Syracuse Football: Fran Brown may have hinted at potential Oronde Gadsden return

Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown may have hinted as a possible return by star receiver Oronde Gadsden II for another season on the Hill.

Only time will tell, of course. The deadline for underclassmen in college football to declare for the NFL Draft is January 15 of next year.

To date, I haven’t seen any official announcements by the 6-foot-5, 223-pound Gadsden one way or another. The junior from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., missed most of the 2023 season after suffering a Lisfranc injury during the Orange’s home win over Western Michigan in September.

Ahead of the 2023 term, Gadsden earned a flood of preseason accolades. Some national pundits viewed him as a significant contender for All-America honors after being named an All-ACC first-team performer in 2022 when he caught 61 passes for 969 yards and scored six touchdowns through the air.

Brown, in his press conference this past Wednesday at the onset of the early signing period for the 2024 cycle, had a little nugget about one of the team’s high-school senior commits where he briefly brought up Gadsden.

It would be huge for Syracuse football if Oronde Gadsden II came back for another year.

In his presser, Brown discussed 2024 four-star tight end/wide receiver Jamie Tremble, a standout senior at The Wesleyan School in Peachtree Corners, Ga.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Tremble, who in recent days jumped into the top 200 nationally in his class per 247Sports, was one of 18 high school seniors to officially sign with the Orange this past Wednesday.

There was some chatter among recruiting analysts that Tremble may not sign with the ‘Cuse during the early signing period, and that he could look to take some visits to other suitors in the near future.

That didn’t transpire, as Tremble signed on the dotted line to play for Brown beginning with the 2024 season, a major recruiting win for the new Syracuse football staff.

In discussing Tremble, Brown said that Tremble would get a chance to learn under Gadsden.

Does that signal that Gadsden is returning to the Orange for another year? Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll know more in the coming weeks.

At the time of this writing, under his bio on nfldraftbuzz.com, Gadsden was listed at No. 202 overall and No. 11 at his position.

I would totally understand if Oronde opted to head to the professional ranks, but selfishly, I’d love to see him don a Syracuse football uniform for one more term.