Syracuse Recruiting: Jazzee Stocker Commits to Pitt Over Orange

To say the Syracuse Orange have had their eye on safety "Jazzee" Jay Stocker for a while would be an understatement. The 2015 prospect visited SU back in early December and here's what Ben had to say about him at the time:

Stocker's a player that the Orange have been on since the beginning. He's a very good prospect and it's pretty much between Syracuse and Pitt. Pitt has a kid ranked a bit higher on their board, so if Stocker doesn't want to wait around, he could pledge to SU. I wouldn't expect it to come this weekend, but you never know, we do really well once we get kids on campus

Following the visit, it sounded like Stocker had a great time but his decision remained up in the air. As recently as December 21, he still seemed pretty psyched about the chances of putting on the platinum. Pat Narduzzi was hired as the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers a few days later and we probably should have put our guards up.

Maybe it wouldn't have mattered because Narduzzi was able to snag a commitment from Stocker today, his first recruit as head coach. According to ESPN, he's the 8th best prospect in Pennsylvania, Rivals says he's 11th and 24/7 says 13th. Regardless, it's a bitter pill for SU to swallow.

Something that SU coaches really need to hustle and lock down the commitment from Stocker's teammate at Coatesville, defensive end Amir Ealey. Ealey committed to play for the Orange back in mid-December, but, as we all know, verbal commitments and $5 will get you a venti frappachino at Starbucks.