In the wake of Jim Boeheim’s interview a week and a half ago, it’s hard to not have a semblance of a smile while writing this. Nonetheless, Elijah Moore became the first of hopefully many commits to pledge to Syracuse while benefitting from an NIL deal with Adam Weitsman. Now that there’s one player in the Class of 2024 in the Orange’s back pocket, they can ideally hit the ground running to bring in more. Weitsman should play a big part in that.
It’s no secret that Weitsman has plenty of funds should he want to give money to more players. Guests including Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen have already made their way to a game this season, and Damar Hamlin is slated to make an appearance at the Duke game this weekend. The point here is that Weitsman has so much money to the point where he can give 247 Sports’ #74 recruit in the Class of 2024 a large sum of money. Weitsman should have no problems dolling out money to recruits of a higher nature (and that isn’t to say Moore is bad at all).
However, it sets a dangerous precedence. We don’t know exactly how much money Moore is getting, but let’s say he is getting the full $1 million Weitsman has offered. If Moore commands that much, it sets an expectation for recruits like Marcus Adams and Jalik Dunkley-Distant. Additionally, if they command that much, what is a 5-star recruit like Boogie Fland going to demand? Weitsman can certainly afford to give that money to recruits, but it’s almost as if he is now the determining factor in whether Player X comes or doesn’t come to the 315.
Now that it has been utilized once, there’s no excuse to not continue to utilize the opportunity SU has in front of it. There are still zero commits in the Class of 2023, might Weitsman money have the capability to put that to an end? Because of what Weitsman has pledged to do, the expectations for recruiting have grown (as they should). While that is exciting, it’s also dangerous. As the Boeheim era nears its end (supposedly), the future of the program could shift for the better if the cards are played the right way.
