Syracuse Football: Dino Babers gets emotional talking about Tommy DeVito

Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers couldn’t help but get emotional when talking Tommy DeVito. Here’s why and the full details.

It was a rough outing for Syracuse football quarterback Tommy DeVito.

Facing one of the top sack teams in the country (Pitt Panthers) with one of the worst offensive lines in the nation (Syracuse) was a recipe for disaster.

Specifically on a scramble near the goal line, DeVito escaped the initial danger, but couldn’t avoid a brutal hit he took to the right shoulder/neck area. Tommy was motionless on the field for a few moments before dragging himself off the gridiron.

After the game, Dino Babers was asked about the moment and got choked up talking about one of his “stepsons”:

"“Obviously when Tommy took the one hit he wanted to go back out there. But I’m like no, you’ve done enough for this one. That hit he took was a really really good shot. As I said, those guys are my stepsons and seeing that was enough for me. I’m … (pauses and re-gathers himself) that was enough for me. I didn’t need to see him go through that again.”"

Babers got choked up as if he was actually talking about one of his own children. That’s the human side of football that we don’t often see from coach Babers.

After Tommy took the shot he did go into the medical tent for further evaluation and did not return to the game. Which made it Clayton Welch time.

Babers later confirmed that Tommy was “medically cleared” to return to the field vs Pitt after taking the hard shot, but he didn’t want him back out there.

Do we have a quarterback controversy on our hands?

"“We have to see how guys heal up. It’s not fair to either one of those guys or to me frankly until I go back and watch the tape. If you’re asking me who is better, I know whose better. Now we have to see who is healthy and who isn’t healthy.”"

Clayton did seem to create a few sparks for the offense that had otherwise remained dormant and stale through much of the first half.

For example, after Tommy got knocked out of the game, Welch delivered the biggest play of the game with a 94-yard bomb to Taj Harris that went all the way to the house.

Prior to Clayton coming in, Syracuse was down 24-6 early in the third quarter.

Most of Clayton’s big moments came via his legs: he finished the day with 36 yards rushing (which sadly led the team).

Initially, he was brought into the game for a certain wildcat like package to mix things up offensively for the Orange. But when DeVito got banged up, Dino turned over the keys to the franchise to Clayton.

Now before we go crazy and anoint Welch the future of the program and cast DeVito aside, keep this in mind, Pitt wasn’t prepared to play against Welch. Syracuse had the element of surprise on their side, they will no longer have that moving forward.

If Clayton was as good as everyone perceives him to be after this Pitt game, wouldn’t he have beaten Tommy DeVito outright in camp?

Dino said it best after the game, he knows who the best quarterback on his roster is. The bigger question is who will be healthy for their next matchup on Saturday, October 26 vs Florida State on the road. Both DeVito and Welch got banged up vs Pitt, certainly something to monitor throughout the next week.