Syracuse Basketball: New 2023 target is elite forward, will attain five stars

Syracuse basketball had remained quiet with new scholarship offers to 2023 prospects as college coaches were able to begin contacting these high-school players directly starting in mid-June.

However, the Orange coaching staff has doled out a new offer to one of the best forwards across the country in the 2023 cycle. According to his Twitter page, four-star Justin Edwards has received an offer from the ‘Cuse.

We wrote in a recent column that Syracuse basketball coaches had reached out regarding the 6-foot-7 Edwards, who is a sophomore at the Imhotep Institute Charter High School in Philadelphia. Now the Orange has officially offered Edwards, who runs on the AAU circuit with the Philadelphia-based Team Final.

In recent years, Syracuse basketball has fared quite well on the recruiting trail in the Philadelphia metropolitan region, with stars such as Dion Waiters, Rakeem Christmas and Scoop Jardine suiting up for the ‘Cuse.

Syracuse basketball will face stiff competition for four-star Justin Edwards.

Although his recruiting process likely has a way to go, Edwards already has a flood of offers and interest from a range of high-major teams.

Per his bio on recruiting Web sites, media reports and Edwards’ own Twitter account, those offers include from Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland, Auburn, Miami, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Temple, Virginia Tech, Georgetown, Marquette, St. John’s, VCU, South Carolina, Washington State and Tennessee.

Edwards is also reportedly garnering interest from other squads such as Villanova, West Virginia, Michigan, UCLA, N.C. State and Arizona.

According to multiple recruiting services, Edwards is a top-40 prospect nationally in his class. Rivals.com has him at No. 21, followed by ESPN at No. 28, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite at No. 32 and 247Sports at No. 59.

When 247Sports, for example, updates its national ratings for the 2023 cycle, I imagine that Edwards will slide into the top-30 or top-40 overall.

Additionally, he is deemed a top-10 small forward by most of the main recruiting Web sites, as well as the No. 1 or the No. 2 prospect in Pennsylvania. Several national analysts of late have said that Edwards is well on his way to five-star status in the 2023 class.

The Orange hasn’t pledged a ton of scholarship offers in this cycle, but it is targeting a handful of really high-level prospects. Others in 2023 with ‘Cuse offers include five-star wing Elijah Fisher out of the Crestwood Preparatory College in Toronto, Ontario, four-star power forward G.G. Jackson with Ridge View High School in Columbia, S.C., four-star wing Matas Buzelis from the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., and four-star wing Gavin Griffiths, who attends the Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn.