After Syracuse’s worst record since 2005, there were some fans clamoring for the end of the Dino Babers era at Syracuse.
While we could focus on the opts-outs, the injuries are the sheer inexperience of the team, today we’re going to focus on a different area. With Early National Signing Day less than a week away, The Fizz is turning our attention to the players who haven’t arrived on campus.
The 2021 Syracuse recruiting class is tied for Babers’ best recruiting class at Syracuse — along with the 2018 class. That class brought in stars like Trill Williams, Taj Harris and Andre Cisco.
Meanwhile the 2021 class only has 21 commits. In a normal year, Babers would be looking to bring in around 25 players, but that could change due to seniors deciding to come back and use their extra year of eligibility.
In Babers’ worst year as head coach, it’s a testament to the faith that incoming players have in his program not to decommit. Generally when a season doesn’t go as a school or coach may expect, some of the top commits in the class decide to look elsewhere. That hasn’t happened for the Orange. Instead, 247Sports is reporting that all but one (Jaelin Moss) of SU’s recruits plan to sign early.
Right now Syracuse’s class ranks 12th in the ACC, ahead of just Duke and Wake Forest. While that’s a few spots lower than where the Orange generally rank in conference recruiting rankings, the ACC is recruiting at a higher clip than the past few years.
In the downtrodden 2020 season, it’s difficult to imagine that Syracuse had much success in recruiting uncommitted players to the 2021 class. That could explain why SU hasn’t added a commit since September. At the same time, classes filled up earlier this year as players seemed eager to commit in early summer due to COVID-19.
With young players gaining experience this year, and one of the best recruiting classes under Babers, Syracuse seems well positioned to discard the 2020 season as a fluke. And with the return of Tommy DeVito, Josh Black and Airon Servais, SU is returning some of its most prominent players.
