Syracuse football now one of top teams for 4-star, top-100 overall prospect

Jaelyne Matthews, a four-star, top-100 national prospect in the 2025 class from New Jersey, says that Syracuse football is now one of the top schools in his recruitment.

The 6-foot-7, 295-pound Matthews, a junior at Toms River High School North in Toms River, N.J., said via his X page on December 1 that he had a top nine of Tennessee, Georgia, Miami, Penn State, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgers, Texas and Ohio State.

However, in a post on X that he published on Monday, Matthews said, “Syracuse is now part of my top schools.”

Matthews is a consensus four-star offensive tackle in the 2025 cycle. Most of the primary recruiting services place him as a top-100 overall player in his class, as well as a top-15 offensive tackle and a top-three prospect coming out of New Jersey.

Syracuse football is now a top school for 2025 four-star offensive tackle Jaelyne Matthews.

According to Rivals.com, Matthews has landed more than two-dozen offers from a range of high-major programs in his recruiting process. Per 247Sports, he was offered a scholarship by the Orange in April of 2022.

He had been verbally committed to Big Ten Conference member Penn State, but in mid-September, he de-committed from the Nittany Lions and reopened his recruitment back up.

Georgia has been receiving some analyst buzz on recruiting Web sites for Matthews, however, it’s important to note that on Monday, SU Athletics officially introduced Camden, N.J., native Fran Brown as the new head coach of Syracuse football, replacing Dino Babers.

Brown, deemed as the country’s top recruiter these days, also confirmed on Monday that Elijah Robinson will be the Orange’s new defensive coordinator. Both Brown and Robinson, another top-flight recruiter, have extensive and strong recruiting ties in New Jersey and throughout the Northeast region.

While Syracuse football faces steep competition for Matthews, his decision to put Syracuse football among his top schools in the wake of Brown and Robinson joining the ‘Cuse is an encouraging sign for the Orange’s chances in Matthews’ recruitment.

As I noted in a separate column on Monday night, KingJoseph Edwards, a four-star edge and a top-250 national prospect in the 2024 class, plans to take an official visit to Syracuse football this coming weekend, and the Orange is receiving some analyst buzz for him from multiple recruiting services.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Edwards, a senior defensive end/tight end at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Ga., reportedly has a final three of the ‘Cuse, Colorado and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Florida State, per a recent report from Hayes Fawcett of On3. That article noted that Edwards is eyeing a commitment announcement on December 19.