By now, everyone knows that Fran Brown is an elite recruiter. Ever since becoming Syracuse’s head coach, Brown has landed many highly-touted recruits out of the transfer portal and high school ranks.
So who’s next? Well, it could be Zaevion Cleveland. The three star cornerback in the class of 2026 released his top six today and, you guessed it, Syracuse made the list.
The Orange are joined by fellow ACC schools Virginia, Duke, Virginia Tech, as well as Old Dominion and UConn.
The biggest challenges of those six figure to be Virginia and Virginia Tech since Cleveland is from Virginia. But the timeline of this announcement surely favors the Orange. Looking through the cornerback’s X account, you can see that just on May 20 he received his offer from Syracuse. Not even 20 days later, the Orange made his list.
Another positive? He reposted two other players that recently received offers from the Orange.
While that’s certainly reading between the lines, picking up an offer from Cleveland would be yet another gem to Cuse’s 2026 class. In Cleveland, the Orange would be getting a straight up athlete. In high school, he also is a very stellar basketball player and could warrant some college looks on the court.
But more importantly, he’s a standout on the gridiron. Cleveland was named first-team all region as a junior while playing on both sides of the ball. He’d likely be a defensive player in the college ranks. And while playing as a CB this year, Cleveland showcased great ball coverage and at least three pick-sixes.
And he also showcased speed and pass catching abilities on the offensive side of things as wide receiver.
While no commitment date has been set quite yet for Cleveland, he’s certainly a player to follow for SU fans.
