Orange Watch: Calvin Russell commitment shows Syracuse brand is soaring

We are about two weeks away from the three-day ACC Football Kickoff preseason media festivities, that is when you know the drums will seriously start beating for the upcoming 2025 SU season.

Already the ‘Cuse second-year head coach has created plenty of attention for himself and his program, which is exactly the way he likes it, so move over Bill Belichick and UNC bring on those Orange-hued questions in Charlotte.

The Syracuse recruiting stock is trending up.

Last summer Brown was grinding behind the scenes while gliding to adulation through his first recruiting class in the 2025 cycle. Touting his DART philosophy to attentive recruits (and their parents) zeroed-in on by his staff both within the traditional six hour driving radius of campus in the northeast, and in the talent-rich (fast/athletic) southeast started to pay off dividends.

This summer, Brown has continued to deliver on his promises. The verbal commitment July 5 from Miami 4–5-star WR Calvin “Gump” Russell could be the linchpin to keeping Syracuse’s recruiting success consistently among the top teams in the ACC, and nationally among the Top 25-30 programs, year-in, year-out. (Not to mention the bonus of Russell suiting up for Red Autry for the bulk of ACC play.)

As in any business, relationships matter.

Not only did the 6’6” Russell, who picked SU over a dual-sport offer at Michigan, play with incoming Syracuse wide receiver Darius Johnson, but several other SU players from Florida are doing their part to either try and “flip” other Sunshine State recruits who have verbally committed elsewhere, or are assisting with helping Brown and the staff spread the word of the DART philosophy to current ‘Cuse prospects.

“Coach Fran, the individual he is, how he was raised, I feel it,” Russell told Rivals.com this past weekend at his combination college announcement/18th birthday party. “How he carries himself, the men I was raised around are similar to him, that’s why I want to be there.”

Syracuse now has 26 commitments in its 2026 class, one that is comprised of 17 from the traditional base defined above, and six from Florida with a few outliers sprinkled in.

“He’s changing the culture, he’s changing everyone’s mentality,” Russell said of Brown.

A program culture that the media on hand In Charlotte will be finding out in a couple of weeks from the man himself, Syracuse football is going to compete to earn College Football Playoff berths.

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