The Sunshine State is arguably the top state for college football recruiting, as Rivals national analyst John Garcia Jr. noted in a recent article.
These days, Syracuse football is crushing things on the recruiting trail in Florida. Now, I'm not suggesting that the Orange is going to land more Florida-based recruits from cycle to cycle than in-state teams including the Florida Gators, Florida State and others.
But Garcia said in his piece that the seven Florida-based verbal pledges that Syracuse football has secured in its 2026 class is currently the most among out-of-state squads. This could change over time, but the theme will remain: head coach Fran Brown, general manager Tommy Caporale and the rest of the 'Cuse staff are doing wonders in the Sunshine State, and that should be applauded.
As I've covered Syracuse football recruiting over the years, I've seen comments made by pundits, other observers and even fans, that it's not easy to convince high school prospects from warm-weather states, such as Florida and California, to come to Central New York, where there's a lot of snow and brutal winters.
Then again, the Orange plays in the JMA Wireless Dome, so ...
Syracuse football is faring well in talent-laden Florida.
In his piece where he examined out-of-state teams having success in the Sunshine State, Garcia also discussed Clemson, Georgia, Illinois and UCLA, with honorable mentions going to Louisville, Notre Dame, Alabama, Oregon and Ole Miss. That's some dope company for which the 'Cuse to reside.
To date, the Orange has seven Florida-based verbal commits among its 28 verbal pledges within the squad's 2026 class. Having one-fourth of its commits hailing from the Sunshine State is impressive, especially when you consider that before Brown arrived, Syracuse football wasn't doing this kind of work in Florida.
Of course, the Orange coaching staff continues to focus on traditional Northeast recruiting markets such as New Jersey, New York, the Philadelphia region, Delaware and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
Yet 'Cuse coaches are also getting after it in other states around the country, including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas and California, among others.
Syracuse football, I assume, will never vacate its geographic recruiting roots, but if the Orange wants to be a national player, it has to grab commits on a national stage. At the top of the list is the Sunshine State.
Last Saturday night, the 'Cuse landed 2026 five-star wide receiver Calvin Russell lll, a top-25 national prospect at Miami Northwestern Senior High School who will also play for Syracuse basketball. The Orange is recruiting Miami Northwestern hard, and several of its 2025 commits went there.
In fact, the 'Cuse 2025 cycle at the prep level featured a half-dozen Florida-based pledges, and so far in 2027, one of Syracuse football's four verbal commits comes from the Sunshine State.
Besides Russell, several other Orange 2026 pledges are rated four stars and in the top 300 nationally. Three of them are from Florida. They are edge Jarius Rodgers, offensive tackle Javeion Cooper and edge Kamron Wilson.