The Syracuse football team is experiencing some turbulence. Quarterback Chance Amie is transferring, leaving the door wide open for Tommy Devito.
The hits keep coming for the Syracuse football team. After losing wide receiver Devin C. Butler to the transfer portal earlier this week, they’re now losing a much larger piece to the puzzle.
Quarterback Chance Amie announced his decision to leave the program late Saturday night on Twitter:
"“I would like to thank Syracuse for everything they have done for me. I appreciate all of the coaches, staff, and players but I will be transferring from the University this next semester. No interviews.”"
It’s a disappointing exit for what many thought was a dark horse candidate to make things happen at the quarterback position in the future. Amie originally had his eyes set on joining Houston late in the 2018 recruiting cycle, but last second surprisingly joined the Orange.
The 6-foot-3, 199 pound Amie ended up redshirting his freshman season and was expected to go one-on-one with Tommy DeVito for the starting quarterback job in 2019 for the Orange. Now that’s not going to happen.
If you’d like to learn more about this transfer portal and what it means, you can check out our most recent post on the matter here.
So what’s left at the quarterback position?
The aforementioned DeVito and redshirt senior Clayton Welch and that’s it. We all know who Tommy is (more on him later), but who is Clayton Welch?
A 6-foot-5, 235 pound quarterback out of Chico, California. He’s a former two-star pro style quarterback who spent his first two years at Butte College before transferring over to Syracuse. His first year at Butte College he redshirted (2015), but then he had his breakout year in 2016:
"“Led the Road Runners to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the NorCal championship game … Voted the NorCal League Offensive Player of the Year and All-California Community College Region I Offensive Player of the Year … Threw for 1,325 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions … Also ran for 821 yards and 11 touchdowns … Butte team MVP … Two 100-yard rushing games, including a season-best 132 yards and three touchdowns versus Siskiyous (10/22) … Passed for a season-high 249 yards and three scores at San Francisco (10/1)”, per Cuse.com."
Welch is now the only other quarterback on the roster outside of Tommy. That’s of course because senior quarterback Eric Dungey, one of the most prolific passers in program history is moving on to the NFL or other career ventures.
Those are huge shoes to fill, but Tommy DeVito believes he’s ready to be THE guy for the Orange. With Chance Amie officially out of the way, there’s no one stopping DeVito from realizing his true destiny.
DeVito has achieved a lot of accolades and success including being invited to the Elite 11 camp, his work at Don Bosco Prep, and his work during the 2018 season.
While it wasn’t always pretty (watch the Western Michigan tape), DeVito had more positives then negatives in 2018. Tommy appeared in seven games during the 2018 season accounting for 525 passing yards, a 4:3 touchdown to interception ratio, and a 50.6 percent completion percentage.
But beyond the bare metrics, DeVito was solely responsible for two major wins on the Syracuse schedule by beating Florida State 30-7 (first time Syracuse has beaten FSU since 1966) and saved the game vs North Carolina, 40-37 in double overtime.
Without those wins, Syracuse doesn’t go to the Camping World Bowl. Heck they might not have gone to a bowl at all. We discussed how important that North Carolina game was to Syracuse’s season in our 2018 final season report card here.
Here’s the harsh reality, Eric Dungey was taken for granted during his time on the hill. A lot of Orange fans were ready for DeVito time even during the 2018 season full time. Dungey brought leadership, toughness, and most importantly his running ability.
Syracuse hasn’t had a 1,000 yard rusher since 2012, which makes Dungey’s impact on the offense all that more important. DeVito has a much smaller frame then Dungey, so he’ll have to really improve his body type in the offseason because Dino Babers incorporates a lot of running into his offense from his quarterback.
DeVito has a lot to prove in 2019, but his path is clear as the starting quarterback for the Orange. Clayton Welch will be the backup. Although another potential option for the Orange at quarterback is Rex Culpepper, a redshirt junior, who moved over to tight end due to a surplus at the QB position in 2018.