Instant Juice: Syracuse signs 25 on 2015 LOI day

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Syracuse added depth on their offensive line in the 2015 class
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Syracuse added depth on their offensive line in the 2015 class

A quick take on Syracuse’s 2014 recruiting class on LOI day:

WHAT HAPPENED: Syracuse made a final push in the last week and ended up signing 25 new players to their 2015 recruiting class. Here is the complete list:

OFFENSE:

  • QB: Eric Dungey
  • RB: Jordan Fredericks, Tyrone Perkins, Dontae Strickland
  • TE: Trey Dunkelberger
  • OL: Evan Adams, Colin Byrne, Sam Clausman, Cody Conway, Andrejas Duerig

DEFENSE:

  • ATL: Kenny Carter
  • CB: Daivon Ellison
  • S: Marquise Blair, Christopher Fredrick
  • LB: Shyheim Cullen, Troy Henderson
  • DB: Kielan Whitner
  • DT: Steven Clark, Tyler Cross, Anthony Giudice
  • DE: Amir Ealey, Jake Pickard, Qaadir Sheppard

SPECIAL TEAMS:

  • P/K: Sterling Hofrichter
  • LS: Matt Keller

» Related: Scout.com’s Mike McAllister breaks down the lead up to SU’s signing day

ANALYSIS:

  1. Syracuse had only one question heading into NLI Day, and it ended up losing that battle. Doyle Grimes, a linebacker who had decommitted from SU in September, ended up re-committing to Marshall. It was a strange recruiting cycle for Grimes, who decommitted from Marshall on Jan. 26, leaving the door open for him to rejoin the Orange. But Grimes going elsewhere leaves two LB commits in the class, Shyheim Cullen and Troy Henderson.
  2. There was a lot of late movement leading up to signing day. Just in the past week, the Orange flipped defensive end Jake Pickard away from Wisconsin and defensive back Kielan Whitner from Appalachian State. And then on Tuesday night, the Orange hung on to defensive tackle Tyler Cross, who had initially committed back in July. Cross reaffirmed that commitment to Syracuse despite a late charge from Wake Forest.
  3. Last week, the Orange also held on to DT commit Steven Clark after he had received an offer from the Florida Gators. Stanford made a push for safety commit Christopher Fredrick, but SU was also able to keep him. Syracuse also pulled a scholarship offer from Andrew Spence because of reported academic issues, and lost defensive end Dana Levine, who decommitted over the weekend.
  4. Still, this class wasn’t without its disappointments. The Orange had long been pursuing linebacker Jay Stocker and wide receiver Najee Clayton, who committed to Pittsburgh and Rutgers, respectively. Besides Grimes and Levine, SU had seven decommits. West Lindor, Davante Davis, Gerald Robinson and more recently, Keivonnis Davis. They also lost Daiquan Kelly and Jason Cabinda in 2014 in flips to Penn State.
  5. The Orange is also firmly back in New Jersey. Among the recruits from New Jersey include Dontae Strickland, who rushed for 1,179 yards and scored 16 touchdowns. The pipeline has been firmly established by receivers coach Bobby Acosta.
  6. According to Scout.com, SU’s class ranked 44th overall and ninth in the ACC. SU’s highest ranked player is Marquise Blair, the lone four-star recruit in the class. He’s the No. 24 overall safety in the country. Aside from Blair, the Orange has 18 3-star rated players, and seven 2-stars. It is also SU’s highest ranked class at Scout.com since it started tracking classes.

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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.