Three Predictions: Florida, Syracuse, Carsyn Baker
Jeff McCulloch/Rivals.com
Rivals national recruiting analyst John Garcia Jr. has predictions on a potential commitment run for Florida, Syracuse's success recruiting receivers and a speed running back that could be playing college football out-of-state.
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THE FLORIDA GATOR RUN HAS ARRIVED
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Official visit season is congruent with commitment season and many programs should see the numbers run up in the class of 2026, especially those with little volume in the rising-senior class to date.
Florida fits that bill with just two commitments entering last weekend. The program has already doubled that number and with the group of prospects expected to see The Swamp in the coming weeks, we don't expect that momentum to slow down.
The offensive line may be low-hanging fruit in this exercise, with in-state standouts Chancellor Campbell and Javarii Luckas taking official visits in back to back weekends. Whenever Javeion Cooper reschedules his trip to Gainesville, that one will pick up momentum as well.
Elsewhere in the state the buzz remains with Florida for blue-chip defensive back CJ Hester after his weekend in town, too. Beyond the state line, Florida is feeling good about recent visitors such as pass rusher JaReylan McCoy and running back Carsyn Baker, among others. We would be surprised if the commitment list isn't sitting in double-digits a few weeks from now.
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SYRACUSE WILL HIT BIG AT WIDE RECEIVER
The more national recruiting battles Fran Brown and company jump in on, the stronger the confidence behind the pursuit gets. Syracuse holds a top-20 class with multiple blue-chippers already on board, but it has its eye on a major headliner at the wide receiver position to potentially be locked down over the next month.
The top in-state recruit, and one of the nation's hottest wideouts on the trail, is one. Messiah Hampton is a Rochester native, some 90 minutes from campus, and he has felt the press from Brown and company since they took over in Central New York. Oregon and Miami are the top contenders working on an upset ahead of a June 13 decision date.
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The big national name SU is pushing for, and also contending with, is Calvin Russell. The two-sport star from Miami won't be an easy win over the Hurricanes, where he has serious family ties, but SU has hosted him a few times and should get a return trip in the form of an official visit as Oregon, LSU, Florida and many others jockey for position ahead of Russell's July 5 verbal commitment date.
Those big brands once made these recruitments easier to project, but in this era and with the momentum SU has created, we're calling the shot for the Orange to snag one of these class headliners in the coming weeks.
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SPEEDY RB BAKER PLAYS BEYOND THE STATE OF GEORGIA
We mentioned Florida feeling good about Baker coming out of an official visit two weekends ago, and the feeling is mutual as far as we can tell. There is some visit shuffle, with Ohio State now out of the picture, in this one as a potential verbal commitment inches closer. Georgia and Georgia Tech both had a hand on the in-state recruit's list but that momentum seems destined for the past tense at this time. Along the with Gators, Florida State and South Carolina could be among the favorites for one of the nation's fastest running back recruits.
Should the timeline remain accelerated and the visits come together as we currently hear they are – with FSU on deck to host Baker this weekend – then playing outside of state lines in college appears to be a safer bet with the blue-chipper. Florida may be the trendy selection as of this writing, but the remaining visits could challenge that notion in short order.
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