Syracuse football eyes bolstering offensive line as 4-star, 3-star transfers to visit

Following the team's annual spring game earlier this month at the JMA Wireless Dome, the chatter was that the Syracuse football offensive line has some work to do as the Orange looks to summer workouts and then preseason camp ahead of the 2025 campaign.

Amid the spring transfer portal window in college football closing on April 25, several offensive linemen from the 'Cuse 2024 roster have decided to go into the portal, while the Orange staff displays an interest in other transfer OLs who are leaving their current squads.

Some of these transfer offensive linemen, rated either three or four stars, are visiting Syracuse football, according to media reports and posts on X from recruiting analysts or the players themselves.

For one, on Thursday, three-star transfer offensive tackle Orion Irving was visiting the 'Cuse, as top 247Sports analyst Mike McAllister noted via his X page. The 6-foot-6, 310-pound Irving, in the 2025 season, will be a redshirt junior. He currently attends Sam Houston State out of Conference USA.

Syracuse football appears to be focused on beefing up its offensive line.

As I noted in another column, visiting Syracuse football earlier this week was three-star transfer offensive lineman Jaelyne Matthews, who enrolled at Big Ten Conference school Rutgers this past January before heading to the portal this spring.

The 6-foot-6, 340-pound Matthews was a four-star prospect in the 2025 class who held a scholarship offer from the Orange while suiting up for Toms River High School North in Toms River, N.J.

In recent days, the 'Cuse did land a pledge from offensive lineman Austin Collins, a three-star transfer from fellow Atlantic Coast Conference group Louisville who will have one season of college eligibility remaining as a graduate student in 2025. Collins is listed at 6-foot-3 and 295 pounds.

According to multiple reports on X from recruiting analysts, transfer offensive lineman TJ Ferguson is planning to visit Syracuse football this Sunday through Tuesday. The 6-foot-4, 328-pound Ferguson has been playing for ACC school Florida State and will be a redshirt senior in the 2025 stanza.

When I wrote this article, in its national transfer rankings, 247Sports had Ferguson as four stars, No. 146 overall and No. 14 at interior offensive lineman.

Matt Zenitz, a national reporter with 247Sports and CBS Sports, says on X that this coming Sunday to Tuesday, three-star offensive tackle Kam Pringle will also visit the Orange. The 6-foot-8, 336-pound Pringle, a rising redshirt freshman at Southeastern Conference member South Carolina, is No. 215 overall and No. 25 at offensive tackle in national transfer rankings from 247Sports.

About a week ago, Zenitz said on X that Penn State redshirt senior offensive lineman JB Nelson, a three-star transfer, was looking at possible visits to schools such as Syracuse football, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Maryland.

Finally, a few days ago, the Orange staff offered a scholarship to North Carolina sophomore offensive lineman Zach Rice, a three-star transfer prospect, he revealed on his X page.