Syracuse Orange News: 3-star WR nears decision, SU pursues 4-stars, Gonzaga to Pac-12

In this latest installment of Syracuse Orange news, we take a look at some Syracuse football recruits and discuss the ongoing conference realignment in collegiate athletics.

Rivals.com national analyst John Garcia Jr. notes in a recent article that 2026 three-star wide receiver Kenyon Alston from Florida is eying a possible college decision "before the end of the year."

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Alston, a junior at Bishop Moore Catholic High School in Orlando, Fla., received a scholarship offer from Syracuse football in early February of this year. Per his X page, he took a visit to the Orange this past June.

A top-500 national prospect in the 2026 class, per the composite ranking services, Alston is eyeing visits to schools such as Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, while the 'Cuse, Penn State and UCF are also contenders in his recruitment.

More Syracuse Orange tidbits to share.

Syracuse football in pursuit of four-star prospects
In a recent piece, Rivals.com national recruiting director Adam Gorney discussed two high school players with Orange recruiting ties.

One is 2026 four-star athlete Wydeek Collier out of Neumann Goretti High School in Philadelphia. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound Collier, who describes himself as a wide receiver/linebacker/edge rusher, was re-offered by the new 'Cuse staff in mid-May of this year. The following month, Collier attended a Syracuse football camp, per his X page.

Gorney writes that the main players in Collier's recruitment, these days, include Rutgers, the Orange, Penn State and West Virginia. On3 rates him in the top 150 nationally of his class.

Separately, Gorney says that several college teams, including Syracuse football, are pushing for 2026 four-star athlete Julian Peterson out of Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J. The 'Cuse staff offered the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Peterson in late July of this year.

He is rated inside the top 250 overall of his cycle, per Rivals.com. Those in hot pursuit of Peterson, per the Rivals.com national analyst, include Syracuse football, Penn State, Georgia, Missouri, Pitt and Boston College.

Conference realignment never stops
California and Stanford bolted the Pac-12 Conference to become new members of the Atlantic Coast Conference for this current season. Cal and Stanford were among many Pac-12 members to depart, but this conference is building itself back up.

Not too long ago, the Pac-12 revealed that it was adding five schools from the Mountain West Conference to join existing Pac-12 schools Oregon State and Washington State. Then, earlier this week, long-time West Coast Conference team Gonzaga accepted an invitation to move to the Pac-12 effective July 1, 2026.

Gonzaga will join the Pac-12 in all sports, although the Bulldogs don't have a football team. This means that the Pac-12 still needs to find another football-playing school to reach eight members in that sport to be considered for the lucrative College Football Playoff.

Of course, Gonzaga is a basketball powerhouse, having reached recent national championship games in the 2017 and 2021 NCAA Tournaments. I believe its decision to head to the Pac-12 is good for this school and this league.

How this pertains to the Syracuse Orange is that there have been some media reports speculating that the Pac-12 could end up pursuing Cal and Stanford in hopes of those west-coast schools maybe returning to this conference.

Before that could likely happen, if it were to transpire at all, experts say the ongoing litigation between the ACC and two of its members, Clemson and Florida State, would first have to be resolved.