Leading up to his commitment announcement on Thursday evening, 2025 three-star offensive lineman Jayden Mann from New York City had a final four of Syracuse football, Rutgers, Georgia Tech and West Virginia.
And the Orange, before Mann made his college decision known, landed several analyst predictions in its direction on Rivals.com. These recruiting experts were correct in their forecast.
The 6-foot-4, 300-pound Mann, via his Instagram page, announced his verbal commitment to Syracuse football on Thursday night, giving head coach Fran Brown and his top-flight staff another talented offensive lineman within the team's sizable 2025 class.
🍊🎯
— Fran Brown (@FranBrownCuse) July 12, 2024
First and foremost, a huge congrats and welcome from 'Cuse Nation to Jayden.
Syracuse football scores a pledge from 2025 3-star offensive lineman Jayden Mann.
Brown and his assistants offered a scholarship to Mann in mid-February of this year. He officially visited all four of his finalists, including a trip to the Hill in the late spring.
Throughout his recruiting process, Mann picked up offers from teams such as Auburn, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Tennessee and West Virginia, among others.
In the upcoming 2024 season, he will be a senior at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y., which a term ago went 12-2 and captured the New York Catholic High School Football League ("CHSFL") AAA championship.
One of Mann's teammates is 2025 three-star quarterback Rich Belin, who was the 2023 MaxPreps player of the year in New York state and verbally pledged to the Orange in late June. Belin's brother, three-star defensive lineman Blake Belin, is a Syracuse football recruit in the 2025 class.
Following Mann's commitment, the 'Cuse has 28 verbal pledges in its 2025 class. When I wrote this article, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite placed this 'Cuse cycle at No. 32 nationally, while it checked in at No. 27 overall at Rivals.com.
At the time of this writing, within the 2025 class, the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking had Mann at No. 983 nationwide, No. 62 at offensive tackle and No. 7 in New York. Over at Rivals.com, he is listed as the No. 12 prospect coming from the Empire State.
ESPN, meanwhile, has Mann as the No. 47 offensive tackle and the No. 2 player in New York within the rising senior cycle.
In its large 2025 class, Syracuse football has verbal commitments from seven offensive linemen. Among the Orange's 28 pledges in this cycle, nine prospects hail from New York, a great sign as Brown and his staff recruit the Empire State, the rest of the Northeast corridor, and other states around the country hard.