Syracuse Football: Orange is pushing hard for All-American 4-star WR Khalil Taylor

Syracuse football coaches have been out and about visiting with verbal pledges and recruiting targets around the country, and one prospect that the Orange appears to be putting on a full-court press for is All-American Khalil Taylor.

The 2027 four-star wide receiver and return specialist received a visit on Thursday from Syracuse football defensive assistant coach Dre Kates, I'm told. The 6-foot, 180-pound Taylor is a standout at Pine-Richland High School in Gibsonia, Pa., near Pittsburgh. He had a tremendous 2025 season, earning all kinds of awards and honors.

The Orange staff has pursued Taylor for a while, offering him a scholarship on May 30, 2004. In total, Taylor holds more than 20 offers. Miami, the national runner-up in the latest College Football Playoff, recently offered Taylor.

Taylor had been verbally pledged to Penn State but de-committed last fall and reopened his recruitment. Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin was fired and moved over to Virginia Tech. Former Iowa State boss Matt Campbell is now Penn State's new head coach.

Campbell and his staff re-offered Taylor this past December, and he plans to take an official visit to the Nittany Lions in early June of 2026. Besides the 'Cuse and Penn State, other suitors in consistent contact with Taylor include Oregon, Georgia and Nebraska, according to recruiting analysts.

Syracuse football is pushing hard for 2027 four-star wide receiver/athlete Khalil Taylor.

In 2025, Pine-Richland went 11-2 overall and reached the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League ("WPIAL") Class 5A championship game. As a junior, per MaxPreps, Taylor caught 33 passes for 571 yards with 16 touchdowns. He rushed seven times for 70 yards.

On defense, Taylor tallied 14 solo tackles, 22 total tackles, three tackles for a loss, one sack, three interceptions and four pass breakups. On special teams, he had five punts for 200 yards, seven kick-off returns for 362 yards, and 21 punt returns for 408 yards.

Spectacularly, Taylor produced 24 total touchdowns in 2025: Sixteen as a receiver, along with two interceptions returned for touchdowns, three punt-return touchdowns and three kick-off return touchdowns. Incredible.

Rivals named Taylor a first-team All-American this past season as a return specialist. According to social media posts, he was also named Class 5A All-State and the Class 5A player of the year.

Within the 2027 class, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite places Taylor at No. 65 overall, No. 14 at wide receiver and No. 4 in Pennsylvania. Over at the industry-generated Rivals Industry Ranking, he is No. 75 nationally, No. 13 at wide receiver and No. 4 in Pennsylvania.

As I first reported earlier this week, Taylor is planning to be at the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday for a Syracuse football junior day as Orange basketball hosts Notre Dame.