Saboor Karriem Intrigued By Fit On And Off The Field At Syracuse
Saboor Karriem has been playing football since he was four years old.
“Since I was little, I had a lot of confidence in myself,” Karriem said. “I was always one of the best players on my team. Since I was little, I’ve been building up confidence to this point.”
The confidence has finally paid off for Karriem. In the 2021-2022 season, Karriem starred as a junior cornerback for the West Orange Mountaineers out of West Orange, New Jersey. Karriem had 23 tackles, five interceptions and one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
This great year was helped by a big growth spurt. Karriem has great size at 6-3.
“I didn’t get tall until my sophomore year,” Karriem said. “Freshmen year I was 5-9 or 5-8.”
This breakout year got the attention of big-time colleges.
“My first offer was Maryland,” Karriem said. “That’s when my recruitment started to kick up. Really after our first game, Maryland reached out after the game and said they loved me. Illinois came down.”
The three-star cornerback now has offers from over 20 division one schools. Karriem likes all the schools that have been reaching out to him the most. These schools are Pitt, Syracuse, Duke, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Boston College.
Karriem did not know much about Syracuse before assistant Nick Monroe came down to visit in December. Since then, Karriem has taken two unofficial visits to Syracuse.
“I saw everything from housing, campus, the business building, the facilities, the academic advisors and the basketball courts,” Karriem said.
Syracuse coaches are intrigued with Karriem’s versatility.
“They feel I am a versatile player and that I can play anywhere in the secondary,” Karriem said. “My size and length could really be used in their system. I can play anywhere they want. I can play slot, corner, safety, strong boundary, seal. They see me everywhere.”
Karriem is excited about Syracuse’s academic opportunities as well.
“Syracuse is one of my top schools because you get a really good education,” Karriem said.
Karriem is interested in business and wants to become a CPA when his playing days are over.
Before Karriem can come to a decision on a college decision, he has four principals he’s evaluating each school on: Culture, community, environment and football.
Syracuse fans will be happy with some of habits Karriem has already.
“I’m a student of the game, I watch a lot of film,” Karriem said. “We sit in the office for a lot of hours going over what other teams like to do, what they don’t like to do.”
The junior out of New Jersey says he likes to watch NFL cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay because of Ramsey’s size and Slay’s technically sound game.
With as many options as Karriem has, he is not ready to commit to a school anytime soon.
“I think it will roll over into my senior year,” Karriem said. “I can only take two official visits in the month of June. Not being able to take four makes it hard to make a decision.”
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