Who enrolled early for Syracuse football? (mailbag)

Syracuse, N.Y. — The college football offseason is officially here, and the countdowns have started in earnest for the first Syracuse football game of the Fran Brown era.

The Orange started offseason training Jan. 15, bringing the 2024 group — coaches and players alike — under the same roof in the fullest iteration so far for the first time.

Questions for future mailbags can be directed to eleiker@syracuse.com or my X, formerly known as Twitter, DMs @emleiker.

Q: Of the early football signees do we have more info regarding early enrollees?

Thomas K.

A: With Syracuse University’s spring semester having started Tuesday, I have a full list of football’s early enrollees from its 2024 signing class.

• CB Braheem Long Jr.
• DB/WR Ta’Ron Haile
• CB Marcellus Barnes
• DL Maraad Watson
• DE Caden Brown
• DE KingJoseph Edwards
• DE/Jack Jahide Lesaine Jr.
• OL Noah Rosahac
• RB Yasin Willis
• RB Jaden Hart
• DT Michael Nwokocha (JUCO)

That’s around half of the 21 true freshmen who’ve signed with Syracuse already.

Important to remember that some high schools don’t let students graduate early. I know that’s the case for tight end Jamie Tremble, which is why you don’t see him listed here. Anyone who doesn’t enroll early will join the program in late May for summer sessions and offseason workouts.

All 11 of SU’s incoming transfers are enrolled for the spring session, including recent flipped commit Isaiah Hastings.

Q: How surprised are you about Fran Brown’s meteoric effect on Syracuse University’s recruiting results in such little time?

Ed H.

A: To some degree, I feel like I still haven’t even processed just how crazy December was in terms of what Brown was able to do with recruiting. There was a LOT going on.

It definitely surprised me a little, though. Obviously, all we heard about him in the first week following the announcement of his hire was what an ace recruiter he was. But he had just a smidge over two weeks between his introduction and early signing day.

That’s a crazy turnaround to win over current recruits, convince ones you’ve recruited elsewhere to take a chance on your new program and also farm the transfer portal to create a Top 50 recruiting class in the country.

As I wrote in this piece back in December though, Brown did it with ease, and now he’s set a high bar for himself moving forward.

Q: How do you think Cuse will fill out the OL after such a light recruiting/transfer class in that position group?

Alex L.

A: The Orange have picked up a couple offensive linemen since this was submitted — Georgia transfer Joshua Miller and Howard transfer Da’Metrius Weatherspoon — but it’s still a fair question.

I think if the Orange can land one more transfer who has collegiate game experience (Weatherspoon does but Miller doesn’t), then they’ll be in a good spot for the year. Right now I’d say they’re in a manageable one.

With the two additions, Syracuse appears to have 17 scholarship offensive linemen heading into 2024. It’s a decent number for depth at the position: Ten will be on the depth chart with the remaining seven on the bench.

The starting group will likely be some combination of J’Onre Reed, David Wohlabaugh, Enrique Cruz, Kalan Ellis, Joe More, Miller and Weatherspoon. They’re almost certainly the best seven in the group, though we still need to see Miller and Weatherspoon play.

Josh Ilaoa, Mark Petry and Jakob Bradford return as depth chart backups.

The rest of the bench is mostly younger guys who will need some development, including Syracuse’s Class of 2024 signees Noah Rosahac and Willie Goodacre.

If injuries force Syracuse to dip beyond its top 10, then things might get dicey, not necessarily because the talent coming up isn’t good enough, but because an 18 year old in his first year of a collegiate strength and nutrition program is often not anywhere near the size to compete against starting defensive linemen.

Q: Any word on what Dino Babers will be doing next? It’s been awfully quiet and was curious if he is done with coaching football.

Tom L

A: I have not heard about what Babers’ next move will be.

I could see him in a personnel role at the collegiate level, as the respect for and good relationships most of the players had with him here were obvious. That type of position could draw well on his military roots, too.

I know some people could see him getting into broadcasting because of his quick-flying pop culture references and his storytelling abilities.

But he’s also a husband, father and grandpa, and might take this time to spend with his ohana after a long career with limited downtime.

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