3-star athlete Jaxson Gates commits to Syracuse football, a 'program on the rise'

Syracuse football has landed a second verbal pledge in its 2026 class, a three-star athlete who hails from the west coast.

Jaxson Gates, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound cornerback/free safety who visited the Hill this past weekend when the Orange defeated non-conference foe UConn at the JMA Wireless Dome, said via his X page that he has verbally committed to the 'Cuse.

First and foremost, a huge congrats and welcome from Orange Nation to Jaxson, who is a junior at Damien High School in La Verne, Calif. Per his bio on the 247Sports Web site, Gates on November 18 landed a scholarship offer from the 'Cuse staff, led by first-year head coach and ace recruiter Fran Brown.

Since taking over the program in early December of last year, Brown and his top-flight staff have continued to put a recruiting emphasis on the traditional Northeast corridor, including New York state, New Jersey, the Philadelphia region, and the Washington, D.C., to Baltimore market.

At the same time, Orange coaches have recruited other states around the country hard, such as Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas. And now, in its 2026 cycle, the 'Cuse has a verbal pledge from California.

Syracuse football scores a commitment from 3-star cornerback Jaxson Gates.

In an interview with top 247Sports analyst Mike McAllister, Gates said in part, "The biggest reason I decided to choose Cuse is because the program is on the rise. Coach Fran has done so much to the program in just one year and with him being the DB coach, I know he can develop me into the best player possible."

McAllister reports that Gates, at this stage in his recruiting process, was garnering interest from various other college programs located out west, such as California, Utah, San Diego State and UCLA.

As it pertains to the Orange's 2026 class, this past April, three-star running back and top-450 national prospect D'Antae Sheffey of Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Pa., verbally committed to Syracuse football.

When I wrote this column on Sunday evening, the 'Cuse 2026 cycle stood at No. 35 nationwide, according to Rivals.com. Over at the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, this Orange class checked in at No. 46 around the country.

Over the weekend amid the Syracuse football game against UConn, numerous high school prospects in the 2026 cycle and other recruiting classes were on the SU campus for either official or unofficial visits.