According to 247sports.com, The Syracuse Orange have the No. 53 ranked recruiting class in the nation, and have the most players committed of any team in the ACC.
Considering the season that the Orange put together in 2014 both of these statistics would appear to be signs of improvement, but looks can be deceiving.
Of the Orange’s 26 commits, 25 of them are classified as 3-star recruits on ESPN RecruitingNation (the other, Matt Keller, is unranked.) Syracuse’s class may be No. 53 in the nation, but is No. 13 in the ACC alone, putting them above only Pittsburgh in the conference recruiting race.
The problem with the Orange Рas is the problem for too many teams in college football – is that when you’re at the bottom it’s difficult to move up. There’s no draft, trading, or free agency for the worst teams to get players from; the rich tend to get richer. While Syracuse was at the top of the Big East, the move to the ACC has pushed them down to the bottom of the food chain. The Orange are now recruiting against teams like Clemson and Florida State who have top 5 recruiting classes.
The bottom line is that getting the Orange back to bowl contention and onwards may be a bit harder than some anticipate. This year’s class may look impressive, and for all any of us know there could be breakout stars and future NFL players within the crop of recruits, but it’s a long climb up the mountain of ACC football.
Posted:  Nathan Dickinson
