Syracuse Football: Defensive tackle Maraad Watson scores freshman All-America honors

Syracuse football defensive tackle Maraad Watson scored an impressive and well-deserved honor on Friday from recruiting service and media outlet 247Sports.

The 6-foot-3, 313-pound New Jersey native has been named to the 247Sports true freshman All-America team for the 2024 regular season in an article published by national writer Chris Hummer of 247Sports and CBS Sports.

A huge congrats to Maraad on this tremendous achievement.

Watson and his Orange teammates, under the guidance of first-year head coach Fran Brown and his top-flight staff, went 9-3 overall in the regular season. The No. 21 'Cuse is preparing to face Pac-12 Conference school Washington State (8-4 overall) at the Holiday Bowl on December 27 in San Diego.

Syracuse football defensive lineman Maraad Watson is a freshman All-American.

Per a statement from SU Athletics, in the 2024 regular season, Watson started 10 contests and tallied 26 tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, a sack and a pass breakup. He also resided on the 247Sports mid-season freshman All-America team.

This is what Hummer had to say about Watson in his piece. "No true freshman defensive tackle played more snaps this season than Maraad Watson (447), who started 10 games for Syracuse. Watson showed to be a stellar run defender with his 82.4 PFF run-defense grade ranking second nationally among all qualifying true freshmen defensive tackles."

On December 20 of last year, Watson committed to the Orange. He had previously given a verbal pledge to Kent State but reopened his recruitment and took official visits to both Syracuse football and Southeastern Conference squad Tennessee.

Ultimately, Watson picked the 'Cuse over the Volunteers, a huge recruiting win for Brown and his assistants. As a member of the 2024 recruiting class, he was a three-star prospect and standout for Irvington High School in Irvington, N.J.

As a senior at Irvington, according to his bio on cuse.com, Watson in seven games tallied 72 total tackles, nine tackles for a loss, 15 sacks and two forced fumbles. In that season, he was an All-State second-team performer in New Jersey, and as we all know, the Garden State is a heavy recruiting focus for the Orange staff.

Within the 2024 cycle, several recruiting Web sites placed Watson as a top-100 defensive lineman and a top-20 prospect in New Jersey. ESPN had him as the No. 82 defensive tackle in this class.