Syracuse Football: Elite 4-star offensive tackle from N.J. to officially visit – huge!

One of the top players in the 2025 class has locked in an official visit to Syracuse football in the late spring.

Jaelyne Matthews, a consensus four-star offensive tackle and also a top-100 national prospect in the junior cycle who hails from New Jersey, said via his X page that he will take an official visit to the ‘Cuse from May 31 to June 2.

This is a big-time development for the Orange coaching staff. The 6-foot-8, 330-pound Matthews is a standout at Toms River High School North in Toms River, N.J.

Multiple ‘Cuse coaches, including head coach Fran Brown and assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson, come from the Garden State. In fact, Brown and Robinson are long-time friends who grew up together in Camden, N.J., which is about 60 miles from Toms River.

Within their 2024 class as well as their 2025 and 2026 recruiting efforts, Orange coaches have recruited New Jersey hard, along with the Philadelphia area and the rest of the Northeast corridor.

Syracuse football has scored an official visit from four-star OT Jaelyne Matthews.

In interviews since Brown was officially introduced by SU Athletics in early December of last year as the new head coach of the Orange, Matthews has said that Brown and Robinson joining Syracuse football resulted in the 2025 player having significant interest in the ‘Cuse program.

He was first offered a scholarship by the former Orange coaching staff in April of 2022.

However, around the time that Brown officially took over on the Hill from former head coach Dino Babers, Matthews said on X, “Syracuse is now part of my top schools.”

On December 1 of 2023, Matthews said that he had a top nine of Tennessee, Georgia, Miami, Penn State, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgers, Texas and Ohio State. But then he shortly thereafter added the ‘Cuse to the mix.

It’s worth noting that Brown, before coming on board to lead Syracuse football, served as the defensive backs coach at Georgia.

Matthews had been verbally committed to Big Ten Conference member Penn State. But in mid-September of last year, he de-committed from the Nittany Lions and reopened his recruitment.

Per recruiting Web sites, Matthews has amassed more than two dozen scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs throughout his recruiting process.

When I wrote this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite ranked him at No. 98 overall, No. 11 at offensive tackle and No. 3 in New Jersey.

Over at the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, Matthews checked in at No. 154 nationally, No. 13 at offensive tackle and No. 3 in New Jersey.

Both ESPN and On3 also place Matthews within the top 100 around the country in the 2025 class.

In late January of this year, Syracuse football coaches picked up their first verbal commitment in the junior cycle.

That’s when Sharlandiin Strange, a four-star edge and a top-300 national prospect in the 2025 class out of Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pa., verbally pledged to the Orange over other finalists Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Southern California.