Syracuse Football: 5-star college transfers and high school recruits to monitor

On Wednesday, at the start of the early signing period, Syracuse football officially signed 24 players for its 2024 class, including 18 high school seniors and six transfers.

And it’s possible that head coach Fran Brown may not be done.

Without question, the Orange’s current 2024 cycle is impressive, considering that Brown has only been on board with the ‘Cuse for a few weeks, he’s still building out his coaching staff, and the team’s 2024 national rankings are far and away higher than in other recent years on the Hill.

There’s a palpable buzz in the air regarding what Brown is doing, and the fan base is undeniably excited.

I’m totally satisfied with what Brown & Co. have done to date with their 2024 class, but if they want more highly rated prospects, that would be gravy to me.

Here are some top-flight high school prospects and transfers for Syracuse football fans to monitor.

A.J. Harris: The freshman cornerback at Georgia entered the transfer portal on December 15, according to 247Sports. As we all know, most recently, Brown was the defensive backs coach at Georgia, so I don’t need to connect the dots here.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Harris is rated as four stars and a top-15 overall prospect in national transfer rankings from recruiting services.

He attended Central High School in Phenix City, Ala. As a member of the 2023 class, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite ranked him as five stars, No. 27 nationally, No. 2 at cornerback and No. 1 in Alabama.

Evan Stewart: The 6-foot, 175-pound wide receiver is a sophomore at Texas A&M. He entered the transfer portal on December 19, per 247Sports.

Elijah Robinson, currently the interim head coach and co-defensive coordinator at Texas A&M, will soon serve as the Orange’s new defensive coordinator.

The primary recruiting Web sites, in their national transfer ratings, place Stewart as five stars, No. 2 nationwide and No. 1 at wide receiver.

As a standout at Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas, Stewart within the 2022 cycle was ranked as five stars, No. 11 overall, No. 2 at his position and No. 4 in Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite.

While the ‘Cuse has landed commitments from several high school seniors and college transfers at the wide receiver position within the squad’s 2024 class, Stewart is an elite talent.

Dominick McKinley: The 6-foot-6, 270-pound McKinley, a standout senior defensive lineman at Acadiana High School in Lafayette, La., verbally committed to Southeastern Conference school Texas A&M on September 1. Robinson has served as his primary recruiter, according to media reports.

Report have stated that McKinley isn’t likely to officially sign with Texas A&M (or any other team) during the early signing period, which concludes on Friday, Dec. 22.

As first reported by On3 senior national recruiting analyst Gerry Hamilton, the Syracuse football coaching staff did conduct an in-home visit with McKinley not too long ago.

The 247Sports Composite, when I last checked, had McKinley as five stars, No. 27 nationwide, No. 6 at defensive lineman and No. 1 in Louisiana within the 2024 class.

A few other names to keep an eye on:

•Mekhi Mews, a redshirt sophomore wide receiver/return specialist at Georgia who is in the transfer portal, recently took a visit to the ‘Cuse, and he holds a Syracuse football scholarship offer.

•Ohio University senior offensive lineman Kurt Danneker, who is in the transfer portal and has one year of collegiate eligibility left as a graduate student. He said via his X page that he picked up an Orange offer on December 19. Under his bio on the On3 Web site, Syracuse football and Rutgers have a bit of analyst buzz.

•Princeton senior offensive lineman Jalen Travis, who is in the transfer portal and has one year of eligibility remaining as a graduate student. Travis said via his X page that the Orange offered him on December 10. In national transfer rankings, 247Sports ranks him as three stars, No. 230 overall and No. 11 at offensive tackle. On the On3 Web site, the ‘Cuse and Iowa State have a little buzz.

•Naquil Betrand, on December 20, said he would enter the transfer portal. He is a freshman offensive lineman at Texas A&M, although he hasn’t played in the 2023 season and has four years of eligibility left. Betrand, who hails from Philadelphia, was recruited by Syracuse football while in high school.

•As I wrote in a column earlier this week, the ‘Cuse is trending on recruiting Web sites for 2024 four-star cornerback Marcellus Barnes Jr., who was impressed by the Orange on his recent official visit to Syracuse football. Barnes, a senior at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., was offered by the ‘Cuse on December 4. He is planning to announce his college decision on January 6, and his final three are Syracuse football, Georgia and Ole Miss.