Moe Neal still committed to Syracuse’s Class of 2016 but unsure of future plans
Courtesy of Moe Neal
Moe Neal committed to Syracuse on Aug. 1. He's still committed to the Orange, but will take a wait-and-see approach depending on who the next head coach is.
Class of 2016 hybrid commit Moe Neal’s status with Syracuse depends on whomever becomes the Orange’s next head coach, not the vacancy that was opened up on Monday.
“Right now I’m still committed to Syracuse,” Neal said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but right now I’m still committed to Syracuse.”
The three-star Forestview (North Carolina) High School product is SU’s highest-rated 2016 commit according to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings. He committed to Syracuse on Aug. 1 over Wake Forest. He still plans to enroll for the spring semester, but is waiting to see what will happen with the Orange’s coaching staff first.
As soon as the news broke around 9:30 this morning, Neal’s phone blew up. He received five or six texts, was tweeted at by fans and received direct messages from other SU commits.
Neal said he knew there was outside talk of Shafer being fired, but as recently as a week ago, Shafer told Neal he felt good about his job security.
“I like Coach Shafer, I think he’s a good coach,” Neal said. “I guess people saw otherwise, you know, the win-loss column, so that’s why he’s out of there but I think he’s a great guy. I was glad he got to recruit me and I was just devastated to hear the news.”
Running backs coach DeAndre Smith originally recruited Neal to play the hybrid position in offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s offense. With a new offense possibly on the horizon, Neal said he’d also be comfortable playing running back.
As of this afternoon, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern also contacted Neal today since his recruitment may potentially open back up. He’s been in touch with other Orange commits and their wait-and-see outlook is mostly similar.
“I think it’s time for the school to get turned around and get back on the right track,” Neal said. “Good recruiting class coming in if all of us stick together, all of us stay in contact it’ll be a good turnaround for the school and the program to get back to where it belongs.”
Published on November 23, 2015 at 6:29 pm
Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds
