Syracuse football, Miami standing out to 5-star WR Calvin Russell, top-15 overall player

Elite wide receiver Calvin Russell is high on Syracuse football and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference team Miami, and those league foes will do battle this Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Brian Dohn, a top national analyst with 247Sports, had an article this week about the 6-foot-5, 190-pound Russell, a five-star, top-15 national prospect in the 2026 class from Florida.

Dohn's story is a subscriber-exclusive, so I want to respect his work here. However, in a post on X, he noted two ACC programs that have Russell's attention, while "tagging" 247Sports analysts who cover Syracuse football (Mike McAllister) and Miami (Gaby Urrutia).

Based on previous media reports, Russell has visited the Orange program in the past, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's in attendance at the Dome on Saturday afternoon as the 'Cuse goes toe to toe with the No. 6 Hurricanes.

Per 247Sports, Russell holds a ridiculous 50 offers. The Orange staff, led by first-year head coach and ace recruiter Fran Brown, re-offered a scholarship to Russell on January 20 of this year. In interviews, Russell has spoken highly of his relationship with Brown and his assistants.

Syracuse football is a legit contender for 2026 five-star wide receiver Calvin Russell.

Russell is a standout junior at Miami Northwestern Senior High School, which in the 2024 season is 9-2 overall and has a Florida High School Athletic Association ("FHSAA") 3A state playoff game on Friday night.

As I've noted in various recent columns, the Orange coaching staff is recruiting the Sunshine State extremely hard these days. A few days ago, 2025 three-star edge Deangelo Thompson Jr. flipped his verbal pledge from Florida Atlantic to Syracuse football.

Thompson also attends Northwestern Senior High School. So does 2025 three-star defensive lineman Eric Thomas, who verbally committed to Syracuse football in June.

Additionally, earlier this week, 2025 four-star defensive back Kaylib Singleton flipped from Rutgers to the Orange. He is a senior at Oakleaf High School in Orange Park, Fla., near Jacksonville.

Getting back to Russell, naturally, Miami will prove tough to beat. The Hurricanes are a hometown squad for him, and Miami is obviously having a great 2024 season. Then again, the 'Cuse staff is clearly putting in the work for this talented young man.

If Syracuse football were to ultimately land a pledge from Russell, it would be a game-changer. At the time of this writing, he was a five-star prospect, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite. Russell is No. 14 overall, per 247Sports.

The 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, within the 2026 class, have him in the top 20 nationally and in the top three at wide receiver.