Orange Football Announces 2019 Early Signees

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A total of 17 high school and junior-college football players signed National Letters of Intent with Syracuse University on Wednesday, Dec. 19, the first day of college football's early signing period.

They make up the majority of the Orange's 2019 incoming class, which will also include players who announce their college decisions during the regular signing period beginning on Feb. 6, 2019.

Today's crop of signees includes four defensive backs, four defensive linemen, three linebackers, three offensive lineman, one tight end, one running back and one wide receiver. Seven states and the District of Columbia are represented, with four players coming from Florida, three from North Carolina, two from New Jersey, two from Pennsylvania and one each from Connecticut, New York, South Carolina and Washington D.C.

The class also includes two highly-rated signees from north of the border. OL Matthew Bergeron (No. 2) and LB Geoff Cantin (No. 3) are among the top three prospects from Canada, according to ESPN. They both hail from Quebec.

Head coach Dino Babers said this year's recruiting class strengthens Syracuse's foundation and adds the depth needed to continue the program's rise into a perennial contender.

"We're far away, but we're not that far away," Babers said. "We're very competitive on the field right now, but we're not as deep as we need to be to be able to do the things that we want to do.

"We've got to build our depth up so that we can consistently be good enough to occasionally have the type of season that's outstanding. That only comes with fantastic depth."

Two players – LB Mikel Jones and LB Lee Kpogba – earned four stars from at least one of the major recruiting services. Jones (No. 296) is a member of the ESPN 300 and Kpogba (No. 124) is included on the Rivals Top 250 prospect list. Jones is the second ESPN 300 signee for the Orange in the last three recruiting cycles (2017 - Tommy DeVito).

Wednesday's lone junior-college signee was OL Darius Tisdale. Tisdale, who is cousins with Syracuse senior Dontae Strickland, spent two seasons at Lackawanna Community College in Pennsylvania.

DL Cooper Dawson made national headlines with how he decided to reveal the news he was headed to Syracuse. Sitting alongside him when he made his announcement was Kingsley Feinman, a classmate and close friend who was born with cerebral palsy. Dawson delivered a brief thank-you speech before whispering his decision in Feinman's ear, who then made the public announcement. Dawson also placed a Syracuse hat on Feinman's head.

We already know what kind of guy we're getting ✊ https://t.co/B95SFsgkrm
— Syracuse Football (@CuseFootball) December 19, 2018

Babers credited his staff for finding high-quality, highly-touted athletes like Dawson, who are also upstanding students and members of the community.

"They've done a nice job," Babers said of his assistant coaches. "We're very unique the way we [recruit]. It's a lot of team recruiting. We go out and evaluate and gather talent individually, but once we bring them back, we evaluate and recruit as a group.

"We do our homework very well, and we bring the right type of student-athletes here to Syracuse."

Syracuse has one more game left to play this season. The 17th-ranked Orange square off against No. 15 West Virginia on Friday, Dec. 28 in the Camping World Bowl (5:15 p.m. ESPN). The game marks the first meeting between the longtime rivals since 2012.

New season ticket orders and renewals to watch Orange football in 2019 are being accepted now. Tickets for next season's six-game home slate start at $100 for Syracuse University Young Alumni (Class of 2015 to Class of 2019 graduates) and $125 for the general public. They may be purchased online (Cuse.com/tickets), by phone (888-DOME-TIX) and at the Carrier Dome Box Office (Gate B).

The deadline to renew current season tickets is March 8, 2019.

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