Advertisement

College football: Syracuse signs 16 recruits to replenish roster

josh st.croix, watertown daily times, n.y.
·4 min read
1

Dec. 21—SYRACUSE — The Syracuse University football team signed 16 players to national letters of intent on Wednesday to kick off the NCAA early signing period, but head coach Dino Babers must wait another 48 hours for a decision from their most coveted recruit.

Four-star quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who verbally committed to Syracuse this past March, will wait to announce his final decision until a signing ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Friday at South Florence High School in South Carolina.

Sellers is a dual-threat passer who recently lifted the Bruins to their first state championship and has garnered additional recruiting buzz this fall, most notably from his hometown South Carolina Gamecocks.

Syracuse signed eight incoming players that had verbally committed before both offensive coordinator Robert Anae and defensive coordinator Tony White left to join other programs earlier this month.

"They never wavered," Babers said during an afternoon press conference. "They committed to Syracuse University, and they committed to the head coach in front of you, and they never wavered one iota."

The 2023 signing class consists of 12 incoming freshmen, three junior college players and prized Nebraska transfer, defensive back Jaeden Gould. Syracuse has three other FBS transfer commits expected to join imminently.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Syracuse's 2023 recruiting class was ranked No. 67 in the FBS by 247Sports and No. 78 by rivals.com.

Sellers was initially recruited by SU offensive coordinator Jason Beck when he was quarterbacks coach under the former "OC" Anae, who left for the same position at North Carolina State.

The duo first received a verbal pledge from Sellers while still at Virginia in 2021 but he flipped the commitment to SU when they joined the coaching staff last offseason.

Sellers received an offer from South Carolina in October and earlier this week, recruiting experts at 247Sports changed their "crystal ball prediction," for Sellers from the Orange to the Gamecocks.

In the past week, he has received additional offers from Georgia Tech and Liberty.

Sellers recently provided insight on his recruiting process to "The State," a daily newspaper in Columbia, S.C., for an article published this past Sunday.

The finalist for Mr. Football in South Carolina spoke of talking to Gamecocks coaches and playing in a recent state all-star game with other S.C. commits that tried to sell him on joining the in-state unit.

Sellers also noted he had conversations with Beck over the last week and graded his commitment level to SU at a "six or seven," on a scale of 1-10.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Sellers told the outlet. "I'm still thinking about all the stuff and not trying to stress over it."

Sellers is a four-star QB on the 247Sports composite rankings and would be SU's highest-graded prospect. The 6-foot-2, 217-pound dual threat is rated as the No. 5 player from South Carolina, No. 26 QB in the class nationally, and a top-400 player overall in the cycle. He accounted for 4,286 yards of offense as a high school senior to go with 45 touchdowns passes and 22 TD runs.

Unable to discuss the lingering QB uncertainty, Babers expressed optimism with the group that officially inked their letters of intent on Wednesday.

Syracuse officially signed Gould, a former four-star high school recruit from Somerset N.J. who has four years of eligibility remaining following his lone campaign for the Cornhuskers. He will help fill an immediate need in the secondary.

All other SU signees are rated three stars by 247Sports composite rankings, and half the class consists of offensive and defensive linemen, delivering on Babers' wish to add depth to both interior units.

Four players are in-state products — tight end David Clement (Albany), linebacker Zyian Moultrie-Goddard (Bronx), and defensive linemen Rashard Perry (Buffalo), and Jalil Smith (Brooklyn) — which is the highest total in Babers tenure.

"I'm excited about keeping them home, I'm excited about the people that we signed," Babers said. "This was a fabulous class. This was the state of New York showing off. I think these are not only good players but guys who will be contributing greatly to our football team in the future."

Babers also revealed on Wednesday that assistant Nick Monroe will serve as interim defensive coordinator for the Pinstripe Bowl against Minnesota on Dec. 29 before new 'DC,' Rocky Long formally takes over.