Syracuse football lands 4-star WR, has tons of analyst buzz for 4-star edge

Syracuse football landed its first verbal commitment on Sunday at the onset of the Fran Brown era as the Orange’s new head coach, and the ‘Cuse is receiving all sorts of analyst buzz for another highly rated prospect.

In a post on his X page on Sunday night, 2024 four-star wide receiver Jaylan Hornsby from New Jersey said he was verbally pledging to the Orange.

What’s more, according to recruiting Web sites, the ‘Cuse is trending big time for 2024 four-star edge KingJoseph Edwards from Georgia.

Both the 6-foot-3, 204-pound Hornsby and the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Edwards took official visits to the ‘Cuse this past weekend, and it was especially delightful to see all of Edwards’ social media posts on his visit to Central New York. Syracuse football had offered each of them a scholarship.

Hornsby and Edwards were among numerous highly rated Orange targets who made trips to the Hill over the weekend, amid Brown being introduced a week ago as the new Syracuse football head coach and various other ‘Cuse assistant coaches getting revealed through media reports and social media posts.

Syracuse football has one four-star pledge and could land another four-star commitment soon.

I had taken a look at the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site as I wrote this column on Sunday, to get a sense of where things stood in the recruiting processes of Edwards and Hornsby.

When I wrote this article, I counted at least four combined projections in the Orange’s direction for Hornsby on those three recruiting Web sites, and obviously, those prognostications were correct. For Edwards, there were at least nine combined predictions in the direction of the ‘Cuse on Sunday evening.

Hornsby had verbally committed to Texas A&M on July 1. His primary recruiter with the Aggies had been Elijah Robinson, the co-defensive coordinator and assistant head coach for Texas A&M. Robinson has been tabbed by Brown to be the Orange’s new defensive coordinator.

Hornsby is a standout senior at Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J. Both Brown and Robinson, who are long-time friends, grew up in Camden, N.J., and have extensive recruiting ties to the state of New Jersey as well as throughout the Northeast region.

"In a recent interview with Steve Wiltfong, the director of recruiting for 247Sports, Hornsby said in part, prior to announcing his verbal commitment to Syracuse football, “The thing that continues to impress me is how much Coach Fran is embedded into the players. He really cares about them and is doing everything he can to help them be successful. I know that if I choose to come to Cuse I’ll leave a better football player and a better man! The coaching staff is top of the line also!”"

Edwards is a defensive end/tight end at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Ga. A recent report from Hayes Fawcett of On3 said that Edwards’ final three are Syracuse football, Colorado and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Florida State.

Per reports, Edwards is eyeing a commitment announcement on December 19. Among his many offers is one from Georgia. Prior to officially joining the Orange a week ago, Brown served as the defensive backs coach at Georgia.

Another new ‘Cuse coach is Nick Williams, who was most recently the defensive line coach at Colorado and is now the Orange’s defensive ends coach.

"In an interview with SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister, Edwards said in part, “My relationship with coach Williams goes back three years. He is a big part of why Syracuse is one of my top schools. He basically told me he needed my skill and size. Told me he’d make me into the player I need to be to go pro.”"

Per McAllister’s piece, Edwards plans to take an official visit to Florida State beginning on December 15 before announcing his college choice a few days later.

Regarding Syracuse football, Williams added, “To be completely transparent, I like the school and the campus, but they are high on my list because of my relationships with the staff. Coach Fran, coach Williams and Robinson are what really draw me to the program.”