Syracuse Football: Oronde Gadsden II poised for huge season, pundits say

Syracuse football star tight end/wide receiver Oronde Gadsden II was an All-ACC performer a season ago, and national experts are predicting even bigger things for him in the upcoming 2023 campaign.

To be fair, all of the national and Atlantic Coast Conference accolades that Gadsden has scored of late are preseason prognostications, so it remains to be seen how he and the rest of the Orange roster fare in the 2023 term.

That being said, Gadsden’s collection of hardware ahead of the 2023 stanza is piling up. On Monday, the preseason watch list for the 2023 Biletnikoff Award, honoring college football’s most outstanding FBS receiver, was disclosed.

Oronde Gadsden II, unsurprisingly, made the cut. The 6-foot-5, 223-pound junior who hails from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is garnering a lot of preseason buzz, and deservedly so.

Syracuse football tight end/wide receiver Oronde Gadsden II is primed for a big-time 2023 season.

In 2022, when the ‘Cuse went 7-6 overall and reached a bowl game, Gadsden shined bright as a sophomore. He hauled in 61 passes for 969 yards, an average of 15.9 yards per catch, while scoring six touchdowns through the air.

Gadsden’s total receiving yards a term ago placed him at No. 6 in the ACC and within the top 40 across the country. Last year, Oronde Gadsden II was named to the All-ACC first team as a tight end.

Last week, he received inclusion on the 2023 preseason All-ACC squad, according to the league’s preseason poll. At the end of July, both Oronde Gadsden II and senior quarterback Garrett Shrader were selected to the initial watch list of this year’s Maxwell Award, which is doled out annually to the most outstanding player in the sport.

Not too long ago, Gadsden was also named by Pro Football Focus to its preseason All-ACC first team, while noted college football expert Phil Steele placed Gadsden on his preseason All-America third unit.

This past spring, Athlon Sports named Oronde Gadsden II to its preseason All-ACC offensive first team. Additionally, he has picked up some early buzz for the 2024 NFL Draft, although obviously, this draft is far down the line.

To reiterate, once the 2023 season commences, all of this preseason chatter and hype will get thrown out the window. But if the pundits are correct in their assessments, Syracuse football fans will thoroughly enjoy what Gadsden is projected to do on the field in the coming months.