Syracuse Orange News: New football commit, soccer win, SU watches 4-star hoops target

Let's take a spin around some Syracuse Orange sports news over the past day or so.

Syracuse football first-year head coach Fran Brown and his top-flight staff continue to add verbal pledges to their rather large 2025 recruiting cycle.

One of the latest verbal commitments comes from 2025 defensive lineman Nissi Ogbebor, who announced his pledge to the 'Cuse via his X page.

According to recruiting services and media reports, the 6-foot-6, 300-pound Ogbebor is out of St. Mark Catholic High School in Manotick, Ontario.

Per top 247Sports analyst Mike McAllister, Ogbebor visited the 'Cuse program of late when Syracuse football defeated both Georgia Tech and Holy Cross at the JMA Wireless Dome. He was offered a scholarship by the Orange staff earlier this week and then verbally committed.

In an interview with top recruiting analyst Charles Kang of The Juice Online, Ogbebor said of 'Cuse coaches, "They treated me the same as a 5-star player. They saw the potential in me that other schools didn't."

Syracuse football is now up to at least 30 verbal pledges in its 2025 cycle, a class that ranks No. 36 nationally, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.

There is more Syracuse Orange news to share.

Syracuse men's soccer notches a triumph
After falling in its two most recent matches, the Orange got back into the victory column with a 3-1 win at Albany on Tuesday night. Braedon Smith, Michael Acquah and Daniel Burko provided the trio of goals for the 'Cuse (4-4-3, 0-2-2 in the ACC).

Syracuse men's soccer will look to build off that result when the Orange hosts fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Notre Dame on Saturday, Oct. 5. This league clash is set to begin at 7 pm, with live streaming coverage provided on the ACC Network Extra.

Syracuse basketball checks in on 4-star
Amid the fall recruiting period that began about a month ago, the Orange coaching staff has conducted in-home visits and been in attendance at high school open gyms to keep tabs on various targets.

To that end, top recruiting analyst Jake Weingarten, who is the founder of Stockrisers.com, said via his X page that the 'Cuse staff was expected to be in on Wednesday for 2026 four-star shooting guard Dakari Spear, a top-40 national prospect who is a junior at The Colony High School in The Colony, Texas.

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Spear was a stock riser this spring and summer while playing at a high level for the 16U team of the Irving, Texas-based Drive Nation in Nike's EYBL league. I'll monitor things here, as it wouldn't surprise me at all if Syracuse basketball ends up offering a scholarship to Spear.

Syracuse football injury update
Brown said during his weekly radio show that redshirt junior running back Will Nixon, a transfer from Washington this off-season, is a bit banged up and "we'll miss him for a while," per a post on X from the account Cuse Sports Talk.

Naturally, we're sending positive vibes to Will. So far in the 2024 season, according to ESPN statistics, the 5-foot-11, 202-pound Nixon has carried the ball 19 times for 76 yards. Through the air, he's hauled in four receptions for 44 yards.

The Orange (3-1) heads to Las Vegas this Friday night to battle No. 25 UNLV in an enticing non-conference affair.