood. I'm always loose and ready to go."

   Coming soon to a school district near you: The Poughkeepsie Journal did a lengthy look over the weekend at spending by local school districts and concluded that overall school spending is up sharply over the last five years, but the percentage spent on athletics is generally going down -- often significantly.

   The most dramatic example was Hyde Park, where sports consumed $445,000 of a $63.9 million budget in 2005-06 but fell to $350,000 out of the $79.2 million plan last school year. Between cuts in state aid that already have been made and those proposed when Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his first budget plan this week, the picture isn't going to get better any time soon. Look for lots of stories along those lines to be written in the coming months; school boards typically put the finishing touches on budget proposals between mid-March and mid-April.

   History tells us that some school boards excel at playing the sports card with voters. Unable or unwilling to make tough decisions, they threaten to whack sports and other extracurriculars from the budget proposal, knowing full well that residents will go nuts and insist that they be funded.

   With less state aid likely to be coming down the pipe and a 2 percent cap proposed for tax hikes, there are a bunch of school-board meetings that I'd pay to see in the coming months.