Lone Star Loss? SU Abruptly Drops Interest in WR Prentavious Morehead

Dallas News

Three-star Dallas WR Prentavious Morehead tells The Fizz he has Syracuse at the top of his list, and that SU visited him twice in the spring, but strangely has not been in contact with him for months. Morehead has big time size at 6’4” 185 lbs. The Texas native has torn it up this season for Justin F. Kimball HS, outplaying and out jumping defensive backs. SU would be first-team All-Name squad with Prentavious and a certain incoming transfer. But the coaching staff has gone dark. Why wouldn’t the Orange be pursuing an all-Texas combo of Zach Allen to Morehead for the next four years?

The Fizz asked Morehead why he thought SU hasn’t gotten in touch with him recently. He said he had a new cell phone number and thought that might be the reason. But there’s more to it than that. Morehead was given a verbal offer from Syracuse during his junior year, and was under the impression he also had an official written offer as well. But The Fizz has learned from a source close to the SU football team the school did not give Morehead an official written offer. 

Schools can give out verbal offers to prospects throughout their high school careers, or even earlier. That’s how the occasional 8th grade prodigy is “offered” by some programs. That is simply an unofficial verbal. Prentavious received one of those from SU. As the recruiting process advances into an athlete’s senior year, prospects will also get official written offers. If a college does not send a recruit an official written offer by August 1st prior to their senior year (in this case two months ago for Prentavious), then the previous verbal offer essentially means nothing.

So, Morehead is stuck between a rock and hard place when it comes to Syracuse. He certainly has interest in playing for the Orange, but SU never followed through with the Kimball HS product.

Morehead said he has offers from Kansas State, Colorado State, New Mexico State, and Louisiana Tech, and has also received solid interest from Texas Tech. But he listed SU, Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech as his top three schools. Despite being left in the dark, the Texas product admits that he would love to take an official visit to the Hill if Syracuse gets back in contact with him. The brand new Orange offense isn’t the only thing that intrigues Morehead. He wants to play in the Loudhouse.

“I like the change of the playbook that [they’ve instituted]. And they have a Dome, that’s number 1. I love [playing in] domes.”

Morehead has been following SU all season. Prentavious tells The Fizz distance from home doesn’t matter. As long as he gets a chance to play, and more specifically, play against the nation’s best. The Fizz asked him what it would mean to play in the ACC for the next four years. “Airtime. TV. More competition,” he said.

Morehead racked up nearly 800 yards through the air last season and caught 11 touchdown passes. His coach at Justin F. Kimball HS, Carlton Nelson, explained why he is so dangerous on the field.

“He’s a tall, rangy kid. He knows how to go up and get the ball. He has long arms, good wingspan, and runs excellent routes for being as tall as he is. People on Sunday are looking for that size. In high school, our corners are [on average] about 5’8”, 5’9”, so him being that tall is tremendous.”

Nelson tells The Fizz his wideout’s route running ability – especially at his size – is exceptional. Morehead doesn’t just run fades and go routes; he also executes slants, digs, and comeback routes to perfection, a real testament to his agility and speed.

Syracuse can still extend that official written offer, but it is not likely. The Orange already has 8 commits  for the Class of 2013, and we know that Recruiting Coordinator Greg Adkins has put a tentative “cap” of 12-16 recruits for the class, because SU will be returning a good chunk of players next season. Syracuse has offered three other WR’s in the Class of ’13: 4-star Corey Smith (JUCO – Scoba, Mississippi), 2-star Sean Avant (Miramar, Florida) and 2-star Ishmael Hyman (Holmdel, New Jersey).

But another source close to Syracuse recruiting tells The Fizz of those three SU probably only has a realistic chance Avant (who has offers from West Virginia, Wake Forest and UCF). The Orange will be looking for targets after this season when it loses Alec Lemon and Marcus Sales.

Something seems to have turned SU’s interest sour. Prentavious said he received two in-home visits from Tyrone Wheatley back in the spring. He says, “they wanted to see me in orange and blue.”

If SU still does want to cash in on this hidden gem from Dallas, it might have to step up soon. Morehead has taken unofficial visits to Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. Neither schools have offered, but are giving him some interest. An offer from Texas Tech might be coming in the near future as well.

Morehead carries himself with a lot of confidence. He knows he would make an impact next season, wherever he ends up playing.

“Of course I can, as long as I get a little more weight on me. I feel like I can make a difference on the outside. Not to many receivers with my size can run clean routes.”

SU’s approach in recruiting Morehead is a bit hard to understand. Schools lose interest in players all the time, that’s nothing new. Maybe the Orange is prioritizing the other three wideouts, or just didn’t think he would be a good fit. But Marrone’s staff has a reputation of being honest and up front with every recruit and their coach. Rarely does this staff leave a player in the dark if they had significant interest earlier. Maybe it’s just a communication breakdown. Hey SU, you might want to give that red zone target from Dallas a quick call. It’s never too late.

Posted: Kevin Fitzgerald