Syracuse football has announced its 2019 season captains. Here are all the details on their interesting choices and why now.
After six weeks of play, the Syracuse football squad has finally announced their team captains for the remainder of the season.
"“Senior defensive end Kendall Coleman, redshirt senior punter Sterling Hofrichter, senior running back Moe Neal and redshirt junior center Airon Servais have been elected team captains for the 2019 season,” Syracuse announced in a press release."
All of the team captains were elected by their teammates.
"“It’s a great honor to be voted captain by your peers,” Babers said via the press release. “These four young men have distinguished themselves as the leaders of this football team by how they represent our program both on and off the field. I’m proud of both the players and people they’ve become during their time at Syracuse University.”"
While it does seem odd on the surface to select team captains for the year after you’re already six games in, but here we’re. Syracuse has done the midseason reveal in past and even once announced their team captains AFTER the season per Stephen Bailey of Syracuse.com.
Prior to this announcement, Syracuse was rotating captains on a weekly basis for the first half of the season.
Coleman is the lone defensive representative of the bunch. He received plenty of national attention heading into the season with preseason accolades and he’s done very well.
On the season he has 2.5 sacks (not on the same pace he was last season) but he’s been disruptive. Throw in 3.5 TFLs and 24 tackles (which leads all Syracuse defensive linemen).
Although Coleman wasn’t the only senior to be elected captain, veteran running back Moe Neal also earned his teammate’s respect.
Neal has quietly had a remarkable career on the hill. Earlier this season he became the 23rd player in program history to break the 2,000-yard rushing plateau. On top of his rushing ability, he’s also been a prolific receiver (sixth on the school’s career receiving yardage list by a running back (511), per the press release.
The Orange also elected their veteran leader on the offensive line in Airon Servais. He has been the team’s starting center for the last two seasons. Airon moved over temporarily to tackle before Sam Heckel got hurt in Week 1, forcing him back to the center spot.
Last but certainly not least is Sterling Hofrichter. He’s the only captain selected that has been in that role before, the other three are first-time captains (Coleman, Servais, and Neal).
As a matter of fact, Hofrichter is now a three-time captain, he becomes the third player in Syracuse football history to earn that distinction joining Zaire Franklin (2015-17) and Robert Adams (1894-96).
Up next the Orange will start the second half of their season vs the Pitt Panthers on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.