Syracuse Football: Top 5 new faces to watch in 2019 for the Orange

3. Mikel Jones, LB

ANOTHER LINEBACKER! Mikel Jones was one of the highest rated recruits coming in for the 2019 class for the Orange. He bonded with the No. 4 player on our list in fellow linebacker Lee Kpogba. That’s great because Syracuse could arguably use both of these youngsters early and often in 2019.

As we’ve mentioned already countless times throughout this piece, Syracuse will be replacing their starting linebacking corps for the third straight season, hardly ideal. But SU has options: they could go with some veterans on the roster or turn the reins over to the young dogs on defense.

Speaking of young dogs, Syracuse had one in 2018 named Andre Cisco who took college football by storm. Andre led all of NCAA in interceptions and ironically enough used to be a teammate of Mikel Jones in high school.

The reason why I bring up Cisco is for this reason alone: despite Andre being a freshman he EARNED his way into the starting lineup and with his stellar play never relinquished the role. Those same opportunities can be EARNED this upcoming season for Mikel Jones and Lee Kpogba, but ultimately it’s up to them to seize the opportunity.