D
arrell Gill Jr. was ready to give up his dreams of playing Division I football. It was January of Gill’s senior year, and his recruitment wasn’t picking up steam. It hadn’t even started.
When you put up over 1,000 receiving yards with 12 touchdowns at a powerhouse like Atascocita High School (Texas), that typically wouldn’t be a problem. For Gill, it was. Division II schools came knocking, though Gill wasn’t interested. He refused to place a financial burden on his mother, Vertina. A full scholarship was the only satisfactory measure.
That’s why Gill was prepared to attend Texas State as a triple-jumper and high-jumper while running the 200-meter in track and field.
Little did Gill know, over 1,600 miles away from his hometown of Atascocita, the trajectory of his recruitment would change his life forever.
Three years after his football future was in doubt, Gill is now Syracuse’s top receiver. The days as a little-known, unranked recruit with two Football Subdivision offers are behind him. Though his numbers from last season — 31 receptions, 570 yards and two touchdowns — don’t jump off the page, with Oronde Gadsden II and Jackson Meeks graduating and Trebor Peña’s shocking transfer to Penn State, somebody has to be Steve Angeli’s go-to target. Gill is ready for that task.
“Darrell just has a real natural ability to just be patient,” Vertina said. “He knows how to seize the opportunity when it’s presented.”
Hannah Mesa | Illustration Editor
Gill would’ve never ended up at SU without the help of Patrick Truesdale, the head of Bayou City Preps, a Houston-based recruiting service. Before Gill’s senior season at Atascocita, Vertina was introduced to Truesdale through a mutual friend, who knew Darrell was struggling with his recruiting. Still, his recruitment remained stalled until Truesdale crossed paths with then-Syracuse wide receiver coach Michael Johnson at a coaching conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Johnson said he was looking for high school receivers. Without hesitation, Truesdale showed him Gill’s highlights. Johnson was hooked. Truesdale scheduled a phone call with Gill’s family, and within a week, Johnson watched Gill work out on Atascocita High School’s turf. Johnson was impressed with Gill’s body control and speed in both football and track practice and felt that with the right coaching, he’d be a great fit for the Orange.
By the end of the month, Gill received a scholarship offer after taking an official visit to SU. Days earlier, he’d obtained his first FBS offer from Washington State, but Gill and his family hit it off with Johnson. Gill said Johnson was one of the “first people to believe in him,” and on Feb. 1, 2023, he committed to Syracuse.
“I’m big on present value and future value,” said Johnson, now SU’s tight ends coach. “I think, the present value is where players are when you see them, and then the future value is when you see them two years after you coach him. And I thought that (Gill’s) future value and his upside was going to be great.”
It wasn’t always smooth sailing at Syracuse. Gill was buried on the depth chart as a freshman and recorded just seven catches, while Syracuse finished 6-7. Dino Babers was fired, and Fran Brown was hired in November 2023. As customary with any new coach in the transfer portal era, players under the previous regime might be phased out.
Initially, that’s what happened with Gill, but he wouldn’t budge. Brown even asked Gill to play cornerback, a position he hadn’t played since middle school. Gill was blunt, telling Brown he only wanted to play receiver. Brown obliged, as long as Gill learned the playbook and listened to the coaches’ advice.
Standing up to Brown was bold, but Vertina said she and Gill’s father, Darrell Sr., always told their son to be a man of his word. Gill said his goal was to become a star receiver at Syracuse, and he was going to honor that.
“I have a plan in my head, so I got to stay about it. I’m committed to the plan,” Gill said. “So when the plan becomes action and I’m on course, I can’t go off of it.”
In spring 2024, Gill was in a slump. Meeks noticed it right away. He told Gill, “Greatness doesn’t come in one big chunk, you have to nibble at it.” Meeks always strived to improve at one thing in every practice, and he wanted Gill to think similarly.
“It changed the way I viewed everything,” Gill said. “It changed the way I received and perceived information to where I can actually use it in my everyday life.”
When the season began, the results weren’t instant. Meeks, Peña and Gadsden stole the spotlight, but Gill’s flashes were evident. Meeks remembers a practice in early October where Gill caught five go-balls and couldn’t be stopped. He knew Gill’s breakout was coming.
On Nov. 23, 2024, against UConn, it happened. Despite Kyle McCord being the most proficient passer in the country, Gill only had 17 catches for 235 yards through 8 appearances.
Gill nearly doubled that against the Huskies, hauling in nine catches for 185 yards. It was the best day for a Syracuse receiver since Steve Ishmael’s 187 yards against Boston College in 2017. Gill’s encore came at the Holiday Bowl, where he had 145 yards on four receptions. Within three games, Gill went from being an afterthought to a reliable deep ball threat.
“In order for you to become a confident athlete, you got to go make plays, you’ve got to accomplish things. And (Gill’s) starting to do that.” Johnson said. “He did a little bit last year. So this is his breakout year, where he can go out now and make more plays.”
The theme surrounding Gill is that he just needs a chance. It dates back to his time at Atascocita, where he also waited his turn.
He entered high school standing 6 feet, 145 pounds, per Atascocita head coach Craig Stump. His wiry frame forced him to play on the freshman team, but his straight-line speed and leaping ability provided a pathway to earning varsity snaps, Stump said.
By the time he finished high school, Gill ran the 200-meter in 21.92 seconds and had a 42-inch vertical. The building blocks were always there; he just needed to get stronger.
Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer
Gill rarely missed offseason lifting sessions and over three years added 30 pounds of muscle. As a sophomore, he was the leading receiver on junior varsity, leading to his first taste of varsity the following year. However, with all-district performers and future D-I prospects like Chase Sowell (Iowa State) and Keith Wheeler (Houston Christian), Gill’s targets were limited.
Atascocita offensive coordinator Joshua Stump said Gill always trusted the process. He wasn’t result-oriented and knew his time would come if he kept his head down.
Once Gill got his chance at Atascocita, he flourished. He blew by cornerbacks and even if they stuck with him, Gill would haul in any 50-50 ball tossed his way, according to Stump, adding he’s never coached someone who could jump like Gill.
By the halfway point of the season, Truesdale felt Gill was a bona fide Power Four recruit. He said Gill was outperforming nationally ranked receiving prospects in the area. Gill’s only problem? He could only show his senior tape.
Stump, who was a D-I assistant for over a decade, said schools rely less on senior film nowadays with the transfer portal becoming more prevalent. He added that 10 years ago, someone with Gill’s trajectory would’ve earned at least a dozen offers. Instead, Gill was left scrambling, though in the end it worked out when Syracuse came calling.
“I was hoping that something would happen for him because he deserved it,” Stump said. “You see a lot of guys that don’t deserve it. It was just good to see that it did work out for him, that now he got to make the most of it.”
Stump now uses Gill as an example to younger players on how to wait for the right opportunity. That’s why Gill was quick on his feet when Peña’s out-of-the-blue transfer portal entry happened on April 15.
Syracuse was already losing 51% (2,476 yards) of its receiving production with the departures of Meeks, Gadsden and LeQuint Allen Jr. With Peña gone, that number increased to 71%. Out of nowhere, Gill became Syracuse’s No. 1 receiver.
Peña’s absence doesn’t mean SU’s receiving room lost its depth. It added Texas transfer Johntay Cook, while Justus Ross-Simmons had a healthy offseason. Meanwhile, redshirt freshmen Jaylan Hornsby and Emanuel Ross are also looking to break through.
Each of them will presumably jockey for targets, but right now, Gill’s leading the pack. Hornsby said Gill texts the receivers’ group chat 30 minutes before each team meeting, making sure they’re not late. He’s also spent ample time with younger receivers after practice, reviewing routes and catching balls on the jug machine. Gill admitted the role took some getting used to because he’s more of a lead-by-example player, but he’s filled the void perfectly.
Vertina said during the offseason that some Big Ten and Big 12 schools reached out to Gill’s agency, Athlete Advantage, to see if he would transfer. Gill wanted no part of it. Syracuse was one of the only schools to give him a chance, and he wasn’t going to turn his back on it.
Gill’s maturation hasn’t gone unnoticed. Brown said the receiver is “at the time of his life where he can go and get it.” The second-year head coach described it as “scary” because Gill knows his potential. Brown said it’s up to him and wide receiver coach Myles White to put Gill in a position to succeed.
If Brown’s learned anything about Gill, it’s that he’s not easily fazed. From nearly giving up football to almost having to transfer and change positions, before finding himself yearning for targets, the roadblocks in Gill’s career have been plentiful.
Though each one has shaped him into the player he is today. Now Gill’s ready to explode.
“When he truly believes it, fills it with all of the energy in his body,” Brown said. “Then he’ll be a superstar.”
Photograph courtesy of SU Athletics
Published on August 28, 2025 at 12:02 am