{"id":185372,"date":"2025-07-06T07:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/185372\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T07:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:54:11","slug":"syracuse-hc-fran-brown-a-big-reason-why-five-star-wr-calvin-russell-chose-the-orange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/185372\/","title":{"rendered":"Syracuse HC Fran Brown, a big reason why five-star WR Calvin Russell chose the Orange"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami, Fla. \u2014 At a packed venue in Miami\u2019s art district, many gathered to witness five-star Calvin Russell<\/a>\u2018s announcement of where he would decide to spend the next three to four years in college. The six-foot-five dual-sport athlete had many schools attempt to earn his pledge, but an ACC school prevailed in the end.<\/p>\n

Russell, the top-rated wide receiver in South Florida for the 2026 cycle, announced his commitment to Syracuse at roughly 10:00 PM Eastern Saturday night. Syracuse was the choice over Michigan<\/a>, Florida State<\/a>, and Oregon<\/a>. Russell essentially committed to the Orange because he believes in what head football coach Fran Brown<\/a> is building in upstate New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Fran, he\u2019s a great leader,\u201d Russell said of why Syracuse was the choice just after making his announcement. \u201cHe does everything the right way. He\u2019s changing the culture. He\u2019s changing everyone\u2019s mentality. He does everything he has to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syracuse, which has shown consistent interest throughout Russell\u2019s recruitment, was not trending for Russell\u2019s commitment a week ago. However, a late push by the Orange resulted in Syracuse gaining Russell\u2019s commitment without hosting him for an official visit. He intends to take his OV to Syracuse during the upcoming season. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe conversations I had with Coach Fran, I trust him, I know he\u2019s going to do right by me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dual-sport athlete also confirmed that he would be playing basketball for the Orange, as Russell also has trust in Cuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Michigan was the closest to landing Russell, but the relationship with Coach Brown confirmed the decision he made with his family about two days ago. Florida State was third in gaining Russell\u2019s commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie, I made [my decision] a couple of days ago,\u201d Russell said. \u201cMichigan came close, but Coach Fran, the individual he is, how he was raised, I feel it. How he carries himself, the men I was raised around are similar to him, that\u2019s why I want to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell confirmed that he has officially shut down his recruitment and fully intends to sign with Syracuse on National Signing Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s over. I\u2019m done. There will be nothing else going on with my recruitment. I\u2019m done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami, Fla. \u2014 At a packed venue in Miami\u2019s art district, many gathered to witness five-star Calvin Russell\u2018s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[40298,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-185372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-calvin-russell-26-northwestern","9":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114805217043449852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}