3-star athlete is high on SEC and ACC schools, including Syracuse; eyes SU visit in September

Numerous teams from the mighty Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference, including Syracuse football, are standing out these days to 2028 three-star athlete Kaydan Whiteside, who will play for a high school program in North Carolina during the upcoming season.

The 5-foot-11, 165-pound Whiteside, who picked up a scholarship offer from the Orange staff this past June, has set a bunch of game-day visits this fall to various college squads, according to social media posts.

Nothing has been finalized, but Inside the Loud House has learned that Whiteside is eyeing a possible game-day visit to the 'Cuse when Syracuse hosts fellow ACC foe California on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Whiteside says on his X page that he holds around 20 Division I offers from schools such as Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Louisville, N.C. State, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia and UConn, among others.

Teams that Whiteside is high on include the Orange, Florida State, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Wake Forest, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.

Syracuse football is in the mix for 2028 three-star athlete Kaydan Whiteside.

SU assistant defensive backs coach Brandon Napoleon extended a scholarship offer to Whiteside on June 8, he said on his X page. As far as I can tell, Whiteside can play running back, wide receiver and running back.

Last year, he competed for the Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, Va. According to MaxPreps, as a sophomore in the 2025 campaign, Whiteside had seven carries for 83 yards and one score on the ground, he caught eight passes for 101 yards and two receiving touchdowns and he had 55 kickoff return yards.

On defense, per MaxPreps, he had seven solo tackles, 11 total tackles and one tackle for a loss, despite missing a bunch of games. For his junior season, Whiteside says that he has transferred to Asheville High School in Asheville, N.C.

Within the 2028 class, ESPN rates him as a three-star prospect. The industry-generated 247Sports Composite places Whiteside as three stars, No. 740 overall, No. 61 at athlete and No. 19 in North Carolina.

To date, Syracuse football has one verbal pledge in its 2028 cycle from four-star offensive tackle and top-125 national prospect Omari Lawson of the Zarephath Academy in Jacksonville, Fla. As Inside the Loud House first reported, the 6-foot-6, 275-pound Lawson is expected to take multiple game-day visits to the Orange this fall.

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