Early signing period: What’s left for Syracuse football’s recruiting class of 2020?

The Syracuse Orange football team added 18 players during Wednesday’s early signing period, plus a transfer in former Florida Gators guard Christopher Bleich. So there are four spots available as of right now, and one of those is currently held for commit Chase Atkinson.

So what can we expect for the rest of this recruiting cycle? Here’s a look at players and positions:

Committed

Chase Atkinson, S (Blythewood, S.C.)

Planned to wait and sign on National Signing Day.

Top Target

Antwan Reed, OT (Muskegon, Mich.)

Reed’s a JUCO tackle at ASA College who’s visiting campus in late January. At 6-foot-5 and 326 pounds, he already has the size needed to plug into Syracuse’s line if needed, and as a JUCO there’s more potential that he can play right away. Of the players with offers that are not committed right now, he’s the most likely signee come National Signing Day.

Positions of Need

We’ll get into the current roster breakdown in a subsequent article. However, based on what’s on Syracuse’s team, some of the obvious positions of need include quarterback, linebacker and offensive line.

Reed could be the OL add to address the need above, though transfers could also fit the bill (see the list we put together recently). But the other spots aren’t as obvious.

The only uncommitted quarterback prospects with offers are Malik Hornsby (Missouri City, Tex.) and Mekhi Hagens (St. Louis, Mo.), according to 247Sports. So if there’s an add at the position — something Dino Babers has pointed out is an issue right now — it’s either someone else without an offer recorded online or a transfer.

Linebacker still needs an assist due to the transfers out of the program last season and the addition of just one player so far in this recruiting cycle. Public offer lists don’t show a lot of movement. Hopefully that changes either on the JUCO or transfer front, if we’re not moving quickly on some new high school player offers.

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Dino Babers has also mentioned that we’ll learn more about the mystery “19th recruit” after the holidays. That’s not overly specific, but likely means a player has signed, but doesn’t want that to be public yet — or can’t have it public yet. The early signing period only goes through this Friday, so that’s still before the holidays. If the player in question doesn’t actually sign this week, they’ll have to wait until National Signing Day.

That seem confusing? Welcome to college football recruiting.