Dino Babers and his staff have added another offensive player to the class of 2017 after the unrated Wide Receiver Sharod Johnson committed to Syracuse on Sunday. Johnson also held offers from seven other schools, including Temple, Toledo and Miami (OH) according to 247.
Johnson becomes the fourth member of Syracuse’s class of 2017, and the second wide receiver in the class after Daewood Davis also committed to the Orange. It is not surprising that the early stages of this recruiting cycle see Babers targeting offensive players. It is no secret that Babers is an offense-first coach and desires to bring his fast-paced, exciting offense to the Dome.
The Class of 2017 has four total members in these early stages. The two wide receivers, quarterback Tommy DeVito and outside linebacker Isaiah McDuffie.
Johnson has the build and the speed of a slot receiver. He stands at 5-10 and weighs 163 pounds. His forty-yard dash time is 4.63. He is currently wrapping up his junior year at Washington Varsity High School in Miami, Florida.
Florida is always a crucial state for a coach to recruit as it constantly turns out some of the best talent. Babers made it clear on National Signing Day that he wants to focus on New York and the surrounding states when scouting talent, but, the early stages of this cycle have shown, he knows that he cannot ignore Florida.
Syracuse has offers out to more than a dozen other Florida products, including four-star athlete Juwan Burgess out of Plant, the high school of Rex Culpepper and Scoop Bradshaw of the Class of 2016.
It is still very early in the recruiting cycle, but there may just be a pattern taking shape in Dino Babers’ first full year of recruiting for Syracuse. He is attempting to live up to his pitch to recruits, that “Orange is the new fast”. He will certainly look to rebuild the Syracuse defense, which has struggled the last couple of seasons, but he will, at the same time, continue to add fast, athletic players to the offense.
