Syracuse target Tyrone Sampson impresses at The Opening Regionals in Cleveland

SB Nation’s Alex Kirshner was in attendance at The Opening’s Cleveland Regionals this past weekend, and highlighted 11 recruits that stood out the most during the event.

One was four-star center Tyrone Sampson, from East English Village Prep in Detroit, who is a major Syracuse Orange recruiting target for 2018. Sampson’s the second-ranked center in the class, and at 6-foot-3 and 295 pounds, he’d certainly be a huge boost to the Orange’s ability to protect the quarterback.

Sampson has offers from Syracuse, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota and Virginia, along with a bunch of MAC schools. According to 247Sports, there’s interest from larger programs like Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame, but they’ve yet to offer. The Orange are thought to be one of the frontrunners for the time being.

Kirshner noticed him tossing defensive tackles around like rag dolls during the event, and also got this quote from Sampson:

“I’m real physical. If I lose a rep, I’m just gonna come back even harder. That must makes me so mad, I just come back with another rep.”

SU could certainly use that sort of intensity on the line.

Of the other top prospects at the Cleveland event, Syracuse also has offers out to (Michigan commit) Aidan Hutchinson. There are plenty more Orange targets in the Midwest region as well, even if they weren’t at the event or weren’t highlighted by Kirshner in the piece above.

So far, SU has two commits for the class of 2018, in tight end Gabe Horan and athlete Trill Williams.