Syracuse football recruiting: What to expect on National Signing Day next week

Next week is the official turning of the calendar from one college football season to the next. We’re of course talking about National Signing Day.

The Syracuse Orange, as you’re aware, have seen improvement on the recruiting front this cycle under Dino Babers, and now we get to cross our fingers that all of those players make it to campus on Wednesday.

Players will be faxing in their National Letters of Intent starting early Wednesday morning, and we’ll be covering each official signing as they happen. Four players from this class are already on campus, too. So while Patrick Davis, Nadarius Fagan, Ryan Guthrie and Ravian Pierce are all part of the 2017 class, they’ve already signed -- no drama to be had!

What else can we expect come this time next Wednesday? A primer on a few things to look out for:

COMMITMENTS

The most obvious one. As of right now, 18 players should be sending NLIs next Wednesday, bringing the class total to 22. There are still some other targets out there, so we could see some names added to the list, since there’s room on the roster. There’s also the possibility we see some decommitments and flips at the 11th hour (like Rashad Smith going from SU to FAU last year) — but hopefully not!

The names you’ll be on the lookout for all day:

• Brandon Berry, DE
• Eric Coley, CB
• Dakota Davis, OT
• Tommy DeVito, QB
• Chris Elmore, DT
• Aaron Hackett, TE
• Curtis Harper, DT
• Nykeim Johnson, WR
• Sharod Johnson, WR
• Cameron Jordan, WR
• Jonathan Kingsley, LB
• Ifeatu Melifonwu, S
• Zach Morton, DE
• Markenzy Pierre, RB
• Tyrell Richards, LB
• Allen Stritzinger, RB
• Russell Thompson-Bishop, WR
• Kadeem Trotter, S

National rankings

Recruiting rankings aren’t super important from one ranking to the next, but in terms of the overall picture -- where Syracuse stacks up vs. peer programs and if they’re among the top 40 or 50 or 60 — it does a bit. Quality recruiting (and getting those kids to campus) is the best way to improve a roster and create quality depth. We haven’t had a lot of depth lately, as you may have noticed.

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Dino Babers press conference

Babers will be live in some capacity (probably on Facebook) after the dust settles to talk about how much he loves this class and all that. And as we know with Babers by now, he’ll be telling the truth. It’s also his first full class at Syracuse, so (as a group) 2017 will further the vision he’s putting together even more than 2016 did.

DeVito hype

Given the high ratings and opinions about the incoming Orange QB, it’s likely that there’s plenty of fanfare around the official NLI fax. Whether it’s from Syracuse, DeVito’s high school, ESPN or others, we’ll probably see some fireworks about the signing.

Dino Babers nicknames

Last year, we got to see Dino in action on Signing Day, giving out wacky nicknames to each incoming signee. This was my favorite part of the entire day last year. I hope it happens again.

National Signing Day recap podcast

Dan and I (and potentially Ari, too) will be talking about NSD on Wednesday night’s podcast, to recap the day for you and actually discuss Syracuse-related things you want to hear about for once. There will still be beer too, however.

***

Anything else you’re looking forward to or want to see on National Signing Day? Let us know below.