Syracuse Football: Expert says 'Cuse is ACC's biggest winner in the transfer portal

Syracuse football is the Atlantic Coast Conference's biggest winner in the transfer portal this off-season, according to an expert.

Recently, ESPN's Andrea Adelson and David Hale, who co-host the "All-ACC" program on the ACC Network, debated which conference member is the biggest winner so far via the transfer portal.

Hale went with N.C. State, while I'm pleased to say that Adelson took the Orange. To date, the 'Cuse has secured commitments this off-season from 11 college transfers, which Adelson notes is the most-ever for Syracuse football and includes several four-star players.

When I wrote this article, multiple recruiting services ranked the Orange's 2024 portal class in the top 25 around the country, and SU was No. 12 nationally on the On3 Web site at the time of this writing.

While a couple of ACC schools are rated higher in these national team transfer rankings, including Louisville, Florida State and N.C. State, Adelson says she's impressed by what 'Cuse head coach Fran Brown and his staff have done via the portal in a short period of time.

Syracuse football has put forth a strong showing with its recruiting in the transfer portal.

Brown, most recently the defensive backs coach at Georgia, was officially introduced by SU Athletics in early December as the Orange's new head coach, replacing Dino Babers. Since then, Brown and his assistants have hit the ground running with their recruiting efforts in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 classes.

Regarding the 11 pledges that the 'Cuse has secured this off-season from the transfer portal, they include several highly rated players, including Ohio State junior quarterback Kyle McCord and Texas A&M junior defensive lineman Fadil Diggs.

McCord has been one of the top quarterbacks in the most recent portal cycle, and he was also a five-star prep recruit coming out of Philadelphia a few years back. Adelson contends that McCord is arguably the biggest overall transfer "headliner" who is entering the ACC for the upcoming 2024 season.

She also notes that of the Orange's 11 transfer commits, a bunch of them hail from big-time college football programs, including Ohio State, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and LSU.

For Brown & Co., right out of the gate, to put together this kind of transfer portal class "speaks volumes" as to what the Syracuse football coaching staff is trying to do in Central New York, Adelson says.

I should add that the Orange's 2024 class at the high school level is also in the top 40 nationwide, according to various recruiting services. That is a much higher overall ranking than the 'Cuse has witnessed in recent years.