5 takeaways for Syracuse football recruiting entering July dead period

The Syracuse Orange have been one of the hottest teams on the recruiting trail in June, having garnered 12 pledges to bring their class to 15 total commitments. Syracuse’s class is currently ranked No. 35 in the country and No. 9 in the ACC, ahead of Virginia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina State, Boston College, and Virginia.

Here are five takeaways from what can be learned from Syracuse’s class going forward.

Syracuse used to own New Jersey, routinely landing touted recruits like Johnnie Morant and Donovan Darius. Thanks to some key additions to the staff – Nunzio Campanile, Dennis Thomas, Tyshon Fogg, to name a few – the Orange is enjoying a Garden State revival.

So far, they’ve mined New Jersey for six commitments, or 40 percent of their class. To date, Syracuse has commitments from the Dye twins (Trashon and Travon), Zekai Wimberly, Braheem Long, Jayden Brown, and Ta’Ron Haile.

Include two transfer portal recruits this offseason in Jayden Bellamy and Jaeden Gould, and Syracuse is on quite a Jersey roll despite losing ace recruiter Nick Monroe to Minnesota.

Garrett Shrader, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Braden Davis. All three quarterbacks came to Syracuse via the transfer portal. Justin Lamson (Standford) and JaCobian Morgan (Jackson State) both opted for fresh starts.

Looking to add more depth, and potentially a starter down the road, Syracuse landed Jakhari Williams out of Georgia. Williams decommitted from conference foe Georgia Tech before selecting the Orange. The strong-armed, dual-threat QB from the Peach State has all the makings of a future star and is one of the cornerstones of the class.

Brendan Zurbrugg previously committed to Syracuse, however, he flipped to Northwestern earlier this week.

Finding elite talent to catch the ball has proven challenging during Babers’ tenure, Oronde Gadsden’s success notwithstanding.

So far this cycle, Syracuse has missed on a couple of talented receivers in Jason Robinson Jr. and Justice Williams. Both committed to Washington.

But the Orange did score commitments from two talented pass-catchers in Ta’Ron Haile and TE Jamie Tremble. Haile is one of the aforementioned New Jersey recruits and Tremble is from Georgia, a recruiting hotbed.

Syracuse has excelled at putting defensive backs into the NFL the past several seasons, notably Andre Cisco, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Trill Williams, and most recently, Garrett Williams.

This past offseason saw current standouts Duce Chestnut and Ja’Had Carter move onto college football’s biggest stages transferring to LSU and Ohio State, respectively.

The Orange’s 3-3-5 defense lends itself to a heavy reliance on talented playmakers in the secondary. This class, so far, includes three DB commits in Michael Matthews-Canty, Braheem Long, and Clinton Robinson.

The biggest fish left on the Orange board just happens to be a defensive back from New Jersey, Willy Love.

Love has a couple of Syracuse connections. He’s Duce Chestnut’s cousin, and he’s from Camden. Syracuse has had recent success with recruits from Camden, including Chestnut, Alijah Clark, and from this year’s class, Braheem Long.

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