If there’s one way to describe June recruiting for the Orange, doesn’t it have to be “what a difference a week makes?”
Heading into the month of June, Syracuse was lagging a bit behind most of the ACC in terms of football commits for the Class of 2020. Certainly a bit of a surprise coming off the Orange’s 10-3 season.
Then, the official visits started to happen. And June recruiting picked up! But that shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the month of June typically has been a cornucopia of football verbal commits.
Defensive Help
Defensive end Leon Lowery got the ball rolling when he pledged to Dino Babers and Syracuse on June 16. Lowery, a 3-star recruit, is from North Brunswick, NJ. He stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 205 pounds. Lowery also had offers from Virginia Tech, Indiana, and Rutgers, among others.
A few hours after Lowery committed, Justin Barron, a 3-star Athlete, also verballed. Barron plays at Suffield Academy in Suffield, CT. Listed as an Athlete, Barron is viewed as either a linebacker or tight end when he arrives at Syracuse. The Orange beat out ACC foes Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Virginia for Barron’s pledge.
Two for Two
Syracuse repeated the recruit Daily Double three days later when Garth Barclay and James Williams committed.
Barclay is an offensive tackle from York, PA. The 3-star recruit stands at 6-foot-7 and weighs 250 pounds. With such height and reach, Barclay can potentially be a force on the offensive line once his body develops to be able to handle the physicality of the ACC. Barclay had an offer from Virginia and a bunch on non-Power 5 schools.
Williams is a kicker/punter out of Athens, GA. He has yet to be ranked by the 247Sports Composite. Williams should have a chance to seize the punting job as Sterling Hofrichter will exhaust his eligibility at the end of this season.
» Related: Syracuse adds commitments from safties Robert Hanna, Charles Bell
Carolina Connection
Syracuse reached into the state of North Carolina for its next pledge, Stefon Thompson. The Charlotte product is a 3-star recruit who projects as a linebacker at the collegiate level. Since Babers arrived on campus, he and his staff have made recruiting North Carolina a priority. Last year’s class included three Tar Heel natives; Lee Kpogba, Andrew Tuazama, and Garrett Williams.
Go North, Young Men
Two more recruits, Robert Hanna and Charles Bell VI, committed this past weekend while on official visits .
Hanna is a 6-foot, 170-pound safety out of Miami Palmetto High School in Florida. The 3-star recruit was teammates with Cornelius Nunn last season. Hanna sports an impressive offer list including Boston College, Louisville, Maryland, Miami (FL), North Carolina, and Pittsburgh, among others.
Bell is a 3-star safety out of Gaithersburg, MD. He’s also Syracuse’s third player from Maryland in this class joining running backs Sean Tucker and Marlowe Wax.
The Orange’s Class of 2020 now stands at 10 commits and is currently ranked thirteenth in the ACC by the 247Sports Composite rankings. That will surely change as Syracuse continues to pursue some higher-ranked players. Among those is 4-star wide receiver Bryce Gowdy, who took an official visit to campus this past weekend.
After a slow start to the Class of 2020, the annual influx of June recruiting commits has put the Orange right back in the thick of recruiting battles.
If Syracuse can replicate its success from last season with Tommy DeVito set to take over for Eric Dungey, Babers and his staff will no doubt have an easier time convincing recruits to get #JUICEDUP because #OrangeIsTheNewFast.
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