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Syracuse earned yet another offensive line recruit, Andrejas Duerig.  The 3-star guard is a huge addition to a budding offensive line in the recruiting class of 2015.  While the Orange has just earned its 12th verbal commitment, nine have come since May 16, a span of only 32 days.  In that time, the Orange’s recruiting class has risen to the 29th best in the nation, according to 247sports.
Where does Syracuse’s 2015 recruitment timeline stack up against recruiting classes of years past?  The Fizz took a look to figure out where Syracuse’s huge month falls in the recruiting wave.
The incoming recruiting class of 2014 has already signed their letters of intent, and some have enrolled.  In total, there are 24 players joining the Orange for next season and the recruiting class of 2015 is already halfway there.
2014’s class was definitely one of turmoil and it got a very late start because of the Doug Marrone fiasco.  Once Marrone left the Orange for the NFL and Coach Shafer stepped in on Jan. 9 of 2013.  In Shafer’s first month of recruiting as new head coach of the Orange, Syracuse received no commitments.  And, in the second and third months, Shafer only earned two more verbals.  In the same 32-day span that we are currently experiencing (May 16 to June 17) Shafer brought in two players, but received two more by the end of June.  One interesting note is that nine of the 24 players committed to play in Orange during the early stages of 2014.  This is expected, as Shafer and his recruiting team had to put in time to convince the recruits to come to Central New York.
Since 2013 and 2014 recruiting was somewhat of an oddity, let’s take a look at a recruiting class totally unaffected by the coaching change.  2012 was a group of 23 kids.  The bulk of the recruiting was done in the summer of 2011, with nine recruits giving their verbal in June and July alone.  During the same 32-day span that we’ve looked at, Marrone earned only three verbals, who ended up being only his third, fourth, and fifth recruits of the class.  The Orange also snagged three players on National Signing Day, which happens every winter.
So what does this mean for the recruiting class of 2015?  It means that Shafer is doing an outstanding job of drawing players to Syracuse and impressing them enough to receive a commitment this early in the cycle.  It is showing in the rankings, as the Orange have the sixth-best ACC recruiting class. While the quantity is there, Shafer and Co. are still looking for their first 4- or 5-star player.  There should be a further onslaught of recruits through July, and then the commitments will pick up again as National Signing Day approaches.
All in all, Shafer has done a wonderful job with convincing high school players that Syracuse is a desirable place to play.
 Posted by: Jason Weingold
