Syracuse Football: Previewing the Orange Offensive Line In 2017-18

The Syracuse football season is still a few months away, but that isn’t stopping us from talking about it. Here’s your offensive line preview.

Last year the Syracuse football team struggled to protect quarterback Eric Dungey, leading to his injury and Zack Mahoney starting.

In all fairness to the Syracuse offensive line, they too dealt with some serious injuries. In the first season under Dino Babers, perhaps the offensive line had to undergo the most changes.

Babers came in with his fast paced offense, meaning the big boys up front had to drop some fat and add muscle. They needed to get into better shape in such a quick time that they dropped too much weight and couldn’t add the muscle in time. As a result, the big boys up front were pushed around and some were injured.

Last season the starting offensive line looked something like this to start the year off:

"Left Tackle: Cody Conway So.Left Guard: Aaron Roberts R-So.Center: Jason Emerich Sr.Right Guard: Omari Palmer Sr.Right Tackle: Michael Lasker Sr./Jamar McGloster R-Jr."

Halfway through the season: Conway, Emerich, Lasker, were all injured. Aaron Roberts and Jamar McGloster were the only two offensive lineman to start every game for the Orange.

Both Roberts and McGloster figure to be in the starting lineup for the Orange on opening night September 1st against Central Connecticut St. That leaves three remaining starting spots on the offensive line open. Let’s examine who might get the nod in the starting lineup.

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Tackles:

Cody Conway Jr: Conway returns for his Junior season and will likely join McGloster and Roberts in the starting lineup once again. His 6-foot 6 frame is ideal for the left tackle in Babers’ offense and his 300-pound weight is light enough to where he should be able to keep up with the uptempo offense. Expect to see Conway starting the season off at left tackle.

Liam O’Sullivan R-Fr: O’Sullivan redshirted last season and will not likely be much of a contributor this season. O’Sullivan is an extremely tall offensive lineman at 6-foot 8 inches but his 267-pound frame raises eyebrows as to whether or not he is strong enough to compete in the ACC yet. Look for him to see action in years following.

Airon Servais R-Fr: Servais also redshirted last season and figures to be a backup tackle this

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season. The Green Bay native is another tall offensive lineman at 6-foot 6 inches and comes in weighing 303-pounds. His frame is bigger than O’Sullivan, but much like O’Sullivan I don’t expect him to see action unless there are injuries.

Sam Heckel R-Fr: Much like the previous two young tackles Heckel spent his first year on the hill redshirting. Heckel’s 6-foot 4 and 300-pound frame matches that of a tackles but because he is not quite as tall as Servais or O’Sullivan you could see him moved to guard this season. Either way I don’t expect him to see time in the starting lineup.

Mike Clark R-Fr: Michael Clark was one of four freshman offensive tackles to redshirt last season. He has tremendous size at 6-foot 8 inches and weighing 293-pounds. Clark will likely be a backup this season and could see some time if there are injuries. He will be a contributor and a name to keep an eye on in the future.

Jamar McGloster Sr: We already touched on the fact that McGloster started every game for Syracuse last season. He will be the starter at right tackle this season, and his 6-foot 7 302-pound frame along with Cody Conway will make for two large tackles.

Dakota Davis Fr: Davis comes in as a true freshman this season from Glenelg, Maryland. Davis is rated three stars by most I expect Davis to likely redshirt this season as all of these tackles figure to be ahead of him in the rotation.

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Guards:

Aaron Roberts R-Jr: Like McGloster, Roberts started all 12 games for the Syracuse Orange last season. According to Syracuse.com, Roberts led the Orange with the most knock down blocks out of all the offensive line with 39. The Junior from Chicago will be a key piece upfront for Syracuse this season as he and Cody Conway look to stabilize the left side of the O-Line.

Sam Clausman R-So: Clausman has seen very limited action in his two seasons on the hill. He was on the field goal team last season and with the graduation of Omari Palmer it leaves one of the starting guard spots open. Clausman will certainly be competing for the open spot along side guys like Evan Adams.

Evan Adams R-So: Adams started the last nine games for the Orange last season, after Omari Palmer went down with an injury. Adams struggled in those nine games often committing false start penalties. Adams has the frame of a tackle at 6-foot 6 inches and 337-pounds. If Adams has dropped a bit of that weight and got into shape to run in this uptempo offense he should have the inside track to claiming the other starting guard spot.

Patrick Davis Fr: The 21 year-old “true freshman” will look to make an impact in his first season at Syracuse. Davis is already on campus as he enrolled early to get into the college weight room. The Canadian product will have his work cut out for him against upper classmen, but if Adams and Clausman are not ready for ACC play, the staff make look to Davis to start at the second guard spot.

Keaton Darney R-Jr: Darney is a redshirt Junior walk-on at Syracuse. Darney has played as a punt protector, but has not seen action on the offensive line. That will likely continue this year unless Syracuse faces a slew of injuries.

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Centers:

Donnie Foster R-Jr: Foster started at center in the last two games of the season in 2016. He saw action due to the injured Jason Emerich, followed by the injury to Colin Byrne. Again this season, he will not play barring injury.

Colin Byrne R-So: Byrne came in and started eight games at the center position in 2016. He did a nice job last season replacing starter Jason Emerich and figures to be the starter this year for Syracuse. At 6-foot 5 and 300-pounds Byrne is a big strong center that can maybe help the Orange run game up the middle.

Andrejas Duerig R-So: Duerig saw action in all twelve games for Syracuse last season. He saved as a member of the PAT team and as a punt protector. Duerig figures to be a backup to Byrne this season but there will likely be a healthy competition.

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My projection:

Left Tackle: Cody Conway

Left Guard: Aaron Roberts

Center: Colin Byrne

Right Guard: Evan Adams/Patrick Davis

Right Tackle: Jamal McGloster

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