Syracuse football says to 5-star WR Winston Watkins Jr. - 'come here and be a legend'

In late March, 2025 five-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. from Florida went on a trip to Syracuse football, and a top national analyst writes that it proved a "very interesting visit."

Rivals.com national recruiting director Adam Gorney, in an article on various highly ranked prospects, dished on the 5-foot-10, 172-pound Watkins, who is ranked in the top 15 nationally by that recruiting service.

Gorney, this week, wrote that Watkins "had a very interesting visit to Syracuse over the weekend where the message was for Watkins to 'come here and be a legend.' That could be a compelling case for Watkins, who backed off earlier pledges to Texas A&M and Colorado, and has done a full reset of his recruitment. ... The pitch was also to start his own way at Syracuse and to go there to create something special."

Sounds good to me. The Rivals.com national analyst noted that, besides the Orange, others involved with Watkins include Florida, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Indiana, Ohio State, Tennessee, Florida State, Texas and Oregon, among others.

Syracuse football faces steep competition for 2025 five-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr.

Throughout his recruitment, Watkins has received more than 30 scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs. The standout at the First Baptist Academy in Naples, Fla., picked up a scholarship offer from head coach Fran Brown and the Orange staff on December 26, 2023, according to Watkins' X account.

As a junior in the 2023 season, per the MaxPreps Web site, Watkins tallied 1,907 all-purpose yards. Through the air, he hauled in 61 passes for 1,170 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Within the high school junior class, Rivals.com is currently the most bullish on him, placing Watkins at No. 14 overall, No. 2 at wide receiver and No. 2 in Florida.

At the time of this writing, both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking had Watkins in the top 200 nationally, the top 25 at wide receiver and the top 30 in Florida within the 2025 cycle.

When I penned this article on Wednesday, Syracuse football had landed at least 11 verbal commitments so far in its 2025 class.

The 247Sports Composite rated this 'Cuse cycle at No. 16 around the country, as Brown and his assistants have gotten off to a terrific start with their 2025 class, while also recently adding a pledge from four-star, top-80 national prospect Demetres Samuel Jr. to kick off their 2026 cycle.