Get to Know Your Orange Man: #23, CB Ifeatu Melifonwu

Name: Ifeatu Melifonwu

Position: Cornerback

Year: (Redshirt) Junior

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 206

Hometown: Graton, Mass.

High School: South Grafton, Mass

2019 stats: Melifonwu appeared in nine games with eight starts at corner. He recorded two interceptions and had 18 tackles.

2020 projections: Melifonwu has one of the Syracuse Orange starting corner positions locked down. Injuries have been the only thing keeping him from making a bigger impact so staying healthy this fall would allow him to make a claim for All-ACC honors.

How’d he get here?: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines made a late run for Ifeatu but he stuck with his verbal commitment to Syracuse. Boston College, UMass and Navy were also

What’d recruiting sites say?: 3 stars all around.

Money quote: With an older brother in the NFL expectations were raised for Ifeatu and he started to show his promise late in his career at Grafton.

“He’s a tremendous player,” Grafton football coach Chris McMahon said. “He just blossomed and turned into the player that we knew he was going to be. We knew pretty early on that he was a special player and that he was going to have a great career at Grafton, and he really lived up to that. He exploded this year.”

Twitter feed: @Ifeatu_Mel

Tweets of wonder: Like a lot of the returning Orange motivation is a key theme for 2020

What movie would Dino recommend for him?: We’ll go with another movie set in Massachusetts, “Shutter Island”. Since corners are often out on an island Dino’s going to have Ifeatu watch this Leonardo DiCaprio role to get ready to focus on getting his job done despite all the obstacles in the way.

Interesting nugget o’interest: Melifonwu is a player that scouts are keeping an eye on this season. Sports Illustrated had him as the #3 NFL prospect on this year’s Orange and he will certainly be a player being watched closely in 2020.

Let’s get a look at ya: Here are some highlights from last season.