Syracuse Orange faces challenges, can compete on NIL in ACC – experts
By Neil Adler
Syracuse basketball recently landed two key transfers
Syracuse basketball senior center Jesse Edwards, a few days ago, committed to West Virginia after entering the NCAA’s transfer portal last week. Since that news broke, there have been rumors swirling around social media that perhaps Edwards was offered a large NIL deal by those supporting West Virginia’s NIL efforts, whether through a collective or another channel.
DeSorbo and Bristol declined to comment on Edwards, but generally speaking, they said if the 315 Foundation is able to increase its NIL capacity for Syracuse Orange student-athletes, that could help in retaining ‘Cuse players.
While Syracuse basketball saw Edwards head to the Big 12 Conference, and several other players on the 2022-23 roster are also in the NCAA’s transfer portal, the Orange got a commitment from Auburn transfer Chance Westry earlier this week.
Last month, Central New York native J.J. Starling said he would transfer from Notre Dame to the ‘Cuse. Westry and Starling, each a freshman guard, are former long-time recruiting targets of Syracuse basketball coaches in the 2022 recruiting cycle.
The 315 Foundation co-founders say that once Westry and Starling have enrolled at Syracuse University, the 315 Foundation will have NIL opportunities for them. DeSorbo and Bristol also believe that local businesses will have further NIL opportunities for these two new Orange commits outside of the 315 Foundation.
I think it’s important to note here that even with Weitsman out of the NIL game, new Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry and his terrific staff were able to land two excellent guards out of the transfer portal, and that’s encouraging.
In the 2022 class, Starling was a five-star, top-25 player. Westry, who didn’t play much in his freshman term at Auburn due to injury, was a four-star, top-40 prospect in the 2022 cycle. These are stellar recruiting wins for Autry and his assistants.