This article is precisely why you have to take recruiting rankings with the proverbial grain of salt.
Of course, I rely on these ratings for context in my articles about Syracuse football commits and targets, but they're also subjective in nature. Case in point, on Monday, one of the primary recruiting services updated its top 250 for the 2026 class, and a 'Cuse priority recruit experienced a huge decline.
Calvin Russell lll, a state champion at Miami Northwestern Senior High School this past term, dropped a massive 46 spots to No. 135 overall, according to Rivals.com, where he is also four stars. Yet over at 247Sports, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound wide receiver is rated five stars and in the top 25 nationally.
Think about that. Russell, who has the Orange in his top eight and will make his college decision early next month, is No. 21 via 247Sports and No. 135 per Rivals.com. That's a massive disparity.
Two other Syracuse football targets dropped a tad in the new Rivals.com 2026 rankings.
In this Rivals.com refresh, another elite 2026 four-star wide receiver, Messiah Hampton of James Monroe High School in Rochester, N.Y., fell one spot to No. 65 around the country. The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Hampton has the Orange in his top seven, will officially visit Syracuse football in the coming days and plans to make his commitment announcement later this month.
Currently, Big Ten Conference powerhouse Oregon has a heavy dose of analyst buzz in Hampton's recruitment on the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.
Four-star defensive lineman James Johnson, also of Miami Northwestern, was originally scheduled to officially visit the 'Cuse this past weekend, but he ended up making a trip to Southeastern Conference juggernaut Georgia instead.
It's not clear to me if the 6-foot-4, 280-pound Johnson, who has the Orange in his top 10, will still make an official visit to Syracuse football. Rivals.com now has him at No. 140 overall, down three placements. Over at On3, Johnson is No. 15 nationwide in his class. Against, that's a big-time gap.
At the time of this writing, the 'Cuse had at least 16 verbal pledges among rising high school seniors. The Orange's 2026 class is No. 17 nationally, per Rivals.com, although none of the team's commits are in the Rivals.com top 250.
Two of Syracuse football's 2026 verbal pledges are ranked four stars by Rivals.com. They are offensive tackle Javeion Cooper of Melbourne Central Catholic in Melbourne, Fla., and edge Kamron Wilson of Miami Southridge Senior High School.