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Although the evaluation period for football coaches has ended, the recruiting trail is still burning hot. A lot of things happened this week and we have a full recap for you right here:
Syracuse lands Two Commits:
Going into this week, Syracuse had three commits. Throughout this week, the number has nearly doubled as they landed commitments from two campus visitors this week. The first commitment came from Plant HS (Fla.) QB Rex Culpepper. Culpepper, who holds a 3-star rating from 247Sports, committed on his visit to Syracuse with his family on Tuesday (Side note: his brother, 2018 TE Judge, received an offer on the visit). The second commitment came on Friday when Sandy Creek HS (Ga.) S/OLB Will Harper took a visit to campus. It is believed that they loved Harper in particular due to his versatility, which allows him to fit perfectly into Syracuse's Okie package.
Restoring the Camden Pipeline:
There has been a lot of talk this week about restoring the pipeline to Camden HS (NJ) that Syracuse once had which brought them talent like former NFL safety Donovin Darius. The spark for all this talk came when seven Camden teammates visited the Orange on Wednesday, most notably 2016 4-star WR Brad Hawkins. In an interview with Mike McAllister of Scout.com, Camden head football coach Dwayne Savage shared that all the players really enjoyed the visit and shared his thoughts on the possible restoration of the pipeline. "When you go back 15-20 years ago, we had about three or four Camden kids that went and played defense up there. We had Donovin Darius and those guys", said Savage. "They saw his picture on the All-American list and that got them excited to get the pipeline back to Camden. It’s a strong possibility."
Recruit Rankings:
Despite Syracuse's 2016 recruiting class picking up steam, the team rankings from recruiting services still fail to show Syracuse love, likely due to only having five commits when many other schools have more (i.e. Miami has 23). Syracuse's 2016 haul is currently rated 57th in the country by Scout.com and 67th in the country by 247Sports (who now lists Robert Washington as a 3-star recruit).