It almost doesn’t seem real. But the impossible has happened.
Syracuse Football has landed a five-star recruit. Calvin Russell, one of the top wide receiver prospects in the Class of 2026, made his highly-awaited college decision Saturday night, choosing SU over a slew of blue bloods – Michigan, Florida State and Oregon.
Russell, who would be the highest-rated recruit ever for Syracuse football, marks a new step for Fran Brown in his legacy as a serious recruiter in the Power Five landscape.
The receiver, playing under former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater at Miami Northwestern High School, had 13 touchdowns and 704 yards this past fall.
The 2026 class has been a busy one for Syracuse with now 26 verbal commitments. But it has been a plethora of three-stars and a few four-stars. Russell is a whole new league for SU, one that the Orange haven’t competed in for a long time.
Oh, and Fran Brown also is doing work for Adrian Autry. It’s being reported that Ressell, who is a star basketball player in Miami as well, will play for Syracuse Men’s Basketball too. If this is true, that would be the first 2026 recruit for basketball. Move over Donovan McNabb, Calvin Russell is here
While Russell is a huge prize in and of himself, this also signals a major moment for Syracuse Football as a program. It’s not just any program that has the ability to land five-star prospects. If you look at who in the 2026 class has landed players of this caliber, it’s teams that are contending for the College Football Playoff year in and year out. Now Syracuse is right there.
There’s quantity of recruits, and Fran Brown has done a great job of getting a lot of guys into Syracuse uniforms. But now SU is showing up with the quality of recruits as well, and Calvin Russell is a shining example for that.
