Syracuse football in top 6 for 3-star offensive lineman, misses on another

Syracuse football got one dose of good news and a second dose of unfortunate news over the July 4th holiday weekend as it pertains to three-star offensive linemen in the 2023 recruiting cycle.

We’ll start out with the less fun development. Deandre Duffus said via social media that he was committing to Maryland over other finalists including the Orange.

The 6-foot-4, 330-pound Duffus, who took an official visit to the Hill last month, attends Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory in Hollywood, Fla.

Throughout his recruitment, Duffus earned more than 20 offers from a variety of high-major programs, including Colorado, Florida, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Texas A&M, N.C. State, UCF, Temple and USF. Duffus received a ‘Cuse offer in April.

Syracuse football remains in the mix for another 2023 three-star OL.

On July 4, Naquil Betrand disclosed a top six of the Orange, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Penn State, Auburn and Georgia, which won the most recent College Football Playoff national title.

The 6-foot-7, 310-pound Betrand, a rising senior at Northeast High School in Philadelphia, gave a verbal commitment to Colorado in March, although it now appears that the Buffaloes have been eliminated from contention.

Betrand, offered by the Syracuse football coaching staff in April, made an official visit to the ‘Cuse in June as well as an unofficial visit to Central New York in May.

In a recent piece from SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister, Betrand said that he plans to trim his list to four on July 20 and commit on August 20.

Meanwhile, a third offensive lineman in the 2023 cycle, three-star Jayden Bass, is getting some buzz in the direction of the Orange on recruiting Web sites.

When I checked on Monday afternoon, there were three predictions logged between the 247Sports Web site and Rivals.com for the ‘Cuse as it pertains to the recruitment of Bass, a 6-foot-5, 295-pound prospect out of Springfield Central High School in Springfield, Mass.

Orange coaches offered Bass in early June, and he recently went on official visits to both Syracuse football and UConn.

At present, the ‘Cuse has landed seven verbal commitments in its 2023 recruiting class.