Class of 2015 linebackers Doyle Grimes and Daiquan Kelly decommitted from Syracuse in September and in doing so, shaved a four-person contingent at the position to two-person group.

But when one of the remaining linebackers, Troy Henderson, was asked about what it meant for the incoming class, he was taken aback.

“Who decommitted?” Henderson asked. “I didn’t even know anybody decommitted.”

Henderson and SU’s other linebacker commit, Shy Cullen, said the recently thinned-out class of players isn’t a concern. Grimes left the commit pool on Sept. 9. Kelly changed his mind six days and flipped his commitment to Penn State, which had recently had its scholarship sanctions lifted.

Henderson, from St. Edward (Ohio) High School, said it was Syracuse linebackers coach Clark Lea that gave him confidence in the program. For Cullen, of Lowell (Massachusetts) High School, it was defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough. And that confidence hasn’t wavered.

Who’s coming in and who’s going out isn’t a point of contention, they said. Though members of the Orange’s recruiting class claim to be close, Henderson and Cullen are more focused on just playing, not the changes around them.

“Even if those two guys were to stay,” Cullen said, “I feel like I would have worked as hard as I can just to get the starting job for Syracuse.”

SU is currently recruiting six middle linebackers and 11 outside linebackers in the Class of 2015, according to Scout.com, but the overall class has had only one player verbally commit since July 15 and none since Aug. 25.

“I do feel that it could boost my chances,” said 2015 linebacker recruit Kevin Robinson, an outside linebacker from Montclair, New Jersey, who has yet to receive a formal offer. “And Syracuse is currently my No. 1.”

Published on October 7, 2014 at 12:23 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3