Syracuse football scores top 8 of 4-star WR Winston Watkins, who sets decision date

Four-star senior Winston Watkins Jr. from Florida, one of the top wide receivers in the 2025 class, has disclosed his final eight contenders, and Syracuse football made the cut.

The 5-foot-10, 172-pound Watkins recently said on his X page that he will make his commitment announcement on December 4. In that post, he also listed a top eight of the Orange, Colorado, Alabama, Penn State, Indiana, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Georgia.

By the way, the early signing period for members of the 2025 class begins on December 4 and runs through December 6, according to the Web site nationalletter.org.

Watkins has previously given verbal commitments to Texas A&M and then Colorado. Throughout his recruiting process, he has received more than 30 high-major offers. The new 'Cuse staff, led by first-year head coach Fran Brown, offered Watkins a scholarship in late December of last year.

Syracuse football 2025 four-star target Winston Watkins Jr. will soon make his college decision.

In late March of this year, Watkins went on an unofficial visit to the Orange. Per recruiting services, from late May to late June, he went on official visits to Indiana, Ole Miss and South Carolina. In recent months, the chatter among some recruiting experts is that those three suitors - Indiana, Ole Miss and South Carolina - are likely the top contenders for Watkins.

At last glance, I saw two projections in the direction of Ole Miss for Watkins between Rivals.com and the On3 Web site. Candidly, unless Watkins takes an official visit to Syracuse football before making his commitment announcement, I do not envision the 'Cuse prevailing, but let's see how this all pans out.

Watkins is spending his senior year at Venice High School in Venice, Fla. To date in the current 2024 season, as Venice is participating in the state playoffs in Florida, the Indians are 10-1 overall and ranked No. 19 around the country, per MaxPreps.

Also according to MaxPreps, in 2024 so far, Watkins has caught 66 passes for 817 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also has 68 rushing yards and five scores on the ground, along with 365 kickoff-return yards and 51 punt-return yards.

Currently, the highest 2025 rankings for Watkins come via Rivals.com, which has him at No. 85 overall and No. 8 at wide receiver in his class. Both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, at the time of this writing, placed Watkins in the top 265 nationally and in the top 35 at his position.