New York City’s top high school football player has finally chosen his college destination.
All-American defensive back Wayne Morgan of Erasmus Hall told The Post that he’ll announce Wednesday at a school press conference that he will sign a National Letter of Intent with Syracuse, choosing the Orange over UConn. Penn State, Wisconsin and West Virginia were also in the mix at the end.
Morgan, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound speedster, is the first nationally touted player to come out of E-Hall, which he led to the PSAL City Championship division final for the first time in December as a quarterback and defensive back.
“I take a lot of pride in that,” Morgan told The Post. “We’ve come a long way at Erasmus. I try to make everyone proud of me. In a couple years, there will be a lot more players like me coming from the school.”
Syracuse has become a hot destination for New York City players under coach Doug Marrone, a graduate of Lehman in The Bronx. The Orange had nine players from the five boroughs on their roster this year. One of them, cornerback Brandon Reddish, is Morgan’s close friend.
“He told me his point of view about the school,” Morgan said. “There was nothing negative.”
Penn State, Wisconsin and West Virginia made pushes late for Morgan, who also had interest from Michigan and Alabama. Morgan, who runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash, is ranked in the top 150 in the country by ESPN and played earlier this month in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl.
Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn and Penn State were the schools on him the longest. Alabama came to see him in Brooklyn and also offered back in the spring. Michigan offered Morgan when he visited Ann Arbor in June, but wanted him to commit right away.
“Wayne felt it was in his best interest to enjoy the process and go through the whole situation as far as learning about who’s who in this country,” Landberg said.
Wisconsin got involved late, flying in last week, and West Virginia was also in touch. Penn State made a secondary push as well. Rutgers, Alabama and Michigan fell out in the last few months. In the end, it came down to Syracuse and UConn.
“It was too late,” Morgan said of the schools who came on recently. “I was doing a lot of thinking. I don’t want to go through the whole process again.”
Recently, as National Signing Day approached, Landberg had given Morgan a list of questions to ask himself about Syracuse and UConn. That list included points about graduation rates, depth charts, networking connections in New York City for after college, proximity and the relationship with the position coach.
“I explained to Wayne this is a business,” Landberg said. “I wrote down every coach is gonna tell you what you want to here.”
Syracuse came up aces in almost every question on the list. When Morgan realized that, he knew where he’d want to play next year and beyond. Landberg hopes that Reddish ends up being Morgan’s roommate, because of the former Fort Hamilton star’s potential as a positive role model.
Morgan hasn’t thought that far ahead yet. When he puts pen to paper Wednesday, it’ll be a validation of all the hard work he put in over the last four years, leading Erasmus Hall to uncharted territory, including the program’s first semifinals and finals at the highest classification.
It’ll also be a relief.
“I feel like it’ll be a thousand pounds of weight off my shoulders,” Morgan said.