Syracuse football recruiting: Early enrollees arriving on campus

In the “old days” of recruiting, when a player signed in December, he’d typically be on campus in January as an early enrollee. But now, with the early signing period, that’s no longer guaranteed to be the case. Save for players that have already stated they’d be arriving early, the Syracuse Orange freshmen on campus this spring is mostly a mystery.

Our best way to track players arriving is either through Twitter or the SU student directory. If they’re in the directory, that means they’re officially enrolled. And barring some unforeseen eligibility questions, they’ll be participating in spring ball.

The list, so far:

• Andre Cisco, S
• Cameron Jonas, S
• Juan Wallace, LB
• Lakiem Williams, LB

Interestingly, Williams is classified as a freshman -- though he’s a junior college transfer (update: Kevin says this is because his JUCO credits don’t kick in until classes start). Syracuse.com’s Stephen Bailey had confirmed Cisco and Wallace on the list on Thursday. However, Jonas and Williams are new additions for Friday.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

As Bailey also noted yesterday, Kevin Johnson Jr. and Aaron Bolinsky have also been added. Bolinsky committed during the early signing period as a preferred walk-on. Johnson, son of former Orange wideout Kevin Johnson Sr., may be a scholarship player, but no one seems to know for sure. He had offers from Colorado and Florida, despite a two-star evaluation.

Seeing defensive players arrive early is really ideal for a Syracuse team that struggled on that end to close the season. The Orange have a ton of depth and experience returning, however, there’s always been a big question of scheme fit for the Scott Shafer holdovers. While you’d usually like to see freshmen like Cisco and Jonas sit a year, if they’re able to make significant progress at the safety spot this spring, might as well see what they can do in-game.

We’ll update this list as more players arrive. At the very least, it seems QB Chance Amie would also be on campus soon, based on his Twitter feed.