Item: Syracuse athletics officially announced Monday that 6-11 center Jesse Edwards, a native of Netherlands via Florida’s IMG Academy and its Post-Grad team only since this past December, signed his National Letter of Intent with the Orange, capping off a five member recruiting class that is likely to include players translating from Jim Boeheim to the program’s next coach, if they stick around that long.
Like every basketball coach that has ever worked the sidelines, Jim Boeheim loves height both from his scholarship players and as many has he can find to add to the roster among his walk-ons to have ready in practice.
The late addition of Edwards, possessing plenty of skills to be developed at the ‘Melo Center and needed depth in the middle with Marek Dolezaj and Bourama Sidibe, also brings in a frosh class that covers all five positions on the court and more.
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At 6-4, Brycen Goodine is going to be patient behind Jalen Carey and Howard Washington and eventually dazzle with the ball and without it and on defense at the top of the zone. Joe Girard is just as versatile with the ball or not at 6-1, and he’s going to create a double lethal outside shooting option with a bigger and stronger Buddy Boeheim.
Up front, athletic 6-7 Quincy Guerrier is going to form a formidble trio with Oshae Brissett and Elijah Hughes, with Robert Braswell also rising, and 6-10 (there’s that height again) John Bol Ajak also joins the big men group with Edwards.
It also marks a marvelous job on the arduous recruiting trail by Adrian Autry, Gerry McNamara, and Allen Griffin, setting up Boeheim to close the deals on another strong group of new Orange players who get the bonus of an upcoming August trip to Italy to start sorting things out.
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