Syracuse, N.Y. —Syracuse’s top-ranked football player in the past 25 years will play for Fran Brown and Adrian Autry.
Syracuse announced Sunday that Calvin Russell III of Miami Northwestern High School has joined the SU basketball team.
Russell, a 6-5, 190-pound swingman, enrolled for the spring semester at Syracuse. He is expected to start training with the team and be available for games.
As a member of the Bulls basketball team, Russell III helped the team win the Greater Miami Athletic Conference Championship and reach the Florida High School Athletic Association 4A regional semifinals in 2024-25.
He had 38 points and 19 rebounds in the regional quarterfinals of the state playoffs against Somerset Academy.
During his final season of high school basketball in 2024-25, Russell III averaged 15.2 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
Russell’s mother, Chanivia Broussard, played four years of basketball at Miami, where she scored 1,482 points and finished third on the Hurricanes’ all-time blocks list with 132. She was inducted into the Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
As a football player, Russell was ranked as the second-best wide receiver and the 23rd-best player overall in the 2026 class.
Russell was a two-time state champion and All-Dade County Player of the Year in football.
Russell joins a remarkable history of football-basketball crossovers including players such as Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Vic Hanson, Floyd Little, John Mackey, Donovan McNabb, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, Melvin Tuten and Mike Williams.
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