Syracuse Football: Four-Star Recruit Ron Thompson Picks Cuse

Of all the weeks for Syracuse Football to snag a four-star recruit, this has to be one of the most unlikely.

Whatever, though. Southfield High School tight end Ronald Thompson, rated four stars by Scout, has pledged to play football for the Orange in 2012.

"The history and some of the guys that have come out of Syracuse like Donovan McNabb and Dwight Freeney," Thompson said. "They're young and their offensive coordinator (Greg Adkins) is really what got me. They're energetic and I'm really excited to play for them."

"How they care about their players, and how you can trust what they're saying, and they're not telling you something just because you want to hear it."

We keep hearing over and over about how Marrone and his staff "keep it real" when it comes to recruiting and it's nice to see that continue paying off.

Credit Tyrone Wheatley for grabbing yet another quality Michigan recruit. Not so sure if he meant Nate Hackett instead of Greg Adkins in that quote above, but either way, good work by everyone.

Rivals rates him three-stars and ESPN did the same, giving him a score of 78 whatever that means. He caught 51 passes for 506 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Thompson chose SU over offers from Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Vandy, Toledo and Bowling Green. Maryland may have offered as well. I'm assuming we got in there before Akron had a chance to offer.

Nick Provo will graduate after this season as arguably rhe best tight end in school history since John Mackey. There's a bunch of guys lined up to replace him but the addition of Thompson could mean he'll be expected to make an immediate impact. Considering how important the tight end is to this offense, that's a great opportunity.

And there's something to be said for Ron's generic last name. We do some of our best work with generically-last-named talent (Brown, Davis, Morris, Owens, Harrison, Jones).

Check out how big Ron is in this video (that sounds wrong) and then watch some highlights below...