Syracuse didn’t just beat the brakes off of Georgetown yesterday on the hardcourt. The game also served as a recruiting tool for the football team, which is in the midst of handling the most crazy season in all of CFB. Not only is Dino Babers preparing for the Pinstripe Bowl, he’s looking for a new defensive coordinator, trying to re-recruit his own players and high school stars. The gridiron gang brought some of its staffers to the game with prospects in tow.
While the Fizz was at the game, we saw Babers with some massive human beings behind him, and two of those committed over the weekend. The first ball to drop was offensive tackle Joe More, who will play his sixth and final year of collegiate football in the Dome.
More is a 6-foot-5, 302 pound grad transfer from Richmond (whose football program is in the FCS). Syracuse was his first power five offer, beating out Memphis, Appalachian State and San Diego State. More played tackle for the Spiders, but has some experience at guard as well. The Franklin, Tenn. native is an interesting addition to an offensive line room which is (probably) missing both its starting left and right tackles next year. One of those jobs could be his, given the way Enrique Cruz struggled filling in at right tackle this year. The key piece for More is his durability. He’s played 28 of Richmond’s 29 games over the past three seasons.
The other piece is much more of a project. After a last-minute decision to change his schedule from a Buffalo visit to a Syracuse visit, Vincent Carroll-Jackson pledged to the Orange last night, and get this…he’s only played football for one year. In his senior season at Harrisburg (PA) Central Dauphin East HS, he had 55 tackles, 24 TFLs, 3 sacks and two forced fumbles.
It wasn’t just the SU staffers who took notice of this either. Carroll-Jackson has offers from Florida and Georgia (!), along with normal ‘Cuse competitors like Rutgers, UConn and Pitt. The Orange have had great success with Kevin Jobity, another D-lineman who played one year of prep football then saw meaningful snaps against Clemson, and this was probably a big part of their recruiting pitch. DL coach Chris Achuff was Carroll-Jackson’s primary recruiter, and made a quick connection with the the 6-foot-5, 285 pounder.
“Me and him just click,” Carroll-Jackson said. “I can’t explain it. He brings the energy. He will match you every time.”
247sports.com
Despite losing two coordinators, it seems as if the Orange are picking up steam on the recruiting front! The train rolls on to the Pinstripe Bowl on December 29.
