Syracuse Football: Class of 2015 Safety Marquise Blair Expected to Qualify, Says Coach

Each year, there's a question or two about academic qualifications regarding recruits. That's not just a Syracuse thing -- it's a college football thing. And one that's the price of doing business when a program is looking to elevate its status with top talent.

Based on everything we've heard -- either from coaches or directly from the source (the commits) -- it seems that the class of 2015 should all qualify with flying colors now.

The main concerns going into the end of the 2014-15 school year were running back Dontae Strickland, linebacker Shy Cullen and Blair. The three were arguably the top three most important and most talented players in the class of 2015, and obviously losing any would have dampened the excitement around what should be a great group to watch over the next four or five years. We heard good things on Cullen yesterday, and Strickland last week. And now, we've received the final piece of (potentially) good news on Blair, too.

Syracuse.com's Stephen Bailey chatted with Blair's coach, Doug Haas at Wooster High School, who confirmed that the 4-star safety is on-pace to qualify academically with some online classes this summer. Obviously the secondary is a danger zone of inexperience for the Orange right now, so any help the incoming class can provide right away would be a relief as we head into fall.

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We'll wait to hear the final word on Blair, of course. But him being "on pace" is very encouraging at this juncture. Fingers crossed!