Syracuse Football: ‘Cuse a finalist for 4-star, top-20 national player & 3-star RB/DB

Syracuse football has made list cuts for a pair of talented 2025 prospects from Virginia.

In recent days, 2025 three-star RB/DB Jeffrey Overton Jr. and 2025 four-star edge Ari Watford included the Orange in their top 10 and top six, respectively. Both list cuts were announced on X.

The 5-foot-10, 187-pound Overton is a junior at Freedom High School in Woodbridge, Va. His top 10 consist of Syracuse football, Duke, Wake Forest, N.C. State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Virginia, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Watford attends Maury High School in Norfolk, Va. His top six includes the ‘Cuse, South Carolina, Ohio State, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Penn State.

Syracuse football remains in the running for two top-flight recruits from Virginia.

The former Orange coaching staff offered a scholarship to Overton in March of last year. The new ‘Cuse coaching staff, led by head coach Fran Brown, re-offered Overton on December 23, 2023.

In early January, Overton was named the Gatorade player of the year in Virginia for the 2023 season. A press release announcing this honor noted that, in the most recent term, Freedom High School went 14-0 and captured its second straight Class 6 state title.

Overton’s junior-year statistics were pretty remarkable. He rushed for 2,713 yards and 41 touchdowns. He hauled in 15 passes for 341 yards and three receiving scores.

On defense, Overton tallied 59 tackles and five interceptions, returning one for a touchdown. He received numerous other 2023 accolades, including being named The Washington Post’s ALL-MET offensive player of the year.

When I wrote this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite ranked Overton at No. 621 nationwide, No. 52 at running back and No. 17 in Virginia within the 2025 cycle.

Watford, meanwhile, played a key role in the 2023 stanza as Maury went 15-0 and claimed the Virginia High School League (“VHSL”) Class 5 state championship.

Last month, he was named by MaxPreps to its 2023 junior class All-America second team. Per 247Sports, Syracuse football offered a scholarship to Watford in January of 2022.

He is an elite player in the 2025 class. At the time of this writing, on a national scale, Watford checked in at No. 17 from On3, No. 19 from 247Sports, No. 20 from the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking and No. 29 from the 247Sports Composite.

Several recruiting services rate him as a top-two edge in the junior cycle, as well as the No. 1 prospect from Virginia.