It was a huge weekend for the Syracuse football staff on the recruiting trail, landing nine new commitments – including three talented offensive prospects.
Today we’re going to take a closer look at the three newest members of the Orange, who fell in love with Syracuse and its new coaching staff this past weekend in what became a historic haul. Overall, Dino Babers and his staff brought in nine recruits who were not committed to the Orange heading into the weekend, and astonishingly, by Tuesday night all nine had pledged to Syracuse.
The first player to decide his future lay in Upstate New York was a big, physical offensive lineman, Michael Clark. The 6-foot-7 offensive tackle is a former Maryland commit who had recently backed off of his pledge to the Terps before setting up a visit to Syracuse. He’s the third offensive lineman that Babers and his assistants have brought in, and the fourth road grader in the class overall, joining Airon Servais, Liam O’Sullivan, and Scott Shafer’s holdover recruit, Sam Heckel.
Servais and Heckel were both on official visits this past weekend as well, which no doubt helped in wooing Clark. It turns out that playing for the Orange was also a dream come true for Clark, who fell in love with the program after seeing the movie The Express. Clark also has offers from South Carolina, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Wake Forest, making him one of the most high profile recruits in the 2016 class.
It’s a little funny that the first two commitments from this past weekend were players most expected to take a little more time making their ultimate decisions, particularly in the case of Jo-El Shaw. The big, bruising running back from Pittsburgh was all set to visit his hometown Panthers and the expectations were that his choice would be made closer to National Signing Day, but on Saturday he let the world know he was all Orange.
At 6-foot-1, 220 pounds, Shaw will immediately be the biggest, strongest back on the team. He split carries at powerhouse Woodland Hills with Miles Sanders, the top rated running back recruit in the nation, but still managed to put up some pretty fantastic numbers. The 3-star talent was initially committed to Western Michigan but eventually decided to open things back up, and when former WMU running backs coach Mike Hart and defensive line coach Vinson Reynolds joined the staff at Syracuse, the Orange became an easier choice for Shaw.
It also helps that Shaw was born in Utica before moving to western Pennsylvania, of course. As his mother has recently said, he’s got family in Central New York, and that may have turned out to be crucial in swaying him from staying home and choosing Pitt.
Next: Syracuse Football: What a Weekend!
On Sunday, the Orange kept the recruiting momentum going, and the day was capped off by a commitment from speedy wide receiver Devin Butler. The Maryland native played quarterback and safety in high school, and was in fact initially pledged to his home-state Terps to play in the defensive backfield, but decommitted and became a high priority as a pass catcher for Babers and his staff.
The 6-foot-3 sprinter will also compete on the Syracuse track and field team, and clocks in at about a 4.43 in the 40 yard dash (his personal best in the 55 meter event is 6.57, placing him among the best in Maryland among high school sprinters). While it remains to be seen how well he’ll be able to pick up the nuances of running crisp routes, he displays good hands in coverage and outstanding elusiveness in the open field when running with the ball.
The class of 2016 is nearly full at this point, and right now the Orange are only targeting a few more players to round out the group. Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the defensive commitments from this past weekend’s mammoth success before talking about what the last few days leading up to Signing Day – February 3 – will look like.