Syracuse Football: ‘Cuse aiming big, gets into fray for 5-star, nation’s No. 1 safety

Faheem Delane, a five-star prospect and the country’s No. 1 safety in the 2025 class, disclosed a top five on Friday, but that didn’t stop Syracuse football coaches from offering him the next day.

The 6-foot-2, 193-pound Delane, a top-20 national prospect in the junior cycle who hails from the talent-rich Washington, D.C., market, said via his X page on Saturday that he picked up a scholarship offer from Orange head coach Fran Brown and his staff.

A day earlier, on Friday, Delane disclosed on his X page that he had a current top five of Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.

Media reports, including this one from On3, indicate that he’s looking to take official visits to these five schools before making a commitment announcement down the line. Let’s see if the ‘Cuse can emerge as a viable contender in Delane’s recruitment.

Syracuse football coaches have offered one of the top players in the 2025 cycle.

Delane is a junior at Good Counsel High School in Olney, Md., situated within the D.C. metropolitan area and also near the Baltimore region.

Lately, Orange coaches have doled out scholarship offers to numerous 2025 prospects throughout the Washington/Baltimore corridor, and certainly Delane is an elite player from this area.

In early September of this year, 247Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins published an evaluation of Delane that you can peruse under his bio on the 247Sports Web site.

Ivins wrote in part that Delane is an “aggressive back-seven defender that can cover the pass, defend the run, and get home on the blitz. Owns a college-ready frame having measured roughly 6-foot-2.5, 200 pounds summer before junior season. Quick to trigger and tends to play with tons of confidence. Has been utilized primarily as a box safety and a slot corner at the prep level and found plenty of success in both roles. Physical more times than not and always looking to deliver a blow.”

When I wrote this piece on Saturday, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rated Delane as five stars, No. 24 overall, No. 1 at safety and No. 1 in Maryland within his class.

Both 247Sports and Rivals.com place Delane as a top-20 national player in the 2025 class.

According to recruiting services, he holds more than two dozen scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs, including now Syracuse football.

I’ll start tracking Delane’s recruiting process moving forward. It may prove tough for the Orange to win out here, but as I always like to say, you can’t prevail for a highly ranked player unless you offer him first.