Syracuse Football: Recruitment of 5-star edge Javion Hilson 'very fluid,' per analyst

Syracuse football already has a large 2025 class, with the early signing period fast approaching. However, the Orange staff, led by first-year head coach and ace recruiter Fran Brown, still remains in pursuit of some top-flight prospects in the high school senior cycle.

The headliner, as we've frequently discussed of late, is 2025 five-star edge Javion Hilson from the Sunshine State, who took an official visit to the Hill in early November and plans to make his college decision known on December 4.

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Hilson had a great trip to Central New York, and the chatter among some recruiting analysts is that the Syracuse football staff is aggressively courting him. However, the Orange faces stiff competition to prevail for Hilson, who according to Rivals.com is a top-20 national prospect and the country's No. 1 edge in the 2025 class.

In recent days, per his X page, Hilson has landed new scholarship offers from both Michigan and Missouri. This weekend, according to Rivals.com national recruiting director Adam Gorney, Hilson "will be visiting Florida again."

Syracuse football is a legit contender for five-star edge Javion Hilson, experts say.

In a recent piece, Gorney writes of Hilson, "A Michigan offer for the five-star defensive end from Cocoa, Fla., might have come too late in Hilson’s recruitment and this weekend he will be visiting Florida again. The Gators continue to make a play for Hilson and he’s going to give them one more look before heading to Texas A&M for its huge matchup against Texas before signing day. ... The Longhorns are considered the front-runner with the Aggies, Syracuse and Pitt as his top programs. But this is a very fluid situation."

Hilson, a standout at Cocoa High School in Cocoa, Fla., also unofficially visited the 'Cuse this past April for the team's annual spring game. Syracuse football coaches offered a scholarship to Hilson in January of this year.

Previously, Hilson had given verbal commitments to Alabama and then Florida State. When I wrote this story on Thursday, there were two predictions in the direction of Texas for Hilson on the On3 Web site.

The early signing period for football prospects in the 2025 class, by the way, begins on December 4 and runs through December 6, according to the Web site nationalletter.org.

At the time of this writing, Syracuse football had at least 30 verbal pledges in its 2025 cycle, a class that is currently No. 35 nationally, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite. While the Orange staff has done a solid job with this cycle, a potential commitment by Hilson would prove massive.

In addition to his five-star status and top-20 national rating from Rivals.com, within the senior cycle, Hilson is in the top 50 overall via the 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking.