Professional sports have the trade deadline.  College sports have national signing day and the craziness leading up to football National Signing Day has certainly affected Syracuse.  The Orange have picked up a couple of key commits over the past week.  Though Syracuse lost a recruit as well, overall the past week has been kind to the Orange.
Chief among these big moves was the addition of former Wisconsin-commit, defensive end, Jake Pickard.  Pickard reconsidered his commitment to Wisconsin after head coach Gary Andersen left for Oregon State.  Pickard is likely to be a key part of the defensive line for the Orange in the future.
Earlier in the week Syracuse fans learned that commit Steven Clark would indeed be coming up to Syracuse next year.  The defensive tackle turned down offers from Florida and Ole Miss to join Pickard on the Orange defensive line.  The Orange also added defensive back, Kielan Whitner.
With these late additions came one subtraction.  Dana Levine, another defensive end, announced this week that he has decommitted from Syracuse after taking visits to Temple and South Florida.
With this crazy week behind them, and National Signing Day only one day away, the Orange find themselves with a relatively strong recruiting class.  One could look at the numbers and be skeptical.  According toESPN, there are no 4-star recruits in this year’s class after the Orange picked up three four-star recruits in 2014.
While this may raise alarms with some fans, it is important for one to take a step back and evaluate the needs of the team and how these needs were addressed.
The Orange found suitable replacements for running back Prince-Tyson Gulley in Dontae Strickland and Jordan Fredericks.  Syracuse improved the offensive line by picking up two offensive tackles and three offensive guards.  The defensive line is probably the most promising position in this recruiting class and likes of Pickard and Clark are sure to have huge impacts in the near future.
While everything will become clearly after National Signing Day, it appears like the Orange will have a recruiting class of 27.  Schafer and his staff were able to address several big needs of the team and the late additions to the class make it all the more promising.
Posted:  Logan Grossman
