Syracuse Football: Recruiting Down the Home Stretch

Dino Babers and the Syracuse football staff will be getting back into the swing of things this week as we enter the home stretch toward National Signing Day on February 3.

For college football recruiting junkies, the last few weeks have been excruciating with things in a bit of a holding pattern due to the NCAA-mandated “dead period,” but on Thursday that comes to an end. The dead period concludes on January 13, and Babers and his staff are wasting little time getting some of their top targets on campus for official visits.

The next three weekends will be crucial for the Syracuse football program, as some high priority recruits are scheduled to make visits. For some, will be their first trips to the Hill as Babers and his staff attempt to basically double the current size of the recruiting class. Fortunately, while the dead period limited contact it didn’t eliminate it altogether, and Syracuse has been able to reach out to several exciting prospects, many of which have received scholarship offers to play for the Orange.

Right now, Syracuse has 12 players committed to play for the Orange beginning in 2016, though that could still change, as a player such as Monquavion Brinson (a 3-star cornerback out of Georgia) continues mulling his situation and trying to figure out how, or if, he fits with the new staff. At the other end of the spectrum, three of this year’s recruits – quarterback Rex Culpepper, athlete Moe Neal, and linebacker Kenneth Ruff – will actually be enrolling this week and be on campus for good this weekend.

This upcoming weekend could be a good one for the Orange in some ways, and a bad one in others. It could be good in that several talented targets are going to be on campus, and it certainly can’t hurt to have Culpepper, Neal, and Ruff, all three of whom are among the most highly regarded recruits in this year’s class, on campus at the same time to try to sell Syracuse to their potential future teammates.

It could be bad because two elite wide receiver prospects Babers is hoping to get on campus over the next few weekends, Dez Fitzpatrick and Malik Harrison, are each taking official visits to other Power 5 schools. Fitzpatrick is visiting Mississippi State and Harrison is going to Ohio State. Fitzpatrick would immediately be the gem of the class for Syracuse. He’s a 4-star wide receiver from Michigan, while Harrison is a 3-star talent from Ohio. Fitzpatrick was originally committed to Louisville before backing off of that pledge in November.

Harrison, meanwhile, is a Columbus native so swaying him from Ohio State is going to be difficult, but it’s something Syracuse has done recently, albeit in another sport with Matthew Moyer. Fortunately for the Orange, Moyer and Harrison are friends, and actually grew up playing basketball together on the AAU circuit. The 6-foot-8 power forward who will play for Jim Boeheim next season is already in his friend’s ear, trying to convince him that Syracuse is the place for him.

Fitzpatrick is currently scheduled to visit Syracuse on January 22, while Harrison is set to visit January 29. However, both could pledge to the schools they’re visiting this weekend, and that’s a reality that has Syracuse fans quite nervous.

Among the faces who will be on the Syracuse campus this weekend are Californians DeVaughn Cooper, Sean Riley, and Cedric Byrd, who all hail from Narbonne High. All three are being looked at for the wide receiver position, with Cooper and Riley being the more highly regarded players among the trio. Both are currently committed to Arizona, but have high interest in Syracuse – particularly after Arizona asked Riley to take a greyshirt.

Three players visiting this weekend will be on commitment watch, as former Bowling Green recruits Drew Beesley and Andrew Armstrong are heading to Central New York, as is Florida safety Devon Clarke. Beesley, a defensive end, and Armstrong, an outside linebacker, seem almost certain to pledge to Syracuse before this recruiting cycle is over, and both could do so by the end of this upcoming weekend. Clarke is an interesting story, and is still awaiting an offer.

If you follow Syracuse recruiting at all, you might remember Clarke’s name. He’s the 6-foot-3 safety from Osceola who tried to commit to the Orange last July, only to have the old coaching staff tell him they would not be accepting his pledge. The former Oregon State commit has remained high on Syracuse, and the fact that he was also being recruited hard by Babers and his staff at Bowling Green would indicate an offer could be forthcoming. If he does receive an offer, you can almost certainly bet on him accepting it almost immediately.

The weekend of January 22 is setting up to be an enormous one for Babers and his staff, with several high level recruits heading to town for an official visit. Among those names are 4-star running back Kentrail Moran and 3-star defensive lineman Joshua Black, who are both currently committed to Illinois but high on Syracuse, and the aforementioned Fitzpatrick (assuming he doesn’t jump on his Mississippi State offer this weekend).

Wide receiver Jerron Rollins, safety (and Bowling Green decommit) Evan Foster, and safety/linebacker Rashad Smith will all be making the trip. One name not mentioned yet but who the Orange are hoping to convince to check out campus is 4-star quarterback Devon Modster, a strong armed signal caller from Southern California who was previously committed to Arizona but is exploring his options. He seems to like Syracuse, but the distance may become a factor.

Next: Syracuse Football: Log Jam at the QB Position?

Two other names to keep an eye on for potential visits are D’Wayne (Dee) Eskridge and Kendall Coleman, two players currently committed to Western Michigan. Both players hail from Indiana, and have immediately become high priorities with the hiring of former WMU coaches Mike Hart and Vinson Reynolds. Eskridge is a speedy running back, and Coleman is a defensive end. Both players are listening to the Orange, and have recently received offers, but as of right now have not set up official visits and remain pledged to the Broncos for the time being.

There are obviously other names to monitor over the coming weeks, including running backs Jawon Hamilton and Adrian Killins. Killins is a Central Florida commit, but is visiting Syracuse at the end of the month. Hamilton is a former Miami commit whose running style and body type will remind Orange fans of Jordan Fredericks.

Finally, some of the players currently committed to Syracuse will be taking official visits over the next few weeks, perhaps none more important than Lindsey Scott, the undersized but highly regarded quarterback from Louisiana who has won basically every accolade imaginable: Mr. Football, Gatorade Player of the Year, Class 5A Offensive MVP, and MaxPreps First Team All-America. He’ll be in town on January 29, giving the staff a good opportunity to solidify his pledge with a few schools beginning to sniff around.