Breaking: Four Star CB Commits to Prominent Team Over Ole Miss

Syracuse football has landed a commitment from four star Chattanooga (TN) McCallie School cornerback Marcellus Barnes. Barnes jumped on the Syracuse radar shortly after Fran Brown was officially introduced. An official visit was quickly scheduled and that trip sealed the deal. Barnes made the announcement on Saturday during the first quarter of the All-American Bowl on NBC.

Following the commitment, the official Syracuse football X (formerly Twitter) account posted the addition of Barnes. That means he signed during the earlier period but announcing his inclusion in the class was held so that Barnes could make his intentions public during the All-American Bowl.

Previously, Barnes listed Georgia and Ole Miss as his top two and he was looking to visits to each school prior to National Signing Day. Coach Brown was his lead recruiter at Georgia, but the 5-11, 170 pounder also had strong relationships with Will Muschamp and Kirby Smart. Syracuse, though, got the first crack to make a big impression and did enough to earn his commitment.

Barnes is rated a four star prospect by On3 and the 192nd best prospect overall. Rivals also has Barnes as a four star. 247Sports and ESPN rate him as a three star recruit.

Besides the Orange, Barnes holds offers from Baylor, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest among others.

Fran Brown was only been the coach at Syracuse for a matter of weeks when the effect of his recruiting prowess was already being felt with high profile, elite prospects taking a much more serious look at the Orange. That includes taking official visits with National Signing Day rapidly approaching.

 

 

 

‘Impact Players!’ Rebels Projected in Top Tier of 2024 Southeastern Conference

The hype appears to be legit surrounding the 2024 Ole Miss Rebels, owning one of the top 10 betting odds for the national title next season on the heels of an 11-2 campaign.

Athlon Sportsrecently projected the field for the new-look Southeastern Conference next fall, and the Rebels made the top tier of the projections, coming in at No. 4 out of the soon-to-be-16-team league. You can read an excerpt from the piece below.

4. Ole Miss Quarterback Jaxson Dart returns to lead one of the SEC’s top offenses in ’24. Also, the optimism meter is running high in Oxford thanks to the big-time portal additions to boost a defense that allowed 26.9 points a game in coordinator Pete Golding’s debut. Coach Lane Kiffin added impact players at every level, including lineman Walter Nolen, linebacker Chris Paul Jr., and defensive backs Key Lawrence, Tamarion McDonald, and Decamerion Richardson. Jaxson Dart’s intent to return for “The Last Dance” with the Rebels can be viewed as the biggest land of the offseason thus far, but not by much. Kiffin & Co. have secured one of the top transfer portal classes in the country, and they have also garnered the return of other offensive talent like wide receivers Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins. One of the biggest blows thus far for Ole Miss has come at the running back position where Quinshon Judkins opted to enter the transfer portal after the Rebels’ 38-25 win in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl over the Penn State Nittany Lions. Still, his departure has not seemed to dull much of the momentum at Ole Miss as its transfer portal endeavors continue to unfold in this latest cycle. Just how far the Rebels can go in 2024 is TBD, but this isn’t the first national hype that they have received since the final whistle in Atlanta on Dec. 30. According to BetOnline, Ole Miss has the seventh-best odds to win the national title in 2024 behind what appears to be a stout roster being retained in Oxford.