One of the top high school prospects in New Jersey within the 2026 class has disclosed his top seven, and Syracuse football is on his list.
Per his X page, 2026 three-star offensive tackle and nationally ranked player Marlen Bright unveiled a top seven of the Orange, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Illinois, Stanford and Penn State.
That's an impressive list. NFL head-coaching legend Bill Belichick is the new boss at UNC. Penn State and Tennessee made the most recent College Football Playoff. Illinois was a top-20 group in the 2024 season.
Top 7!!! pic.twitter.com/Q1LvCI0tEn
— Marlen Bright (@MarlenBright5) February 15, 2025
Listed at 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds on the 247Sports Web site, Bright is a standout at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, N.J. Orange head coach Fran Brown and several of his assistants also hail from New Jersey, and the Garden State is a heavy focus for the program on the recruiting trail.
JSZ All-Zone Non-Public Team OL Profile: Marlen Bright, DePaul Catholic 🏈
— Jersey Sports Zone (@JSZ_Sports) December 12, 2024
This towering junior left tackle protected Derek Zammit's blind side admirably all year long. Bright is a P4 recruit who has one more season left in Wayne.
Meet the rest of JSZ's All-Zone Team ⬇️
📽️:… pic.twitter.com/53txadSB17
Syracuse football is in the hunt for 2026 3-star OT Marlen Bright.
According to recruiting services, Bright has picked up more than two dozen offers from a range of high-major programs. The 'Cuse offered a scholarship to him on December 14, 2023, not long after SU Athletics officially introduced Brown as the team's next head coach.
After a great conversation with @RossDoug21 I am blessed to announce that I received an offer from Syracuse @dpfootball @CoachCamp01 @znaszimento @mcbright44 @CuseFootball pic.twitter.com/OQcfrZ2MHH
— Marlen Bright (@MarlenBright5) December 15, 2023
When I wrote this article on Saturday, there were multiple predictions in Penn State's direction for Bright between Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.
Currently, within the 2026 cycle, 247Sports places Bright as the No. 31 offensive tackle and the No. 8 prospect from New Jersey. On3 has him as the No. 32 offensive tackle and the No. 4 player in the Garden State.
At the time of this writing, in his class, the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking rated Bright at No. 601 overall, No. 39 at offensive tackle and No. 13 in New Jersey.
To date, the 'Cuse has scored at least nine verbal pledges among high school juniors, including several four-star prospects. Currently, the Orange's 2026 class ranks in the top 15 nationally via the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and Rivals.com.
Additionally, Syracuse football coaches are in hot pursuit of numerous highly ranked targets in the 2026 cycle, some of whom have recently included the 'Cuse in their list cuts and spoken quite highly of the Orange program.