Syracuse Football: Recruiting and Spring Practice Tidbits

It’s only March, but things are motoring along in high gear for the Syracuse football team, both on the recruiting trail and in spring practice.

Dino Babers and his staff have been hard at work installing pieces of the new offense and defense, and some position changes have already been instituted – including, perhaps most notably, tight end Trey Dunkelberger to defensive end – as we get closer to April 2nd and the Spring Game.

While practice observation has been limited, and the team’s first scrimmage was closed to the public, word has still begun leaking out about some players who are starting to separate themselves.

It’s no surprise that Eric Dungey has been taking the vast majority of the first team repetitions at quarterback, but perhaps the biggest surprise at that position is the potential re-emergence of Austin Wilson.

Just yesterday, Syracuse.com published an article about how well Wilson is picking up the new offense and reveling in the uptempo, passer-friendly nature of the Dino Babers system. From what I’ve been hearing those reports are indeed accurate. In fact, I’ve been told that the competition between Dungey and Wilson is closer right now than most would have anticipated.

To a degree, that does make a bit of sense. The Babers offense relies more heavily on arm talent than leg talent, and while Wilson doesn’t have much of the latter, there’s never been much question about his ability to throw the football.

While I had initially expected Rex Culpepper to come in and earn the second string gig, right now it looks like Austin Wilson – last year’s odd man out at the position – could find himself second in line.

Another player plenty of Syracuse football fans are anxious to see on the field is Moe Neal. The electric athlete comes to Syracuse as one of the most dynamic playmakers that the Orange have brought in arguably over the past two decades, at least in terms of highlight reel potential. With a laser-verified time of 4.39 in the 40, he’s certainly got the kind of speed not many true freshmen can boast.

And from what I understand, he’s been putting that speed to very good use. The buzz I’m hearing is that Neal has been particularly impressive both in practice and in the team’s first scrimmage, bringing the kind of athleticism that Syracuse’s defense has tended to really struggle against when playing the top tier ACC teams like Clemson and Florida State.

Working primarily as an inside receiver, Neal has been dropping some jaws with his wiggle and elusiveness, and it’s looking more and more likely that he becomes an immediate factor in the passing game this fall.

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Now, on to a few tidbits about some players who aren’t wearing Orange yet, but who hopefully will be in the near future.

One new name that seems set to join the Orange over the summer is Amba Etta-Tawo, a graduate transfer from Maryland whose decision to play his final year of college ball at Syracuse football emerged last night.

Wide receiver is obviously a position of extreme importance in the Dino Babers offensive system, and while the Orange certainly have some playmakers at the inside receiver position, Etta-Tawo adds another potential playmaker on the outside.

The 6-foot-1, 200 pound receiver will challenge Alvin Cornelius and Sean Avant for playing time with Steve Ishmael pretty much locked into the WR1 role. Etta-Tawo is an experienced player, having appeared in 37 games for the Terps while catching 61 balls in his career, and has a nice combination of size and speed. Drops have been a bit of an issue over his career, however, so Orange fans should temper expectations a bit.

Still, Syracuse football has absolutely nothing to lose by bringing in a physically gifted, experienced player for one season. Etta-Tawo is the second graduate transfer to pick the Orange this offseason, joining defensive end Gabe Sherrod. Sheerod chose Syracuse after having put together an impressive career at Delaware State. Syracuse has also recently added JUCO cornerback Michael Moore, and recently offered JUCO wide receiver Kailon Carter.

Next: Syracuse Football: Keeping up with All the Changes

The Orange may wind up landing another top prospect as soon as later today, too. Brian Edwards, one of the top defensive back prospects in the state of Florida’s class of 2017, visited campus this week and by all accounts is leaning pretty heavily toward pledging to Syracuse. He’s a 6-foot-3, rangy safety with offers from USC, Clemson, Miami, and a host of other big-time programs, and would be a massive addition to the class.

Don’t be surprised if the commitment ball starts to get rolling over the next couple of weeks, especially as the Syracuse football staff hosts more visits between now and the weekend of the Spring Game. Names to keep an eye on as potential early commitments are running back Weston Bridges, quarterback/athlete Jairus Grissom, and athlete CJ Holmes. All three are very high on the Orange, and could pull the trigger at any time.

Syracuse has its eye on a number of high level prospects in the class of 2017, and the commitment bug seems to be going around in college football right now. There’s a solid chance that the high number of recent commitments to schools around the country could prompt prospects to start thinking more seriously about joining the excitement of committing to a program sooner than later.