When Syracuse and Tennessee meet in the Kickoff Classic to open the college football season, it’s not just a marquee matchup. This is also a recruiting showcase in one of the nation’s deepest high school football hotbeds: Atlanta. This is a state that produced over 200 Power 5 signees last year. Syracuse has 7 Georgia players on its roster, while Tennessee has a whopping 20.
Why Tennessee Said Yes to Atlanta
Tennessee has one of the greatest college football stadiums in the nation. For Tennessee, playing Syracuse in Knoxville would have been an easy sellout. But in Atlanta, the Vols aren’t selling tickets – they’re selling themselves to recruits.
The Vols, just like most of the SEC, have recruited Georgia heavily in recent years, battling Georgia, Clemson, Auburn, and Alabama for talent. Several Georgia-born players played in Tennessee’s playoff loss to Ohio State last season. The Volunteers continue to identify elite talent in the area making an Atlanta showcase all the more impactful for recruiting.
What It Means for Syracuse
Syracuse knows it has limited high-level recruits it can pull from in the surrounding states, while the south has so many 3-star and 4-star players, some of them have to leave the area for starting job opportunities. As Syracuse modernized its recruiting approach in the 2000s, Georgia and Florida became a significant target. When SU leveled up into the ACC a few years later, it became mandatory for the Orange to pluck talent from the southeast.
Syracuse vs. Tennessee in the Kickoff Classic is Fran Brown’s backyard. His time as a Georgia assistant helped land him the Syracuse job, and put him on the map as a potential head coach. Brown saw how a championship team was built just a stone throw from Atlanta in Athens. Returning to Georgia is a chance for him to remind so many of the high school coaches in the area the type of job he’s doing at Syracuse. For Fran Brown, the message to Atlanta-area recruits is simple: come to Syracuse, and you’ll still play games in your backyard – against the biggest names in college football.
Brown has done an amazing job in recruiting over his first two years at Syracuse. An upset over Tennessee would not only make national news. It would plant Brown’s flag in Atlanta and the state of Georgia that he is building something special at Syracuse, and here’s another reason to be part of it.
Atlanta = Recruiting Capital
Georgia produces more Power 5 recruits than almost any state besides Texas, California, and Florida.
Syracuse starters like Derek McDonald (Atlanta) and Marcus Washington (Grovetown) will return home, while Tennessee boasts Georgia stars like Mike Matthews (WR) and Tyre West (DL). Between the two rosters, nearly 30 players hail from Georgia — proof of how crucial the state is to both programs.”
An Ourlands depth chart reveals several Georgia products as starters to watch for Tennessee in the opener:
Mike Matthews (starting WR)
Joshua Josephs (starting edge)
Jeremiah Telander (starting linebacker)
Tyre West (starting DE)
Several more players are listed as second-string on the depth chart. There will be no shortage of Georgia talent on the field when Syracuse plays Tennessee in the Kickoff Classic.
Programs fight for visibility there, and a prime-time ESPN slot in Atlanta is like a commercial for your brand. These types of neutral-site games often serve this dual recruiting purpose.
Fran Brown’s Opportunity
Brown has already turned heads with a ten-win season last year and some massive recruiting victories. He has the Georgia pipeline to high school talent from his days on the Bulldogs staff. He is now known as a tremendous “builder” of relationships. This is a chance to say: “Syracuse belongs on this stage.” Even a competitive showing against a playoff-tested Tennessee team could turn heads — with recruits in Georgia seeing firsthand that Syracuse belongs on this stage.
Is Atlanta a smart stage for Syracuse’s recruiting efforts, or would a win be the only way to move the needle?
