It’s no secret Syracuse freshman cornerback Demetres Samuel is young. After all, the Florida native is just 17 years old, born in 2008 — a little different than his starting counterpart David Reese, who’s
in his eighth year of college football. Even with that gap in age and experience, Samuel has already earned the No. 8 spot in ESPN’s CFB freshman rankings.
In those rankings, Samuel came in at No. 8 behind a host of talented and highly recruited freshmen from the class of 2025, including Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and Michigan’s Bryce Underwood, the nation’s No. 1 recruit. What makes Samuel stand out, though, is that he should technically still be playing high school football at Heritage High in Palm Bay, Florida. The 17-year-old skipped his senior year to head to central New York a year early — and he’s already making an impact.
And Samuel isn’t just a cornerback. While his main role has been on defense, he’s also listed as a wide receiver, even hauling in his first career catch a few weeks ago against Colgate. On defense, Samuel leads the Orange in solo tackles and passes defended.
A big reason Syracuse left Death Valley with a win over Clemson two weeks ago was Samuel’s lockdown performance against one of the nation’s top receivers in Bryan Wesco. He currently ranks second among all ACC cornerbacks with a coverage grade of 95.1 from PFSN College.
As we near the halfway point of the regular season, there’s no question Samuel has exceeded expectations in his first year on the Hill. Saturday in Dallas, the 17-year-old is set to start again when Syracuse takes on SMU at 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network
