Syracuse football: developing three stars could be key to success for the Orange

Many Syracuse Orange fans have not come to terms with the program’s place in the current college football landscape. We see every year the expectations of recruiting which doesn’t match the realities (or history).

While the Orange might not be able to land top 25 recruiting classes, they also need to find ways to take the players they can land and turn them into professionals. Earlier this week The Athletic looked at which programs do the best job converting recruits to NFL Draft picks.

The data looked at recruits from 2009-2019 and draft results from 2012-2022. We know Syracuse isn’t going to be landing 5-stars in football, but the results showed that the Orange did a poor job in this time period converting 3-star recruits to draft picks. How bad? Well....

The Athletic

The list of schools that Syracuse finds itself linked with probably isn’t a surprise if you follow college football. It’s a list that the Orange would like to leave behind especially with this data point: “the ACC has turned a higher percentage of four- and five-star prospects into draft picks than any other power conference”.

With the potential for Matthew Bergeron, Garrett Williams, Mikel Jones and Sean Tucker to be selected this week, Syracuse’s numbers will rise. Should current players such as Oronde Gadsden II and Marlowe Wax find their way into the 2024/5 Draft, perhaps the Orange will be moving far out of the bottom 10?

Here are the Syracuse players drafted in this timeframe and their 24/7 composite numbers:

Andre Cisco Jaguars - 3 stars

Ifeatu Melifonwu Lions- 3 stars

Alton Robinson Seahawks- 3 stars

Sterling Hofrichter Falcons- 3 stars

Chris Slayton Giants - 3 stars

Zaire Franklin Colts- 3 stars

Riley Dixon Broncos - no stars

Jay Bromley Giants - no stars

Marquis Spruill Falcons - 3 stars

Justin Pugh Giants - 2 stars

Ryan Nassib Giants- 2 stars

Shamarko Thomas Steelers- 2 stars

Chandler Jones Patriots - 2 stars

Andrew Tiller Saints- 3 star

If they can build off this year’s draft success, Syracuse will likely see a boost in recruiting as well as better results on the field. Selling athletes on your program and coaches becomes easier when you have more alums playing in the NFL.