clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

SU Football Recruiting: What the Heck Happened This Weekend?

Between keeping prospects committed, pulling offers, and other recruits visiting elsewhere, this was a wild weekend for Syracuse football. Where do we stand?

By BenNorowski
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

With signing day only two weeks away, recruiting changes from day to day. However, this weekend was extremely crazy for prospects committed to Syracuse and those we're still recruiting alike. All the official visits on the hill solidified commitments, here are a few snapshots of how that went.

Official visit

A photo posted by Troy Jr. (@_troy3) on

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now for the crazy parts.

1) Syracuse CB commit Andrew Spence had his scholarship pulled this weekend, with academic concerns given as the reason.

This shocked me when I first saw the news yesterday. The Orange only have one other commit at the CB position, and DB has been one of our thinnest positions. With around 5 spots remaining in the class, it will be interesting to see if the Orange start going after some other CB prospects in the next few weeks, whether they're uncommitted or we're pushing for a flip.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

2) Steven Clark took an official visit to Florida this weekend, which followed a bizarre chain of events throughout the week. Clark tweeted on Wednesday that UF offered.

Then he tweeted that he was still solid to the Orange, and it was confirmed that he wasn't going to take an OV to the swamp.

This was followed by him changing his mind and heading down to Gainesville.

He then sent out the always ominous "gotta do what's right for me", so and said that he'd be deciding what to do on Monday/Tuesday. Florida was also hosting some huge commits so they clearly laid out the red carpet. Not feeling optimistic here, but we'll see what happens. This really seems a lot like the Harold Brantley situation from a few seasons ago, but hopefully this one goes our way.

Old Miss has entered the fray too, although it seems his interest in them isn't too serious.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3) Jake Pickard was offered by and visited Michigan this weekend, which is terrible, terrible news after a week in which we lost a DE commit in Keivonnis Davis. The Orange put themselves in an excellent position for Pickard's services last weekend, and there was a very good chance of him flipping to Syracuse.

While that's still not out of the question, Jim Harbaugh offering has thrown a huge wrench into things. While I initially reported they were looking at him as a TE, it now appears that they do want him as a DE. He didn't commit to UM this weekend, but the signs aren't great.

Him not committing to UM is somewhat good news but we'll probably see some movement here fairly soon.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

4) Najee Clayton announced he'll be picking his school on Monday. Clayton is down to Rutgers, Pitt, and Syracuse.

I thought we had a chance here before the weekend, as his High School coach wasn't hired at Rutgers. However, it appears that his OV to Rutgers really convinced him, and I'd expect them to be the choice this afternoon.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

While it was a good weekend in the facts that we solidified all our recruits that visited, the craziness combined with the loss of Jay Stocker during the week and what appears to be a lack of plan B's for the Orange doesn't necessarily have me optimistic about the next few weeks. But you never know what will happening and hopefully I'll be singing a different tune very soon.

Next Up In Syracuse Football