Messiah Hampton, one of the top wide receivers in the 2026 class, will take an official visit to Syracuse football in early June.
According to his bio on the 247Sports Web site, the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 cycle from New York state will officially visit the Orange on June 5. That's a big-time development for the 'Cuse staff, which is led by head coach and ace recruiter Fran Brown.
The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Hampton has unofficially visited the Hill in the past, and the Orange staff has also visited him at his Rochester, N.Y., high school. However, that Hampton has scheduled an official visit to Syracuse football is important as he eyes a June 13 commitment announcement, according to media reports.
On Sunday, Hampton disclosed a top seven of the Orange, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Miami. He has, or will, officially visit other schools in his top seven, and from my perspective, it was vital for 'Cuse coaches to get Hampton on the SU campus for an official visit as well before he makes his college decision known.
Syracuse football will get an official visit from 2026 4-star WR Messiah Hampton.
Hampton is a standout rising senior at James Monroe High School in Rochester. As a junior in the 2024 season, Hampton tallied 1,900 all-purpose yards and 21 total touchdowns, and he resided on the New York State Sportswriters Association's All-State first team on offense.
Big Ten Conference member Oregon, which made the 12-team College Football Playoff this past term, has some buzz for Hampton. At the time of this writing, several analyst predictions had been logged in the direction of the Ducks for Hampton via the On3 Web site.
Former Syracuse football passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Ross Douglas is now the wide receivers coach at Oregon and that program's lead recruiter for Hampton. So it would be understandable if he ended up with the Ducks.
Then again, Syracuse football, led by Brown, has recruited Hampton extremely hard for a while now, much longer than Oregon and other suitors in his top seven. Plus, the Orange program has a lot of juice these days after going 10-3 in 2024, and top-flight prospects are high on Brown, a rising star in the sport.
Hampton, a fast-rising player in the 2026 cycle, is inside the top 50 nationally, per On3, and is a top-10 wide receiver in his class. Both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking have Hampton near the top 100 across the country in the 2026 cycle.