Syracuse Football: Big boost for secondary as 4-star, top-200 national player commits

One of the top cornerbacks around the country in the 2024 class, four-star Marcellus Barnes Jr. from Tennessee, committed to Syracuse football on Saturday afternoon during the All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Barnes, who was offered a scholarship by the Orange in early December and also took an official visit to the ‘Cuse last month, picked Syracuse football over Southeastern Conference schools Georgia and Ole Miss.

First and foremost, a huge congratulations and welcome from Orange Nation to Marcellus, who becomes one of the team’s highest-rated pledges in the high school senior cycle.

Prior to announcing his commitment to the ‘Cuse, I counted at least seven predictions in the Orange’s direction for Barnes between the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

Syracuse football has scored another top-flight pledge in Marcellus Barnes Jr.

A standout senior at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., Barnes was verbally committed to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference team Virginia Tech, but in mid-November, he de-committed from the Hokies and reopened his recruitment.

He secured a scholarship offer from Syracuse football on December 4, the same day that former Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown was officially introduced by SU Athletics as the new head coach of the ‘Cuse.

Both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, at the time of this writing, placed Barnes in the top 350 nationally, in the top 30 at cornerback and within the top 10 in Tennessee.

On3, within the 2024 class, is currently the most bullish on him, ranking Barnes at No. 193 overall, No. 23 at cornerback and No. 4 in Tennessee.

With this pledge from Barnes, the Orange’s 2024 cycle now has 19 commitments from high school seniors along with pledges from 10 college transfers.

Looking ahead to next season, the ‘Cuse secondary has seen multiple defensive backs on the 2023 roster enter the transfer portal.

Veteran defensive backs expected to return to the Hill for 2024 include Justin Barron, Alijah Clark and Jayden Bellamy.

Four-star LSU cornerback transfer Duce Chestnut, a junior, recently committed to Syracuse football, where he played for two seasons prior to heading to the Tigers.

Also this off-season, three-star Buffalo sophomore safety Devin Grant and 2024 three-star defensive back/athlete Braheem Long of Camden High School in Camden, N.J., officially signed with the Orange.