Surely this news won’t cause panic
As the Syracuse Orange football team prepares to begin camp, the received some disappointing news.
Class of 2026 commit Demetres Samuel announced that he was flipping to the Florida Gators and reclassifying to 2025. The four-star recruit was ranked in the top 100 in the 2026 class by On3 and ESPN and now he’ll stay closer to home with the Gators.
BREAKING: Four-Star ATH Demetres Samuel Jr. has Flipped his Commitment from Syracuse to Florida, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’1 190 ATH from Palm Bay, FL had been Committed to the Orange since March
Will also reclassify to the 2025 Class https://t.co/G6iugVfd9y pic.twitter.com/wzLblyd8Md
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) July 31, 2024
Samuel just took an official visit to Florida and apparently that was enough to get him into a different shade of orange and blue.
The Orange still have two verbal commits in the 2026 class- four-star linebacker Izayia Williams and three-star running back D’Antae Sheffey. It’s disappointing that Syracuse has now lost four-star recruits in 2025 and 2026, but there’s plenty of time for Fran Brown and staff to recoup their losses.