Optimists would say that Syracuse’s recruiting class will get a little bigger today; pessimists would say the opposite. New Jersey safety Najee Clayton and Alabama defensive end Steven Clark are going to make their collegiate decisions in a few hours time. SU is firmly in the hunt for both players, but nothing is guaranteed. These two look to be be the final players Syracuse can realistically add to its 2015 class before National Signing Day on February 4th.
SU is up against Rutgers and Pitt in the race for Clayton. The safety visited New Brunswick this past weekend and said he bonded with Rutgers tight end commit Nakia Griffin. Clayton received his Pitt offer last Wednesday. He officially visited Syracuse with commits Dontae Strickland, Daivon Ellison, and Tyrone Perkins as well as targets Nate Howard and Jake Pickard two weeks ago.
A Clayton commitment would be vital for the Orange because the team only has two scholarship safeties on the roster heading into the spring. They are junior Chauncey Scissum and sophomore Rodney Williams. 2015 safety commits Christopher Frederick and Marquise Blair will bring Syracuse up to four safeties when they arrive in the summer, but even with those two, the Orange clearly lacks depth at the position. A Clayton commitment would help fix that.
Only Florida stands in the way of Syracuse landing Clark. The defensive tackle committed to SU in December, but the Gators have recently offered Clark an offensive lineman scholarship. Location wise it would make sense for the tackle to flip, seeing as he’s from Alabama. The good news for SU though is that Clark said he does not want to play on an o-line in college. Let’s see what happens…
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Posted:  Connor Morrissette
