ESPN - 2024 college football class rankings

[richmondcuse03]

Combined transfer and incoming freshmen. Syracuse checks in at no. 22.

Newcomer class rankings: Who added the highest impact freshmen and transfers?

With the dust settled on spring workouts, we break down which teams helped themselves the most since last season.

www.espn.com

Excerpt:

Recruits: RB Yasin Willis, CB Marcellus Barnes Jr.

The Orange need to prove it on the field, but new head coach Fran Brown has certainly elevated their recruiting. Syracuse is transfer-heavy, but Brown closed strongly upon getting the job to add freshmen to the class who could get in the mix. Syracuse flipped Willis from Pittsburgh and he had nearly 100 yards in the spring game. He's in position to propel the ground game.

Transfers: QB Kyle McCord (Ohio State), DB Duce Chestnut (LSU), WR Jackson Meeks (Georgia), WR Zeed Haynes (Georgia), DL Isaiah Hastings(Alabama), OL Da'Metrius Weatherspoon (Howard), DL Dion Wilson Jr. (New Mexico State), DL Fadil Diggs (Texas A&M), DB Devin Grant (Buffalo)

McCord's departure from Ohio State was puzzling. Sure, he would have faced competition, but he also returned as the incumbent. Instead, the Orange benefit from a quarterback with big-game experience who threw for more than 3,000 yards and completed 66% of his passes in 2023. McCord had weapons at Ohio State, and Syracuse's coaching staff worked to provide some strong options in his new offense too. Both Haynes and Meeks are Georgia transfers who could be consistent, dependable targets. McCord seemed to develop good chemistry with Haynes this spring. Chestnut began his career at Syracuse before transferring to LSU. He returns to where he had his best output and has the versatility to play either corner or safety. Diggs, Wilson and Hastings are all portal upgrades set to play key defensive line roles.

 

[TexanMark]

McCord getting rated by Jackwagons as the 10th best QB in the ACC is ridiculous. He is somewhere between Nassib and McNabb on SU QB greats over the last 30 years.

HCFB is no dummy...he is grabbing best practices from Rhule, Schiano and Smart. The team looked much improved on snap discipline.

I feel this team could win 9 or 10 regular season games but as a first year staff I need to be more realistic. The Georgia Tech game will tell me a ton.

We need to start out with three straight sell-outs: Ohio, GTech and Stanford.

 

[USMCSnyper]

McCord getting rated by Jackwagons as the 10th best QB in the ACC is ridiculous. He is somewhere between Nassib and McNabb on SU QB greats over the last 30 years.

HCFB is no dummy...he is grabbing best practices from Rhule, Schiano and Smart. The team looked much improved on snap discipline.

I feel this team could win 9 or 10 regular season games but as a first year staff I need to be more realistic. The Georgia Tech game will tell me a ton.

We need to start out with three straight sell-outs: Ohio, GTech and Stanford.

Snap discipline? Wait a minute...we don't HAVE to false start 3x per game, at home??

 

[SU94]

I feel this team could win 9 or 10 regular season games but as a first year staff I need to be more realistic. The Georgia Tech game will tell me a ton.

We need to start out with three straight sell-outs: Ohio, GTech and Stanford.

You're onto something, TM. A bit of a "reality check" might be best for everyone involved.

Yes, Fran won the offseason. Terrific. And it was fun/exciting. Longer term, this is going to be a bit of a work in progress. No commentary intended here, no "hey Fran can recruit, but he cannot coach" ... none of that bulls#.

Remember, we have around 35-40 new football players in the program? Not sure. But realistically, Frank could be Bill Belichick for a new generation and they'll be some degree of a learning curve for everyone, inclusive of players, coaches, administration and FANS too.

Many of these players are not yet connected. I just feel like the best football teams take time to mesh and grow together through shared experience. We won't have that luxury yet, unfortunately, as Fran arrived less than six months ago.

Now, on the plus side, we have roster "buy in" like we have never seen at SU (maybe Coach Mac). That is important. If you are not committed to the program and doing things the right way (and that includes going to class and sitting in the front row), then you will be a short timer for Fran.

We have a higher volume of older players than we've had in a long time. We have some adults.

Along these lines, we will have a much greater degree of physicality (speed, size, power) that we've seen in the past. We also have a legitimate top 20 QB, likely better. The unknown is how McCord will adapt to a new offense that he has only practiced in for about 30-35 practices. And the schedule is a decidedly easier than years past.

I think some of the talk about a CFB Playoff berth are unrealistic. So much would have to fall into place. Hey, I'd love to be wrong and Fran does seem to have a special "touch" ... it's fun to dream.

But, the dream scenario is an extreme outlier. We're much, much, much more likely to land in the 7-9 win range and distinct and obvious progress is made.

 

[TexanMark]

Snap discipline? Wait a minute...we don't HAVE to false start 3x in the first drive, at home??

FIFY ;-)