Syracuse football 2027 five-star target Kemon Spell from the Pittsburgh area, the country's No. 1 running back in his class, is down to five schools in his recruitment. The Orange isn't on the list, unfortunately.
According to Hayes Fawcett of On3, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound Spell has a top five of Georgia, Notre Dame, Southern California, Ohio State and Miami. Notre Dame has analyst buzz for Spell on 247Sports, while Georgia is trending for him via Rivals.
NEWS: Five-Star RB Kemon Spell is down to 5 Schools, he tells me for @rivals⁰⁰The 5’10 210 RB from McKeesport, PA is ranked as the No. 1 RB in the ’27 class on all websites
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 10, 2025
Spell plans to take all of his OVs and then make a decision afterhttps://t.co/BLPkN09Fci pic.twitter.com/VJuySW30BK
Within the 2027 class, Spell is ranked as high as No. 3 overall by the industry-generated Rivals Industry Ranking. All the main recruiting services place him as the No. 1 running back in 2027.
Spell received a scholarship offer from the Orange staff in May of last year. There was talk of his visiting the Hill for the team's 2025 regular-season finale against Boston College on Saturday, Nov. 29. However, Spell wasn't able to make the trip to Central New York in late November due to extenuating circumstances, I'm told.
Syracuse football is out of the mix for 2027 5-star RB Kemon Spell.
Spell is a standout at McKeesport Area Senior High School in McKeesport, Pa., near Pittsburgh. In the 2025 season, according to MaxPreps, McKeesport went 9-4 overall and fell in the first round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association ("PIAA") Class 4A state playoffs.
Spell had given a verbal pledge to Big Ten Conference school Penn State, but when head coach James Franklin was fired on October 12, Spell de-committed from the Nittany Lions and reopened his recruitment. Franklin has since been named Virginia Tech's head coach, while Matt Campbell of Iowa State is taking over at Penn State.
While it's a bummer that the Orange is out of the running for Spell, the 'Cuse staff is off to a fast start with its 2027 class. To date, Syracuse football coaches have hauled in eight verbal pledges among high school juniors, and the Orange's 2027 cycle is No. 8 nationwide, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.
Seven of the eight verbal commits are rated three stars, while athlete Tristin Hughes from Ohio is a four-star, top-300 national prospect.