Syracuse football lands 3-star WR, Georgia transfer who loves Fran Brown

New Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown and his assistants, on Tuesday, picked up their first commitment via the NCAA’s transfer portal.

Jackson Meeks, a junior wide receiver at Southeastern Conference powerhouse Georgia, said via his X page on Tuesday that he was pledging to the ‘Cuse. He will have one year of eligibility left.

First and foremost, a huge congratulations and welcome from Orange Nation to Jackson Meeks, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound player who competed in high school for a program in Alabama. Per ESPN, in the 2023 season, Meeks caught one pass for 23 yards at Georgia. In his first two campaigns with the Bulldogs, he hauled in a combined nine passes for 109 total yards.

Georgia, which had won the last two national titles, is 12-1 so far this term, rated No. 6 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and will battle Atlantic Coast Conference champion and No. 5 Florida State (13-0) on December 30 at the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Brown, who most recently was the defensive backs coach at Georgia, was formally introduced on December 4 by SU Athletics as the next head coach of the ‘Cuse, replacing Dino Babers. On Monday, Brown was named the country’s top defensive backs coach during the 2023 stanza by 247Sports.

Georgia junior wide receiver Jackson Meeks is transferring to Syracuse football.

According to his bio on the 247Sports Web site, Meeks entered the transfer portal on December 4. He recently took an official visit to the Hill, per an article from SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister.

When I wrote this piece on Tuesday, in its national transfer rankings, Rivals.com placed Meeks at three stars and No. 425 overall.

Meeks was a three-star prospect in the 2021 class out of Central High School in Phenix City, Ala. Per recruiting services, besides Georgia, his offer sheet included schools such as Appalachian State, Liberty, Ole Miss, South Alabama, Texas State and West Virginia.

Within his class, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite ranked Meeks at No. 659 nationally, No. 102 at wide receiver and No. 26 in Alabama. Over at the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, he checked in at No. 639 overall, No. 99 at wide receiver and No. 24 in Alabama.

"In an interview with McAllister, Meeks discussed why he decided to head to the Hill, saying in part, “I picked Syracuse because I will have an opportunity to come up here and play. Come up here and make a difference. Come up here and show who I am, just help the team win. Become a winning team again. That’s mostly the reason. I trust coach Fran, I love coach Fran’s plan. Honestly he’s just one of the realest people I’ve met. I trust the process and I’m going to trust the process here.”"

Meeks was the first commitment for Syracuse football under Brown through the transfer portal. However, this past Sunday, the Orange picked up verbal commitments from three players in the 2024 class.

They are three-star defensive end/tight end Jahide Lesaine Jr. of Irvington High School in Irvington, N.J., who flipped from Kent State; three-star wide receiver Jaylan Hornsby of Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J., who flipped from Texas A&M; and four-star running back Yasin Willis of Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, N.J., who flipped from Pittsburgh.

You’ll notce that Lesaine, Hornsby and Willis are all from New Jersey. Brown grew up in Camden, N.J., and he has strong recruiting ties to that state and throughout the Northeast corridor.