Class of 2016 running back Jo-El Shaw verbally committed to Syracuse, he announced in a tweet on Saturday afternoon. He is the 16th member of the Orange’s 2016 class and ninth player to commit since Dino Babers was hired on Dec. 5.

Shaw was previously committed to Western Michigan until about two weeks ago. Newly hired SU running backs coach Mike Hart used to work at WMU. Earlier this week, Shaw received an in-home visit from Hart and co-offensive coordinator Sean Lewis. He is also taking an official visit to Syracuse this weekend.

Shaw is the only running back commit in the class, although he joins Moe Neal and Sean Riley who could both be used either as a running back or as a slot receiver. Three-star running back Robert Washington was previously committed to SU but reportedly decommitted last summer due to trust issues with the prior coaching staff.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound running back from Woodland Hills (Pennsylvania) High School is ranked with three stars and as the 76th best running back in the 2016 class, according to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings. He also had offers from Pittsburgh, Temple and Bowling Green, Babers’ prior school.

Shaw is now the second commit from Pennsylvania, joining Michael Clark, who committed to Syracuse less than two hours before Shaw.

Published on January 23, 2016 at 3:53 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds