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Jack Levine‘s never needed much of an introduction to Cornell.
Levine’s parents, Mike and Alyson, met at Cornell. Alyson’s sister, Dara, and Mike’s sister, Joanna, are also both proud Big Red alums. The co-head of CAA Sports, Mike is almost omnipresent around the Cornell program as one of its biggest supporters.
The short version? Whole lotta Big Red in the Levine family. Last fall, though, Levine wasn’t on Cornell’s recruiting board despite those deep ties to the team. That’s not crazy to imagine, though, because he was still very new to playing defense.
Originally an attackman who also played some SSDM, Levine hadn’t worked his way into the conversation to being a Big Red caliber recruit.
“I hadn’t really played serious lacrosse until my sophomore fall (at King School in Connecticut), and my high school coach saw me play football and said, ‘we’ve got to get a pole in his hands.’ I wasn’t really getting minutes anyway, so I figured I’d give it a shot,” Levine said.
Since then? The stock’s continually gone up for Levine. Levine took to playing defense right away and credits former Cornell All-American Gavin Adler for teaching him so much about the position. An increased commitment to the weight room, field work and stick work helped elevate his game, too.
A Meteoric Rise to Ithaca
He earned a spot on the All-Star team at NLF at IMG, showcasing a physical, aggressive playing style. He then played with the Team 91 Long Island Storm this summer. Injuries hit the Storm’s defensive unit pretty hard, which meant a lot more reps for Levine.
“Having low numbers helped me in a way,” Levine said. “I’d play full games in tournaments and almost the entire team is committed, so a lot of coaches would come to watch. I got lucky that the Cornell staff would come to games and it helped show that I could hang with the 2026s.”
Levine’s dream of following the family tradition in Ithaca came true recently. The Big Red staff invited him up on a visit. In a nod to his improved game, head coach Connor Buczek offered Levine on the visit, and it didn’t take much prodding to get Levine to commit. He’ll join 91 teammate and four-star goalie DJ Xavier (Rocky Point, N.Y.) in the Big Red’s 2026 class.
“Cornell just felt like home,” said Levine, who recently transferred to Rye (N.Y.) for his senior year. “Coach Buczek asked me where my head was at on the visit, and I told him that it’s been a dream of mine for my whole life to play for Cornell. It’s pretty surreal for my family and I. I love the blue-collarness of the Cornell program. It’s about kids who are given opportunities to show that they’re hard workers and want to become better men. What Cornell does best is produce great players and great human beings.”
Corr Follows Delbarton, Leading Edge
Lineage to Cornell
The Delbarton to Cornell pipeline, particularly in recent years, has been impressive.
CJ Kirst is the headliner, of course. The Leading Edge 2020 product won every single award – as a player and as a team – that he could win this year in one of the best seasons in college lacrosse history. There’s an extensive list of Green Wave alums that have done well in Ithaca, and it doesn’t look like that pipeline is drying up any time soon.
But Dara Corr was committed to Boston University for the better part of a year, and the Leading Edge 2026 LSM/defenseman was more than happy with that. Predominantly an LSM for Leading Edge, he was used at close defense this spring for Delbarton, a nod to his versatility and ability to seamlessly switch positions.
When Cornell inquired about him, though, Corr saw the perfect opportunity.
“I’ve always been a big academics guy, and an opportunity that was better for me academically presented itself,” Corr said. “I went up there and visited. I thought, ‘they just won the national championship and it’s an Ivy League school. You’re not going to get a better opportunity.”
Corr’s Got Next for the Big Red
Corr had an opportunity to talk about the program with Kirst and other Delbarton alums who have gone there. Now that he’ll suit up for the Big Red, the three-star defender sees a challenge that he relishes.
“Those guys couldn’t say a bad word about the school,” Corr explained. “They said it was a continuation of Delbarton, both lacrosse-wise and as a school. There’s not really pressure to live up to anything. I think it’s more of an expectation for myself to work really hard on and off the field to be the next Delbarton guy to succeed up there.”
