Four-star Marcellus Barnes Jr., a top-flight cornerback in the 2024 class, plans to reveal his commitment announcement later on Saturday, and Syracuse football is one of his three finalists, along with Southeastern Conference schools Georgia and Ole Miss.
When I wrote this article on Saturday morning, there were at least five analyst predictions in the Orange’s direction for Barnes between the 247Sports Web site and the On3 Web site.
Now, this doesn’t in any way guarantee that the ‘Cuse will hear its name called when the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Barnes makes his college decision known.
Still, for a couple of weeks, the Orange has been receiving a lot of buzz in his recruiting process, and I would be at least a little surprised if the ‘Cuse doesn’t prevail for Barnes.
Syracuse football will soon find out if it has landed 2024 4-star CB Marcellus Barnes Jr.
On Saturday, beginning at 1 pm EST, Barnes will participate in the prestigious 2024 All-American Bowl, an event that is taking place in San Antonio and honors 100 All-Americans in the senior cycle.
Per an article from 247Sports national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman, Barnes is planning to make his commitment announcement during the game’s first quarter.
The new Orange coaching staff, led by head coach Fran Brown, offered a scholarship to Barnes on December 4, the same day that Brown was officially introduced by SU Athletics as the new ‘Cuse boss.
Last month, Barnes took an official visit to the Hill, and he said in multiple interviews that this trip to the Orange went extremely well.
A standout senior at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., Barnes had been verbally committed to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference team Virginia Tech, but in mid-November, he de-committed from the Hokies and reopened his recruitment.
It’s critical to mention that, according to media reports, Barnes’ lead recruiter at Georgia was Brown, who most recently served as the Bulldogs’ defensive backs coach before replacing Dino Babers at the helm of the Syracuse football program.
In an interview with Rivals.com national analyst Adam Friedman, Barnes said in part, “Syracuse is really prioritizing me and I love that. A lot of people tell me I should go where I'm wanted and I feel like coach Fran has never stopped reaching out to me or checking on me on and off the field. He’s like an uncle to me and that relationship and on and off the field is huge to me because I feel like I’m a person over a player. I know that I'll be able to really get better with my techniques and everything because coach Fran knows the ball really well.”
Both of the industry-generated rating systems, the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Industry Ranking, place Barnes in the top 350 nationally, in the top 30 at cornerback and within the top 10 in Tennessee.
On3 rates him at No. 193 overall, No. 23 at cornerback and No. 4 in Tennessee.
Within its 2024 class, Syracuse football has 18 commitments from high seniors. At the time of this writing, this Orange cycle, just in terms of high school commits, was No. 46 nationwide from the 247Sports Composite and No. 50 via Rivals.com.