via yahoo
Several factors triggered athlete recruit Daiquan Kelly’s feelings towards Syracuse. After the Union City, New Jersey native took an official visit up On the Hill Sunday, the writing was on the wall.
The 3-star “athlete” recruit Kelly committed to SU to notch an even 20 members to date for the Orange‚Äôs Class of 2015 class. We‚Äôve yet to reach the month of July and Syracuse has already reached the twenties for this recruiting class. Kelly discussed his commitment with The Fizz last night and lightly touched on all of those factors involved:
“The fact that it’s close to home. The business school is very important to me. My family loved it, including my sister. She loved it down there. It was a great feeling, I had fun with the coaches. Nice facilities. It felt like home down there, I just followed my heart.”
Watch Daiquan Kelly’s 2013 season highlights with Union City HS here.
The Orange reels in its second pledge from New Jersey, a state in which the program is attempting to reestablish its recruiting routes. Tight ends coach Bobby Acosta is off to a great start and has gained a tight, knit bond with Kelly early on. 
“He went to a school 10 minutes away from me. We are alike. He loves my film. He’s a like a father. He knows what he’s doing.” 
Syracuse.com’s Nate Mink discussed plucking top prospects from the Garden State with Acosta just a few days ago. Acosta envisions solid and efficient recruiting going forward in NJ. With Penn State and Rutgers consistently landing and producing talent from there, SU would be foolish to not get more seriously invested. Doug Marrone’s departure may have semi-disrupted any connections.
Scott Shafer and George McDonald’s specialties lie in the Midwest and the south, including Georgia and Florida. But as Mink reported, Penn State has four of the top six prospects from New Jersey committed to its 2015 class, and Rutgers has three top 30 New Jersey recruits.
No way should Syracuse be allowing these schools to stomp all over them. 
Kelly has very high hopes and can’t wait to start working with other Jersey commit, RB Dontae Strickland. Whether Kelly plays some receiver on the same side of the ball as Strickland is unclear. Kelly admitted he loves to hit, so his passion craves the defensive backfield as a free safety. Clearly, he and Strickland have talked:
“Oh that’s like my brother. We are talking about turning this thing around. We’re going to win an ACC Championship, get our degree and hopefully everything is great from that point.”
Kelly says Syracuse has him 100 percent. Despite traveling from Rutgers Saturday after a 7-on-7 tournament to SU, Kelly says the program has nothing to worry about and that he is loyal.
Listen to The Fizz’s entire conversation with Daiquan Kelly. 
Posted by: Brendan Glasheen
