Syracuse football’s first-year head coach, Fran Brown, and his highly regarded staff secured an impressive and sizable 2025 recruiting class on Wednesday as the early signing period for high school seniors began. However, two recruits from Florida chose to commit to Southeastern Conference (SEC) programs.
Among them is Javion Hilson, a five-star edge rusher and top-20 national prospect per Rivals.com, who committed to SEC school Missouri. Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 245 pounds, Hilson visited Syracuse in early November. Reports suggested his visit to Central New York went well, with the Orange staff putting in a strong effort to land the standout from Cocoa High School in Cocoa, Florida.
Another SEC team, Ole Miss, secured a commitment from 2025 four-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr., a top-100 national prospect out of Venice High School in Venice, Florida. The 5-foot-10, 172-pound standout visited Syracuse unofficially in late March and shared in a recent interview that he had hoped to take an official visit to the program, though that never materialized.
Of course, I wish both Javion and Winston the best as they prepare to compete in the SEC. Both players were offered scholarships by Syracuse’s coaching staff.
Syracuse football came up short in landing a five-star edge rusher and a four-star wide receiver in the 2025 recruiting class. Javion Hilson, who had previously committed to both Alabama and Florida State, had a recruiting process that national analysts described as difficult to predict. At various points, SEC powerhouse Texas was rumored to be the frontrunner for Hilson, with other programs like Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse also heavily in the mix.
In late November, Hilson took official visits to Michigan and then Missouri. As the early signing period approached on December 4, analyst predictions began favoring Missouri, and the Tigers ultimately secured his commitment.
Winston Watkins Jr. recently unveiled a top eight that included Syracuse, Colorado, Alabama, Penn State, Indiana, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Georgia. For several months, Ole Miss generated buzz in his recruitment, and from late May to late June, Watkins took official visits to Indiana, Ole Miss, and South Carolina.
The talented wide receiver, who had previously committed to Texas A&M and later to Colorado, shared insights into his Syracuse recruitment with analyst Ryan Wright in a story on SI.com. Watkins said, “With Syracuse, I have been talking to their receivers’ coach, coach (Ross) Douglas. We had a really good connection in the spring. I was talking to him a lot. As the summer and season went on, I never got a chance to get up there on an official visit, but I really wanted to go back up there on an official visit. We could never get our schedule together to get me back up there again. They have kept in contact with me as the season has gone on.”
For Syracuse, there was little drama surrounding its 2025 recruiting class on Wednesday, as none of the program’s verbal commits flipped to other schools. In fact, the Orange gained a boost when Darius Johnson, a three-star wide receiver from Miami Northwestern Senior High School, flipped his commitment from Troy to Syracuse following a recent official visit to Central New York.
Head coach Fran Brown and his staff are building momentum with what is shaping up to be one of the largest 2025 classes nationally, at least during the early signing period. The class is currently ranked inside the top 40 nationwide, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and Rivals.com.
