Syracuse Football: Defensive end transfer target sees recruitment blow up

Talented defensive lineman Jared Verse, who is transferring from Albany, has picked up a bevy of big-time offers in recent days, and Syracuse football will have a hard time winning out for the 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman.

Verse, a member of the 2019 recruiting class who attended Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg, Pa., has three years of eligibility remaining at the collegiate level.

The Orange has offered a scholarship to Verse, and he also recently took a visit to the Hill. Per his Twitter page, he has also visited Florida State, Houston and Tennessee.

In the 2021 season, FCS team Albany went just 2-9, including a 62-24 setback to the ‘Cuse inside the Carrier Dome this past September as part of the Orange’s non-conference slate.

Syracuse football has an uphill climb to win out for Albany transfer Jared Verse.

According to the Albany athletics-department Web site, Verse was named to the HERO Sports 2021 FCS freshman All-America team as well as the 2021 Colonial Athletic Association defensive first squad.

This past season, Verse was stellar on the defensive line for the Great Danes. The transfer defensive end boasted 10.5 total sacks, 53 tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss in 2021, according to Albany announcements.

At the end of November, Verse said on Twitter that he would enter into the transfer portal, and he is certainly a popular prospect. He said that Syracuse football offered him on December 5.

Verse has detailed a ton of offers on his Twitter account. Some of the more recent ones include from LSU and Oklahoma, two heavyweight programs that recently underwent head-coaching changes.

Southern California, another national brand that recently brought in a new head coach, has offered. Southeastern Conference schools such as Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri have pledged offers to Verse.

Fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squads Florida State, Miami and Virginia are in pursuit of Verse. Others that have offered him include Iowa, Connecticut, Nebraska, West Virginia, Utah, Houston, San Diego State, Purdue and Colorado.

That’s quite an extensive range of teams hoping to land Verse, who could end up making a decision soon, according to some media reports that I came across.

We’ll continue to follow Verse’s recruitment, although my expectation is that, unfortunately, he’s going to end up somewhere besides the ‘Cuse.