Former Syracuse lacrosse midfielder Jared Fernandez headed to Hopkins

Jared Fernandez, one of the top long-stick middies for Syracuse lacrosse, will reportedly take his talents to another storied program, Johns Hopkins.

Syracuse lacrosse midfielder Jared Fernandez, a rising senior who has two years of eligibility remaining, will transfer to Johns Hopkins and suit up for its new coach, Peter Milliman.

Ty Xanders, the director of recruiting for Inside Lacrosse, broke the story about Fernandez’s decision. It’s a huge get for the Blue Jays, who are coming off a sub-par 2020 campaign.

Fernandez, a 5-foot-7 midfielder, is listed by Inside Lacrosse as the No. 1 underclass transfer. Here’s what Inside Lacrosse had to say about Fernandez in its NCAA transfer-portal rankings.

“Making up for a lack of size (5-7, 170 lbs.) with uncanny speed and ability off the ground, Fernandez was a tremendous asset as the Orange’s primary longstick on the wings of face-offs. The 2017 Power 100 recruit made an early impact as a rookie after graduating from IMG Academy (Fla.) but suffered a season-ending injury against Virginia — since then, he has played in 21 of 22 games while recording 57 groundballs and 17 caused turnovers. A playmaking Energizer bunny on film…”

One of the premier long-stick middies for the ‘Cuse during his career on the Hill, Fernandez prior to entering collegiate competition checked in as Inside Lacrosse’s No. 68 overall recruit and the No. 2 long-stick middie, per his bio on the Syracuse athletics department Web site.

Fernandez, whose hometown is in Tampa, Fla., will join a Johns Hopkins crew that went 2-4 in the 2020 term before the season got halted due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Orange, meanwhile, ended the 2020 stanza at 5-0 and rated No. 1 in the country.

In mid-April, JHU announced that its long-time head coach, Dave Pietramala, and the university had mutually agreed to part ways. Over his 20-year run with the Blue Jays, Pietramala reached the Final Four on seven occasions and captured the national title twice.

Johns Hopkins then replaced Pietramala with Milliman, the former boss at Cornell. The Big Red, by the way, finished the 2020 campaign ranked No. 2, just behind the ‘Cuse.

The Milliman era in Baltimore, with Fernandez on board, has begun in terrific fashion. For Fernandez, he moves from Syracuse, with its record 11 NCAA championships (I don’t care what the official NCAA count says), to Johns Hopkins, which has nine such titles, the second-most ever.

Not a bad pair of squads that Fernandez has surrounded himself with, and we wish him nothing but the best in his future with the Blue Jays!