Amid latest 3-star pledge, Syracuse football is recruiting Florida hard, shining there

As a school entrenched in the Northeast, Syracuse football is always going to put a recruiting emphasis on New York state, New Jersey, the Philadelphia market, and the Washington, D.C., to Baltimore corridor, among other geographic areas in relative proximity to Central New York.

However, since first-year head coach Fran Brown officially took over the Orange in early December of last year, he and his top-flight staff have recruited other states around the country hard, including Florida, Texas, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee, among others.

Over the weekend, the 'Cuse landed a verbal pledge from the west coast, as 2026 three-star athlete/cornerback Jaxson Gates of Damien High School in La Verne, Calif., gave a verbal commitment to Syracuse football after visiting the program.

To me, the 'Cuse continuing to effectively recruit in the Northeast region will prove vital to the team's long-term success. But as Brown and his assistants aim to increase the Orange's awareness on a more national scale, winning on the recruiting trail in some of those other states I mentioned is critical as well.

Undeniably, the team's recruiting success in Florida, for one, has proven stellar, and Syracuse football just picked up another pledge from the Sunshine State.

Syracuse football recruiting is shining in Florida.

On Monday, 2025 three-star edge Deangelo Thompson Jr. said via his X page that he had verbally committed to the 'Cuse. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Thompson, a talented senior out of Miami Northwestern Senior High School, had been pledged to American Athletic Conference member Florida Atlantic, although that squad's head coach, Tom Herman, was let go early last week.

Per recruiting services, Thompson verbally pledged to Florida Atlantic this past July. He took an official visit to Syracuse football last weekend, as the Orange moved to 8-3 overall by defeating non-conference foe UConn by seven points.

In a separate X post, Thompson gave a shout-out to Syracuse football recruiting staff member Tommy Caporale, who focuses on Florida. Thompson says that he wants to get a pipeline of Miami high school prospects headed to the 'Cuse, and I'm all for that. There's a ton of prep talent in the Sunshine State.

As the early signing period for football prospects in the 2025 class is set to arrive on December 4, the Orange has secured at least 31 verbal commitments so far in the high school senior cycle. The 'Cuse 2025 class, currently, is No. 37 around the country, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.

Eric Thomas, a 2025 three-star defensive lineman who verbally pledged to Syracuse football in June, is teammates with Thompson at Miami Northwestern Senior High School. In late September, 2025 four-star athlete/defensive back Demetres Samuel Jr. of Heritage High School in Palm Bay, Fla., a top-150 national prospect, flipped his verbal commitment back to the 'Cuse from Florida.

As I've noted in other recent columns, the Orange has analyst buzz in the recruitment of 2025 four-star defensive back Kaylib Singleton with Oakleaf High School in Orange Park, Fla., and Syracuse football is also a significant contender for 2025 five-star edge and top-20 national prospect Javion Hilson of Cocoa High School in Cocoa, Fla.