Syracuse Football: SU misses out on 3-star offensive tackle in 2023 class

One of the top offensive tackles across the country, who had Syracuse football among his small group of finalists, is headed to the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.

Consensus 2023 three-star offensive lineman Naquil Betrand said on social media that he has verbally committed to Texas A&M. He had previously given a commitment to Colorado this spring but then reopened his recruitment back up.

All told, the 6-foot-7, 310-pound Betrand earned more than 20 scholarship offers throughout his recruiting process. The Orange offered him this past April, and Betrand took both an official visit and an unofficial visit to the Hill.

Not too long ago, Betrand disclosed a top six of Syracuse football, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Penn State, Auburn and Georgia, which is the defending College Football Playoff national champion.

Syracuse football didn’t land a commitment from 3-star OL Naquil Betrand.

Not too long ago, Kentucky was receiving some analyst buzz in Betrand’s recruitment on the On3 Web site. However, more recently, that buzz shifted to Texas A&M.

Immediately prior to Betrand’s commitment announcement, I counted a total of eight predictions in Texas A&M’s direction for Betrand between the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

Multiple recruiting services have Betrand ranked inside the top-900 nationally within the 2023 class. ESPN is perhaps the most bullish on him, rating Betrand as a top-40 offensive tackle in his cycle.

As a junior, Betrand attended Northeast High School in Philadelphia. However, media reports and recruiting services say that he will suit up in his senior season for the juggernaut Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, which boasts one of the top high-school football teams around the country.

It’s certainly a bummer that the ‘Cuse didn’t pick up Betrand, but the recent analyst buzz seemed to indicate that Texas A&M looked like the strongest contender to prevail for him.

At present, Syracuse football has obtained nine verbal commitments in its 2023 recruiting cycle. Among those pledges is three-star offensive lineman Jayden Bass, who committed to the Orange in mid-July.

The 6-foot-5, 295-pound Bass is a rising senior at Springfield Central High School in Springfield, Mass.

At the beginning of July, another 2023 three-star offensive lineman, Deandre Duffus, committed to Big Ten Conference member Maryland over Syracuse football and several other finalists.

The 6-foot-4, 330-pound Duffus is out of Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory in Hollywood, Fla.