Syracuse football ‘something special in the making,’ says 5-star who visited

KJ Bolden, a 2024 five-star safety from Georgia who is a consensus top-20 national prospect in the senior class, was among numerous highly rated prospects who took official visits to Syracuse football this past weekend.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Bolden, who verbally pledged to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Florida State in early August, is a standout senior at Buford High School in Buford, Ga., near Atlanta.

He holds more than 40 scholarship offers, including from the ‘Cuse. Bolden’s full offer sheet includes college groups such as Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, Arkansas, Boston College, Colorado, Duke, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Southern California and West Virginia, among others.

It’s worth noting here that the new Syracuse football coaching staff includes head coach Fran Brown, defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson and defensive ends coach Nick Williams. Most recently, Brown was the defensive backs coach at Georgia, Williams was the defensive line coach at Colorado, and Robinson is currently the interim head coach and co-defensive coordinator at Texas A&M.

Five-star safety KJ Bolden, a top prospect in the 2024 class, discusses Syracuse football after visiting.

According to his bio on the 247Sports Web site, Bolden is scheduled to officially visit Florida State on December 15. Per his X page, over the last week or so, Bolden has also conducted in-home visits with the Seminoles, Auburn and Georgia.

"In an interview with top national analyst Steve Wiltfong, the director of recruiting for 247Sports, Bolden said in part, “Syracuse has something special in the making and Coach Fran is the one that will have Syracuse in playoff talks in years to come.”"

He added on new Orange head coach Brown, “I’m always impressed with how Coach Fran is a family man, man of god and just a great leader. Coach Fran is a great recruiter and one that is going to always be upfront about everything.”

I haven’t come across any comments from national recruiting analysts that, at present, suggest the ‘Cuse is likely to flip Bolden, although his praise of Brown and the direction of the Syracuse football program are encouraging to hear.

Bolden is friends with 2024 four-star edge KingJoseph Edwards, who also went on an official visit to the Orange over the weekend. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Edwards, who was offered by the ‘Cuse on December 4, is a senior at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Ga.

As I’ve noted in a couple of recent articles, several predictions have been logged in the direction of Syracuse football for Edwards between the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

Bolden is an elite player in the 2024 cycle. All of the main recruiting services rank him as five stars, a top-16 national prospect, the No. 1 safety and a top-four player in Georgia within the senior class.

On Sunday night, Brown and his assistants landed their first verbal pledge since the new staff took over on the Hill, and it came from 2024 four-star wide receiver Jaylan Hornsby, who was also on an official visit to the Orange last weekend. He revealed his verbal commitment to Syracuse football via his X page.

The 6-foot-3, 204-pound Hornsby, who had previously been verbally pledged to Texas A&M, goes to Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J.