Danny Odem, a four-star cornerback and a top-400 national prospect in the 2026 class from Florida, has named a top eight, and Syracuse football made the cut, according to a post on X from On3.
His top eight features some heavyweight college football programs. Besides the Orange, the list includes Oklahoma, Georgia, Penn State, Clemson, Florida, Miami and Nebraska. By the way, it's always worth pointing out that 'Cuse head coach and ace recruiter Fran Brown, before heading to the Hill, most recently served as the defensive backs coach at Georgia.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Odem attends The First Academy in Orlando, Fla. According to recruiting services, he has received more than 40 offers from a range of high-major programs. Per his X page, the Orange offered a scholarship to Odem on September 23, 2024.
Odem had been verbally committed to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school North Carolina, but on December 2 of last year, he said on social media that he was de-committing from the Tar Heels and reopening his recruitment.
Ahead of the 2025 season, UNC has a new boss of its football program in Bill Belichick, who won numerous Super Bowl titles as a long-time head coach in the NFL. I wrote about Belichick earlier this week.
Syracuse football is a contender for 2026 four-star cornerback Danny Odem.
According to some recruiting Web sites, it looks like Odem has official visits coming up soon to several suitors in his top eight. I haven't seen anything as of yet about a planned official visit to the Orange, but I'll continue to monitor this. Hopefully, Odem will officially visit the 'Cuse in the future.
When I wrote this piece, within the 2026 cycle, the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking placed Odem at No. 383 overall, No. 36 at cornerback and No. 56 in talent-rich Florida.
Speaking of Florida, as I've detailed in various columns of late, the Syracuse football coaching staff is recruiting the Sunshine State extremely hard these days. Numerous of its signees in the 2025 class, along with verbal pledges in the 2026 and 2027 cycles, hail from Florida.
At this juncture, the Orange has 16 verbal commitments among prospects who are heading into their senior seasons of high school, and the team's 2026 class is No. 10 nationally, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.
What's more, in this cycle, the 'Cuse already has five verbal pledges from players who reside in the Sunshine State. Coincidentally, Rivals.com national analyst John Garcia Jr. discussed the Orange's recruiting emphasis in Florida in this column.