The Syracuse wide receiver room looks vastly different from last season. Three of the top four wide receivers from a production perspective have all departed the program. And the group may be better based on the players who are replacing them.
Umari Hatcher is the top returning receiver after finishing third on the team with 32 receptions and second with 482 yards. As a redshirt sophomore, Hatcher started 11 times last season, but was a bit of a hit-or-miss contributor and faces a lot of competition for that spot this season due to the sheer number of transfers who joined the program.
Darrell Gill Jr. is the second returning receiver on the roster after catching seven passes and appearing in all 13 games of his freshman season. Four of those receptions came against Western Michigan. Gill also was mixed in as a kick returner in the second half of the season and averaged 21.8 yards per chance in the final six games of the season. He had one of the most notable highlights of the spring game, making a great adjustment for a catch while going to the ground and set up the first score of the night.
Trebor Pena had most of his season wiped out by injury last year and returns with two seasons of eligibility remaining. The injury was significant, as Pena was flowering during his 2022 campaign, snagging 22 passes and averaging over 27 yards per kickoff return that season. While he averaged only 9.2 yards per catch that year, Pena also has shown big play ability at SU, posting a 62-yard touchdown catch against Clemson in 2021 and catching four passes, all for gains of at least 23 yards, in April’s spring game.
The most accomplished transfer among the unit, Justus Ross-Simmons, returns close to his Rochester home after spending two seasons playing at Colorado State. Those were productive seasons, to be sure, as Ross-Simmons played in every game of those two campaigns for the Rams. Ross-Simmons had 71 catches for 1,148 yards and six scores in that time, including 45 grabs for 724 yards and three scores last season. At 6’3” and 212 pounds, Ross-Simmons will provide size on the outside.
Zeed Haynes was a very minor contributor at Georgia last season, catching just one pass in four games as a freshman last year before transferring to the Orange. That has clearly changed at his new home. The offensive Most Valuable Player of the spring camp, Haynes blew past that level of on-field production in the first quarter of the spring game. A four-star recruit coming out of high school, the redshirt freshman from Philadelphia caught six-of-eight targets in the first half of that exhibition, including a touchdown.
Another former Bulldog wide receiver who transferred north is Jackson Meeks. Meeks saw action in 36 games at Georgia, catching ten passes in that time while also seeing some time on special teams. Unfortunately, Meeks missed much of spring camp due to a hairline fracture in his foot that required surgery to repair the injury, but has been a full participant at fall camp.
The 2024 Orange recruiting class also added a handful of wide receivers, most notably Emanuel Ross, a four-star player who was ranked as one of the top high school players in New Jersey. Marked as a priority by Fran Brown after he was hired, Ross was originally verbally committed to Stanford, but changed his commitment to Syracuse in December.
LEADING RETURNING RECEIVERS: LeQuint Allen – 38 receptions for 210 yards and one touchdown; Umari Hatcher – 32 receptions for 382 yards and three touchdowns
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