5-star football recruit Calvin Russell III to join Syracuse basketball
Five-star football recruit Calvin Russell III will join Syracuse basketball this season, SU Athletics confirmed Sunday. Courtesy of NETWORK
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Five-star football recruit Calvin Russell III will join Syracuse basketball this season, SU Athletics confirmed Sunday. The Daily Orange originally reported the news on Tuesday after hearing from Russell’s mother, Chanivia Broussard. Russell will practice with the team and be available to play.
Russell enrolled early with the Orange’s football team, arriving on campus Thursday, per Broussard. As the highest-rated football signee in SU’s modern era, Russell also evolved into a star basketball player at Miami Northwestern Senior High School (Florida).
Broussard, who starred at Miami in the early 2000s and is a member of its Hall of Fame, told The D.O. she thinks her son is currently better at basketball than football. Russell’s agent, Justin J. Giangrande, said a similar idea, adding that Russell is more polished at basketball entering college but has more potential in football.
“With basketball, it comes quite naturally to him,” Broussard said. “It’s like a family, household thing.”
At 6-foot-5, 190 pounds, Russell is expected to be a physical player for the Orange with his athleticism.
“We talked about him coming in here and bringing a lot of energy and just kind of figuring things out,” Autry said last Monday of Russell.
Russell’s basketball recruitment began with Dusty May at FAU, and continued as May moved on to Michigan. Broussard said his SU recruitment began with Autry traveling to Florida in Russell’s sophomore year to see him play. Syracuse head coach Fran Brown also watched his basketball game and encouraged Russell to play both in college, per Broussard.
Giangrande told The D.O. that Broussard will attend Syracuse’s game against Florida State Tuesday evening. He added that both Brown and Autry have built a plan for how Russell can balance playing both football and basketball throughout his SU career. Giangrande did not specify details of the plan.
