Syracuse football lost wide receiver Trishton Jackson to the NFL this offseason. Here are the top 3 Orange options to replace him in 2020.
Syracuse football struggled to a 5-7 finish in 2019, things won’t get easier in 2020. Prior to the start of the new year, the Orange learned that star wide receiver Trishton Jackson would be foregoing his final year of eligibility to enter the 2020 NFL Draft.
In 13 games with the Orange (including the Camping World Bowl in 2018), Jackson hauled in 69 receptions for 1,050 yards and 12 touchdowns. The cherry on top of that pie is TJ averaged over 15 yards per reception.
Trishton’s decision to leave the team surprised many in the Syracuse football community and now makes it that much more difficult to try and turn things around next season.
Fortunately for the Orange, the wide receiver room is chock full of potential stars waiting for their opportunities. Here are the top three replacements for Trishton next season.
The second most accomplished wide receiver on the Orange behind Trishton Jackson is, of course, Taj Harris. In 2019 he finished with 37 receptions for 559 yards and two touchdowns.
His receptions and yards were second on the team, and his 94-yard touchdown was the second-longest in program history. In 2018 Harris had a very similar season catching 40 receptions for 565 yards and three touchdowns.
Although in 2020 he no longer has to play second fiddle to anyone, he can be his own man.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound receiver out of New Jersey is the perfect breakout candidate in 2020. Taj has already built a rapport with starting quarterback Tommy DeVito and the two can build on their chemistry next season.
In this offense, you have to be able to make things happen after you catch the football. There are a lot of bubble screens and short-yardage opportunities that you can turn into larger chunks (like Trishton Jackson did last season).
In addition, the long-ball is something the Orange will look to get back to in 2020. Tommy DeVito has a pure stroke and he has the ability to rip it better than anyone in the country. Taj Harris perfectly fits the mold.
"“Wait a second Abdul Adams doesn’t play receiver, you idiot!”"
We anticipate reading a few of these comments on social media after people read this, but lets explain.
Sure Syracuse needs to replace Trishton Jackson the star receiver, but they also need to replace the production he left behind. One of the best ways to do that is with a strong running game.
Syracuse “was supposed” (in heavy quotations) to have a strong running game in 2019, but it never materialized on any sort of consistent basis. The team couldn’t replace the rushing production of an MIA Eric Dungey and that cost the Orange dearly.
From purely a running back perspective senior Moe Neal was the lead dog and finished with 846 yards, but he has moved on which leaves a void in the backfield.
A few years ago Syracuse got great news when two transfers from big-time programs decided to come over and join the cause. Trishton Jackson lived up to the hype from Michigan State, now it’s time for Abdul Adams to live up to the hype from Oklahoma.
To be honest it’s been a long time on the hill since a dominant rusher has imposed his will and made his presence known. Truth be told the last 1,000-yard rusher on the hill was way back in 2012 (last decade and over eight years ago) in Jerome Smith.
If the Orange wants to bring themselves back to prominence they’ll need Abdul Adams to be the bell cow, break that embarrassing drought, and fill the offensive void left behind by Trishton Jackson.
A quarterback’s best friend is a good running game. If Adams can be effective running the pigskin, that’ll open things up in the secondary for Tommy DeVito to take advantage of.
In addition, he’ll also have more time to breathe because defenses won’t be able to pin their ears back and feast on DeVito behind a porous offensive line.
The international man of mystery isn’t Austin Powers, it’s Kevin Mital who hails from the great white north.
Kevin Mital joined the Syracuse football squad late in camp last year and there was speculation that he could get in the mix last season, but he never made it on the field.
Mital is a 6-foot-1, 222-pound receiver who has achieved a ton of success in Canada. A two time RSEQ D1 All-Star and former offensive player of the year recorded over 1,000 yards and notched 17 touchdowns as a senior.
Kevin owns the career records for receiving yardage (2,438) and touchdowns (35) in CEGEP D1. Known for his explosiveness he averaged 21.2 yards per reception during his career. On top of his statistical achievements, he’s also a two-time captain that brings intangibles as a leader on and off the field.
He’s an outside receiver that can immediately replace Trishton Jackson’s spot in the lineup. After learning in 2019 and assimilating into the Orange locker room he’s ready to take flight in 2020.
Admittingly Kevin Mital is a bit of a wildcard in the wide receiver room. We haven’t seen what he’s capable of on the field in America yet, but he certainly has all the traits and the opportunity with Trishton Jackson leaving to be THE new beneficiary of the Dino Babers offense.
Dino has been on the hill for 4 seasons and each year a receiver has stepped up to the plate to produce video game numbers in his Orange is the New Fast offense:
"2016: Amba Etta-Tawo 94 receptions for 1,482 yards and 14 touchdowns. 2017: Steve Ishmael 105 receptions for 1,347 yards and 7 touchdowns. 2018: Jamal Custis 51 receptions for 906 yards and 6 touchdowns. 2019: Trishton Jackson 66 receptions for 1,023 yards and 11 touchdowns."
The question is no longer ‘if’ someone will step up to the plate, it’s ‘who’ will step up to the plate in 2020?