Syracuse Football: Top national expert calls ‘Cuse big winner in early signing period

The early signing period for the 2024 class occurred not that long ago, and Syracuse football made a big splash with this cycle, earning high marks from national recruiting analysts.

Under head coach Fran Brown and his new staff, the Orange landed commitments from at least 18 high school seniors, including several who flipped from prior verbal commitments elsewhere, and at least seven college transfers.

Numerous of these ‘Cuse pledges are rated four stars and highly ranked in the 2024 class, both at the high school level and via the transfer portal.

For one, Syracuse football scored a huge commitment from Ohio State junior quarterback Kyle McCord, who is four stars in the transfer portal cycle and was also a former five-star prep recruit.

McCord, who had officially visited Nebraska, took a trip to Central New York shortly thereafter and then announced he would transfer from the Buckeyes to the Orange. He is the highest-rated commit for the ‘Cuse in many years.

A top expert is high on the Syracuse football 2024 class.

In recent days, Rivals.com national analyst Adam Friedman published a piece where he looked at the winners and losers from the early signing period within the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Unsurprisingly, Friedman placed the ‘Cuse in his winners’ category, writing in part, “Syracuse continued its impressive run of adding big-time prospects out of the high school ranks on National Signing Day.”

The Orange’s high school senior class currently hovers around the top 50 nationwide. While that’s not ultra-high on a national scale, it’s a marked improvement from where the ‘Cuse high school cycles have landed around the country in recent years under former head coach Dino Babers.

What’s more, at the time of this writing, multiple recruiting Web sites ranked the Syracuse football transfer class this cycle within the top 15 overall, which is mighty impressive.

And, as Brown alluded to during his press conference on National Signing Day, the Orange likely isn’t done with its 2024 class. The ‘Cuse coaching staff continues to pursue numerous high school seniors and college transfers.

Just as an example, 247Sports national analyst Brian Dohn recently reported that Tyreek Chappell, a junior cornerback at Texas A&M who is in the transfer portal, plans to visit Syracuse football in the near future.

Kevyn Humes, a four-star cornerback out of the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, recently moved from the 2025 cycle to the 2024 class, and he plans to officially visit the Orange on January 12, as reported by Friedman and others.

Additionally, 2024 four-star cornerback Marcellus Barnes Jr. from The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., has the ‘Cuse among his finalists and will make a college decision on January 6.

Barnes took an official visit to the Hill earlier this month. Syracuse football is receiving a bit of analyst buzz for him on recruiting Web sites.