Syracuse football a finalist for 4-star edge from D.C. area, top-125 national player

Cortez Harris, a four-star edge and a top-125 national prospect in the 2025 class who hails from the talent-rich Washington, D.C., market, has trimmed his list of contenders to 10 schools, and Syracuse football made the cut.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound defensive end, via his X page, named a top 10 of the 'Cuse, Penn State, Tennessee, Florida, Texas A&M, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, South Carolina and Michigan.

That's quite a list. The Orange staff certainly faces stiff competition to prevail for this elite high school junior. At the same time, it's highly encouraging to see the 'Cuse make Harris' top 10.

Per an article from On3's Collin Ginnan, Harris is scheduled to officially visit both Maryland and Penn State in June. Let's see if Syracuse football coaches can get him on the Hill for an official visit as well.

When I wrote this article on Wednesday evening, On3's recruiting prediction machine had Penn State as the leader in Harris' recruitment, followed by Maryland in the No. 2 spot.

Syracuse football is a finalist for 2025 four-star edge Cortez Harris.

Harris is a standout at the Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, Md. Per his X page, he picked up a scholarship offer from the Orange staff in December of 2022.

According to recruiting services, throughout his recruiting process, Harris has received around 20 high-major offers.

Virtually all of the primary recruiting Web sites place Harris within the top 250 around the country in the 2025 cycle. Currently, 247Sports seems to be the most bullish on him, rating Harris at No. 118 overall, No. 14 at edge and No. 3 in Maryland within his class.

At the time of this writing, Harris arrived in the top 200 nationwide, the top 25 at edge and the top four in Maryland, according to both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking.

When I penned this column, Syracuse football had at least 18 verbal pledges in its 2025 cycle, a class that checked in at No. 8 nationally, per the 247Sports Composite.

One of those 'Cuse commits is four-star edge Sharlandiin Strange, who in late January of this year verbally pledged to the Orange over other finalists Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Southern California. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Strange goes to Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pa.

Additionally, as I noted earlier this week, 2025 four-star edge CJ May plans to officially visit Syracuse football from June 14 to June 16. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound May, out of Highland Home High School in Highland Home, Ala., had previously given a verbal commitment to Notre Dame but reopened his recruitment this past February.