Recruiting Roundup: Girard commits to Syracuse; Stewart takes official visit

Jim Boeheim
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim coaches from the sidelines. Mandatory Photo Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports.

Watch out for Aidan Tooker after a great NCAA Pre-Nationals race. On to today’s recruiting links…

2019 Glens Falls (NY) guard Joe Girard III committed to Syracuse on Sunday night, picking the Orange over finalists Boston College, Duke, Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State. Girard is listed as a three-star recruit by 247 Sports and is ranked 196th in his class. “What it came down to was being most comfortable with coach (Jim) Boeheim and coach Gerry McNamara and the rest of the staff and the players,” Girard told Syracuse.com’s Mike Waters.

Girard was a teammate of fellow 2019 recruit Isaiah Stewart with the Albany City Rocks. Stewart has gone on to become a top 5 recruit in his class, and has been pursued by a variety of different schools that include Kentucky, Washington, Duke and Michigan State. After Girard committed to Syracuse, he tweeted at Stewart, telling Stewart to not “keep me waiting.” The timing couldn’t be better, as Stewart took an official visit to Syracuse over the weekend a couple of weeks after a visit to Kentucky went very poorly.

» Related: Syracuse gets commitment from John Bol Ajak

Shortly after hosting Stewart on Saturday, Boeheim was on the road on Sunday to visit 2019 four-star wing Quincy Guerrier according to Stock Risers’ Jake Weingarten. Guerrier recently listed a top three that includes Syracuse, Illinois and Oregon. He expects to make a decision before the end of the month.

Syracuse also continues to pursue four-star power prospect Akok Akok. The Putnam Science Academy (CT) power forward took an official to UConn over the weekend, and told Adam Zagoria from ZagsBlog.com that “The visit went great.” He will take his official visit to Syracuse on Oct. 20, which happens to be the same weekend that commit Brycen Goodine will be on campus.

Akok was at UConn at the same time as another 2019 big man, Qudus Wahab. Wahab also recapped his visit with Zagoria, telling him that Huskies coach Dan Hurley said that Wahab could “have an impact right away.” Wahab has a busy few weeks ahead, as he visits Virginia Tech (Oct. 19-21), Georgetown (Oct. 26-28), Pittsburgh (Nov. 2-4) and Syracuse (Nov. 9-11).

That’s all for today. Have a great start to your week!

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About Wes Cheng 2907 Articles
Wes has worked for Rivals.com covering the New York Knicks, as well as for Scout.com covering Syracuse athletics. Wes has also been a contributing writer for the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), for SportsNet New York (SNY) as a news desk writer covering all of New York professional sports, and reported on the NBA and MLB for the New York Sportscene. A native of Long Island, New York, Wes graduated from Syracuse University in 2005 with a degree in journalism. Contact him at wes[at]sujuiceonline.com.