The Syracuse Orangemen have received their third commitment of the 2005 recruiting year, the third player who could be a running back in college.

"I actually committed around a month ago," said Wyncote (Pa.) Bishop McDevitt running back Lamar McPhearson, a 5-foot-10, 190-pounder. "But my mom wanted me to visit a few other places to make sure. I've been to Michigan State and Penn State and I just realized at Syracuse's Spring Game this weekend that I want to be there, no doubts about it."

McPhearson, who was an all-conference and all-county selection as a sophomore, broke his leg during the third game of his junior season. He knew from that point that the first school to offer was showing loyalty.

"Syracuse offered me before anyone else and that meant a lot to me," he said. "In my mind, the first offer was going to be huge. I received offers from MSU, North Carolina and UConn since, but coach White and the Syracuse staff believed in me and that was key."

McPhearson is now around 75-percent recovered from his injury and just began running this week. He should be 100-percent by June, when he will camp at Syracuse.

"They told me I could compete for the third running back job as a freshman," he said. "They said Walter Reyes will be gone and Damien Rhodes and a few others will be competing. The two commitments they have already will likely be linebackers."

The other two commitments for Syracuse are Mike Stenclik and Mike Owen, both from New York. Stenclik will be a linebacker at Syracuse while Owen could play either linebacker or running back.

As a sophomore, McPhearson rushed for 850 yards and eight touchdowns on 150 carries and also had three interceptions from his safety position. He rushed for around 400 yards as a junior before getting hurt.