Syracuse Football: Trio of Orange to watch in the NFL Draft

With the end of the college football season teams and players begin to prepare for what is next. For several Syracuse Football players that will be the NFL.

The college football season is over and what was a nightmare year for Syracuse Football is officially being flipped to 2021. A 2020 season that saw a lot of turnover during the term and way of life impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic had several Orange opt-out with a few with sights on the NFL.

Running backs Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard opted out before the 2020 season. But the Orange lost two talented defensive backs, Andre Cisco and Trill Williams, to injury through the course of the season which lead to high-profile opt-outs and announcements of declaring for the NFL. They were joined in their NFL dreams after the season with corner Ifeatu Melifonwu, who declared on December 18.

All three defensive backs came to Syracuse and produced right away in 2018 and paved the way for talented newcomers on defense like Rob Hanna, Ja’Had Carter, Stefon Thomspon, Garrett Williams, and others.

The trio hopes to keep pushing forward with a path for future Orange NFL talents. Cisco has been on the NFL radar for a while after his first two seasons with the Orange especially after a nation-leading seven interceptions his first year on campus.

ESPN.com continues to give Cisco a second-round grade under best available for the 2021 NFL Draft. Cisco is the third-ranked safety with an 80 grade and 59th player overall.

On Tuesday Melifonwu showed up on The Athletic‘s Dane Brugler’s two-round mock draft. Brugler has Meilfonwu going 60th to the Cleveland Browns and explained the pick as:

"“There are several upgrades needed in Cleveland’s secondary, including at outside cornerback. Melifonwu has room to improve his anticipation, but he has the rare physical gifts in his length, speed and fluidity to match up against different types of NFL receivers.” – Dane Brugler, The Athletic"

This is the first instance of Melifonwu showing up in mocks as Brugler is one of the first to go past the first round. Williams and other potential Orange selections will begin to show up as we approach closer to the NFL Draft Combine and the draft itself. But the possibility of at least a pair of Orange going on Day 2 is there.