Syracuse football recruiting: Adrian Cole, Luke Benson commit

We keep mentioning the fact that Syracuse Orange football recruiting has been on overdrive these past couple weeks. And we’ll continue to do so until it fails to be true anymore.

Obligatory: It’s still true.

Over the weekend, Dino Babers and his staff added three more players to the class of 2019. Cornelius Nunn already got a write-up. Now, we’re talking about additional commits Adrian Cole and Luke Benson.

Cole, an unrated cornerback from Plantation, Fla., announced late on Saturday that he’d be headed to SU.

Cole didn’t even wait until the end of his official campus visit this weekend. The 5-foot-10, 156-pound defensive back picked the Orange over offers from Pitt, Kansas, USF, Western Michigan, Buffalo, FAU and numerous others. He was the second Florida addition of the weekend, along with Nunn. As always when it comes to the South Florida area, Nick Monroe did the honors. Tight Ravian Pierce is also from Plantation, which may have also lent an assist.

And for those concerned about the lack of ratings, those will be coming soon for Cole, as indicated by the offers.

But as mentioned, Cole was not the only player to pledge to SU. On Sunday, Pennsylvania (Doylestown) tight end Luke Benson also announced he’s intending to head to Syracuse for 2019.

Benson was just offered a week ago, and beyond Temple and Army, his other offers are all at the FCS level. He’s 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, so he fits in with the type of target Babers has been going after at the position since he arrived. Despite not using tight ends in the passing game much at Bowling Green, he’s seemingly evolved that approach with the Orange. If you count Gabe Horan and Chris Elmore as “tight ends” (they’ll likely be at other positions long-term), Syracuse has added five players there in the last couple classes — the others are Pierce, Aaron Hackett, and walk-on Jesse Conners.

With Cole and Benson both in the fold, that makes it seven players now for the class of 2019. Syracuse added four players this weekend alone, with Cole, Benson, Nunn and linebacker Geoff Cantin. So far, it’s a pretty even split between offense and defense, with three on one side and four on the other.

Plenty more top targets should be deciding in the coming weeks and months. Hopefully SU can close on a few more of the big names as this class of 2019 continues taking shape.

Welcome aboard, Adrian and Luke! You can find highlights below.