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Syracuse head coach Fran Brown has been on the recruiting trail all season. On Saturday, the program took another step forward. Over 20 recruits attended SU’s game against Duke, a season-high.

The Orange were coming off a win over Clemson and announced a sellout crowd at the JMA Wireless Dome against the Blue Devils. SU was riding a six-game home winning streak. But Saturday, its run came to a halt as Syracuse fell 38-3.

Still, Brown and his program left a mark on some of the class of 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 prospects in attendance. Despite the loss, many saw continuity in the Orange from a previous visit.

“It’s like a giant family, and obviously they love to compete and I think that’s what makes playing at ‘Cuse so special,” 2029 quarterback Hudson Garrity said. “There’s no pointed fingers. It’s just like ‘How we can get better as a team?’ That was really impressive.”

Recruits noticed SU’s high level of composure and found similarities in its game concepts to their own in high school.

Here are some takeaways from the recruits that attended Syracuse’s matchup with Duke.

Learning drills from SU

Saturday’s visit gave recruits the chance to walk the sidelines before Syracuse clashed with Duke.

Collin Henriques, a 2028 northern Virginia native, arrived at a recruit check-in area before the game and walked with SU scouting assistant Alex Kelly to the Dome. He saw SU players enter the Dome in suits before examining warmups until about 11:45 a.m. As a wide receiver, he mainly focused on SU’s pass catchers.

“They got really fast feet,” Henriques said. “That’s something I can definitely work on on my own.”

Mason Anderson, a 2028 wide receiver who received an offer from Syracuse in March, said the players took warmups seriously, radiating positive energy. Anderson particularly noted some of the receiver drills focused on coming cleanly out of their breaks. They were similar to those his high school coaches had shown him, but he realized he could add them to his repertoire.

“I trained with a couple of my receiver coaches that do some of those drills, but not exactly like that,” Anderson said. “So that’s something I can really work on in season and off season.”

2028 Quarterback recruit Brady Quinn, a native of Florida, poses with SU General manager Thomas Caporale at SU’s loss to Duke Saturday. Courtesy of Brady Quinn

Catching up with coaches, building relationships

While Henriques and other recruits watched pregame warmups on the sidelines, SU coaches made the rounds to speak with them. Despite not yet holding a Syracuse offer, Henriques received attention, which is different from other places he’s visited.

“Some other colleges that I’ve been to, when you go on gameday visits, they don’t talk to you as much,” Henriques said. “I think Syracuse did a great job of really talking to a lot of people.”

After the visit, Henriques said he felt “closer” to Kelly, spending more time with him than most recruits. Kelly told him to look at SU wide receiver Johntay Cook specifically, so he keyed in on him for the game. Kelly also checked in on Henriques after the visit.

“(Kelly) called me on the way home because he knew I had a long drive,” Henriques said. “He’s calling in, checking up and just making sure I made it home safe. He’s a great dude, for sure.”

Osiris Niven, a 2028 prospect who was offered by SU in June, said Syracuse’s coaches told him on Saturday they want him to be versatile. With his 6-foot-2, 230-pound frame, they think he can excel as a defensive end and linebacker that can drop into coverage.

Anderson also caught up with Orange scouting assistant Stack Williams on the visit. The two spoke for about five to eight minutes, and Anderson called their connection “unique,” as Williams has taken the time to get to know Anderson’s family.

“Stack’s my guy, he talked to my grandma and gave her a big hug. So that meant a lot to my grandma, and that meant a lot to me, too,” Anderson said.

How Syracuse handled the loss

The game itself was not pretty for Syracuse. It allowed 35 unanswered points and over 500 yards of offense. Henriques watched SU’s coaches on the sidelines as its deficit to Duke grew. Their mentality never changed, inspiring Henriques and many other recruits.

“They never got down and gave up,” Henriques said. “But even when they were behind 30 points, they were still encouraging their players and fixing up little mistakes that the players made.”

Brady Quinn, a 2028 three-star quarterback, met “pretty much every coach” on SU’s staff, he said. During the game, despite SU starting quarterback Rickie Collins’ struggles, Quinn took some positives from its offense.

“It’s hard sometimes to fill in like that and have success like (Steve) Angeli did,” Quinn said. “But there (were) definitely glimpses in the offense, their first two offensive drives were really good.”

Similarly, Garrity noticed how Collins kept his composure the whole time, despite limited success.

“If they got stopped, he’s just off the field. There’s no pointed fingers at players,” Garrity said. “I thought that was really cool to see how composed he is and I think that’s gonna be a key factor, especially when games get tight.”

Syracuse football is set to host 2028 3⭐️ QB Brady Quinn this fall. The Florida-native is the No. 15 QB in his class and is a Top-200 2028 prospect, per 247Sports.

Offers are from an Aug 10 post.

(Per @CfbRalb on IG) pic.twitter.com/4UcZLUDp4g

— Tim Wilcox (@TimmyWilcox32) August 28, 2025

Similarities between SU and recruits’ game concepts

Quinn has been the starting quarterback at Lely High School (Florida) since the fourth game of his freshman season. Now a sophomore, he’s led Lely to a 3-2 start this season.

Lely’s offense runs similar concepts to SU, Quinn said, which offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon pointed out could help him if he chooses the Orange.

“We have a lot of similar (run-pass option) style plays, and Syracuse does too,” Quinn said. “Coach Nixon said, ‘It would be easy when you come here to transition to that.’”

SU also runs a “pro-style quarterback offense,” which has attracted him to the program, Quinn said. He mentioned his deep ball is strong, something that he could use with Syracuse’s style.

“That’s the offense I want to play in because my best attribute is delivering the ball to the guys,” he said. “I can just drop back and go through my progressions and deliver the throw.”

Garrity noticed those RPO plays as well, among other “more advanced” strategies in Syracuse’s offense, building off when he visited SU’s practice last spring.

Overall, despite the score, the game was beneficial for the Orange’s recruiting efforts.

Published on September 30, 2025 at 11:06 pm
Contact Timmy at: tswilcox@syr.edu | @TimmyWilcox32