Syracuse, N.Y. — The Syracuse football team added a pass-rushing specialist on Monday night when California transfer David Reese announced he had committed to the Orange.
Reese’s commitment graphic labeled him an edge rusher and he was at his best when rushing the passer during two seasons with the Golden Bears.
Reese is listed by On3.com as the No. 558 player available in the transfer portal this offseason after finishing last season with 22 tackles. He forced three fumbles and had 4.5 sacks.
Reese had similar results in his best college season the previous year with Cal, finishing with 33 tackles, two forced fumbles and 6.5 sacks, a performance that earned him All-Pac-12 Fourth Team honors from Phil Steele.
Although he was listed as a linebacker on Cal’s roster, Pro Football Focus indicates that Reese almost always lined up on the defensive line last season. He is listed at 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds.
Pro Football Focus listed him with a pass-rush grade of 72.4 last year. That ranked 15th in the ACC among edge rushers who played at least 200 snaps.
Reese’s biggest weakness according to PFF was his tackling, where he earned a low grade of 36.4 last season. Pro Football Focus recorded him missing 38.9 percent of his attempts.
He played through a number of injuries last year and showed that he had the potential to be substantially better the previous year, missing 17.2 percent of his tackles.
That skill set makes him a potential option for the Orange in its effort to replace Fadil Diggs, who earned a pass-rush grade of 83.1 last year that ranked seventh among ACC edge rushers with at least 200 snaps.
Syracuse has to replace three valuable members of its defensive front with the departure of Diggs and linebackers Marlowe Wax and Justin Barron. Diggs led Syracuse with 42 quarterback pressures last year. Wax was second with 16.
Reese, who had 15 quarterback pressures, will certainly add some experience to the defense.
He is in his last season of college eligibility and will be playing his eighth season of college football. Reese started his career at Florida and transferred to California. He played in two games or fewer in three of those seasons. Another one was the pandemic season, which did not count against his eligibility.
Reese had offers from a list of schools out of high school that included Alabama, Florida State and Georgia. He is originally from Fort Pierce, Florida.
Reese, originally a member of the Class of 2018, was a four-star prospect and ranked among the 300 best prospects in the country by the 247 Sports composite rankings as a high schooler. He entered the transfer portal just under two weeks ago.
Syracuse has added just seven players this offseason through the transfer portal, putting together a transfer class that was ranked No. 64 in the country by On3 before adding Reese. The defensive additions via transfer include defensive tackle Chris Thomas and linebacker Fran Brown Jr.
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