Three Recruiting Quadir Copeland the Hardest

New Syracuse point guard offeree discusses the Orange, his recruitment and more.

Syracuse extended a new offer to a class of 2022 point guard on Friday. The offer went to Quadir Copeland, a 6-6 guard. 

"Coach G-Mac called me," Copeland said. "Great guy. He's never been the type of guy to just be like 'oh I'm offering you the scholarship.' He's making sure I'm doing good, my family is doing good, things like that. Then he says 'I'm not going to beat around the bush, I'm offering you a full scholarship.' We still ended up talking after that for about 30 minutes just about basketball. So he's that good of a guy."

When the offer came down, Copeland was pumped about it. Especially with a connection to the Syracuse program. 

"I was excited," Copeland said. "To be able to get an offer from Syracuse. That's big time. High division one school. Dion Waiters went there, I'm at Dion Waiters' high school right now. That's big too. Everybody knows that and everybody roots for Syracuse and they're all Cuse fans where my school is. So that's an amazing feeling."

Dion Waiters' high school would be Life Center Academy in New Jersey. He previously played for Gettysburg High in Pennsylvania. Transferring from the Philadelphia area to Life Center is the move Waiters made as well. Copeland did so in order to stay at his preferred position.

"Being able to reclass and play my true position (point guard)," Copeland said. "Not having a school switch me up to a two guard or a three or a wing. Being able to play point guard, being able to play with a big team being the shortest person in the lineup at 6-6, that's amazing."

Copeland has a strong first impression of Orange assistant Gerry McNamara, but says coach McNamara developed a relationship with family first.  

"He's had a real close relationship with my father and my trainer," Copeland said. "He started talking to them a lot more than me. He went to the parents first and that's what a great coach is supposed to do. But I've talked to him here and there from the last month or so."

When you watch Copeland on film, it is easy to see why Syracuse offered. He has all of the makings of an impactful big guard. 

"He's like, 'you're a big guard, you get out and run, you're athletic,'" Copeland said. "'You make sure you get everybody involved, and that's what we need from our guards.'"

Copeland says it is still early with his relationship with Syracuse, and his recruitment is also in the early stages. He did admit, however, that three schools are recruiting him the hardest right now. Syracuse, Oregon and Miami.