Syracuse Football: Tommy DeVito needs to see the Wizard of Oz

Our Paul A. Esden Sr says Syracuse football quarterback Tommy DeVito needs to see the Wizard of Oz ASAP. Here’s what Tommy is missing in 2019.

Syracuse football and Dino Babers finally had arrived, they landed a 4-star recruit in Tommy DeVito! The program is headed in the right direction.

Some people/fans/sports broadcasters even questioned last year that Eric Dungey should be benched in favor of this ‘highly-touted’ passer. I was not one of those aforementioned people.  Let’s analyze our ‘4-star’ recruit.

How did Tommy get this rating you ask?

That starts with an explanation of the Elite 11 and what it is and how it impacts recruiting.

"“The Elite 11 is a quarterback competition for high school quarterbacks across the United States. It starts with over 400 quarterbacks that compete and are evaluated in 6-8 regional competitions across the country. This cumulates in the finals where 12-24 of the nation’s top quarterbacks compete for several top awards.”"

Elite 11 alumni consist of a few names you may know: Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston, Tim Tebow, Matthew Stafford, and Jared Goff. So how does this apply to Tommy?

DeVito entered the Elite 11 competition with a composite ranking of No. 121 among all quarterbacks and No. 1,626 overall in the 2017 recruiting class. Not exactly spectacular numbers.

Whatever criticism I may have for Tommy (and I have some for sure) he is no dummy. The competition for the Elite 11 is really nothing more than a test and how do you prepare for a test … study.

"“I studied my playbook all night before seven-on-seven, then woke up and studied more during breakfast,” DeVito told Bleacher Report. “I kept telling myself, over and over again, to take it one breath and one throw at a time.”"

This studying paid off with Tommy advancing in the competition and resulted in improving composite rankings ending up No. 26 among pro-style passers and No. 615 overall. This discussion is to explain that Tommy is smart but that his pedigree is not exactly as advertised.

Now I hear those people out there what are you talking about?

• Tommy stats are pretty good: 1,534 yards, 65.5 percent completion percentage, 12 touchdowns with only 5 picks.
• The offensive line isn’t healthy and Tommy has been sacked 26 times for a net loss of 164 yards, that isn’t his fault.

What isn’t on the stat sheet is why he needs to see the Wizard of Oz – for a heart.

Tommy has a tendency to panic when defenders are within five yards of him. This manifests itself in Tommy staying in the pocket too long or throwing the ball away with no receivers in the area and start sliding at the hint of a defender instead of pushing or striving for a first down.

All of these things happened in the NC State game resulting in two intentional grounding penalties and Tommy being responsible for at least half of the eight sacks on the day.

Anyone who watched this game was probably shocked by Tommy’s stats at the end of the game over 70 percent completion percentage and 300 passing yards. These stats are a mirage and a result of Dino’s play scheme of short high completion passes to wide receivers and speaks more to the yards after catch efforts of his receivers than to the quarterback’s prowess.

Now there is a chance that this skittishness can be attributed to an undisclosed injury or it may be attributed to a lack of heart.

To be fair we are used to blood and guts go for broke on every play QB with Eric Dungey, this is in stark contrast with the Cowardly Lion who now takes snaps for the Orange.

"After the game, DeVito even admitted himself that he regrets not “putting his body on the line to get the first down.”"

Hopefully, he can visit the Wizard before the Pittsburgh game on Friday night… Time will tell.