Syracuse football 2025 class vaults into top 40 nationally with two more pledges

Late Saturday night, Syracuse football received two additional pledges for its 2025 class, moving the Orange's junior cycle into the top 40 nationally.

According to posts on X, 2025 three-star offensive lineman Byron Washington and 2025 athlete/defensive back Marcus Upton have both verbally committed to the 'Cuse, giving the team at least five verbal pledges in this class.

Both the 6-foot-8, 380-pound Washington and the 6-foot, 185-pound Upton were on visits to the SU campus in recent days, per their X accounts. A huge congrats from Orange Nation to Byron and Marcus!

Washington is a junior at DeSoto High School in DeSoto, Texas. Upton attends Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J., which is the same program as Syracuse football 2024 commit Jaylan Hornsby, a three-star wide receiver who is officially signed with the ‘Cuse.

Syracuse football has bolstered its growing 2025 class.

In late December of 2023, Washington said on his X page that he had received a scholarship offer from the Orange coaching staff. Upton was offered by the 'Cuse about a month ago.

When I wrote this article on Saturday evening, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rated Washington at No. 936 nationally in the junior class, along with the No. 67 offensive tackle and the No. 132 player in Texas.

According to his bio on the 247Sports Web site, Washington's offer sheet has also included schools such as Arizona State, Duke, Houston, Oregon, TCU, Texas and UCF, among others.

Upton, a talented defensive back/wide receiver, said in a post on X that during the most recent 2023 season, he hauled in 30 catches for 611 yards and seven touchdowns. On the defensive side, Upton tallied 69 tackles, five forced fumbles, seven interceptions and one pick-six.

Besides Syracuse football, his offer list has featured Temple, Old Dominion, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Boston College, Buffalo and UConn, among others, per 247Sports.

In late January of this year, the Orange got on the board in its 2025 class when four-star edge and top-300 national prospect Sharlandiin Strange of Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pa., verbally committed to the 'Cuse over other finalists Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Southern California.

Then, last weekend, Syracuse football landed pledges from 2025 three-star wide receiver Darien Williams of the Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, and 2025 speedy defensive back Javon Lawrence of North Rockland High School in Thiells, N.Y.

At the time of this writing, the Orange's junior cycle checked in at No. 37 nationally via the On3 Web site, No. 38 overall from Rivals.com and No. 41 nationwide on the 247Sports Web site.