Syracuse football hands off offer to 4-star junior, a top-5 RB in his class

I credit the Syracuse football coaching staff for not being shy about doling out scholarship offers to top-flight running backs in the 2023 recruiting cycle.

Naturally, some of my fellow Orange fans don’t believe the ‘Cuse has much of a chance to win out for these four-star and five-star prospects. But you can’t prevail in a recruiting battle unless you offer the high-school player first, right?

In any event, Syracuse football has offered consensus four-star Justice Haynes, who is one of the premier running backs across the country in the 2023 class.

The 5-foot-10 Haynes, a junior at Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Ga., recently revealed the Orange offer via his Twitter page.

Syracuse football, not too long ago, offered another stellar 2023 running back.

In early February, ‘Cuse coaches offered a scholarship to 2023 five-star running back Rueben Owens ll, who is ranked the No. 1 RB nationwide in his class, according to some recruiting services.

The 5-foot-11 Owens is out of El Campo High School in El Campo, Texas, and was named the 2021 National Junior of the Year by MaxPreps, during a season when Owens rushed for a ridiculous 2,989 yards and scored 46 rushing touchdowns.

Getting back to Haynes, according to recruiting services, he holds at least 35 scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs, including Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Southern California, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Georgia, which captured the most recent College Football Playoff national title, is Haynes’ home-state squad. So it’s understandable that this Southeastern Conference juggernaut has received some predictions for Haynes from recruiting analysts and others on the 247Sports Web site, the On3 Web site and Rivals.com.

The industry-generated 247Sports Composite rates him as the No. 45 overall prospect in 2023 and the No. 3 running back. The On3 Consensus places Haynes at No. 37 nationally and No. 3 at his position.

Rivals.com, meanwhile, appears to be the most bullish on Haynes at this juncture, ranking him at No. 18 nationwide, No. 1 at running back and No. 1 in Georgia within the 2023 class.

Similar to when I wrote about Owens, I’m sure I’ll hear from a contingent of Syracuse football fans here who will opine that the Orange has no shot at picking up Haynes.

That might prove true. But then again, it might not. And when it comes to recruiting, you can’t triumph without playing the game first, and I respect the ‘Cuse for offering both Haynes and Owens.