Syracuse Football: Tommy DeVito the next Joe Burrow?

Year two of Tommy DeVito as the Syracuse football starting quarterback is right around the corner. His ceiling? The Joe Burrow of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Can Syracuse football QB Tommy DeVito be the best thing? Well, according to Yahoo Sports, don’t rule him out from a breakout year in 2020. Eric Edholm, the lead NFL Draft analyst at Yahoo Sports, listed Tommy DeVito in the ‘Others of note’ category in a recent article speculating the next Joe Burrow of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Brock Purdy, Kellen Mond, D’Eriq King, and a few others were the main selections who Edholm highlighted in his article. However, it’s notable that the SU signal-caller was placed in the article, to begin with. This shows his potential is still there, and especially that even after a so-so 2019, college football experts haven’t totally written him off yet.

While Edholm didn’t go into depth about the DeVito selection as an honorable mention, that’s where we come in.

For starters, I totally agree with this selection and placement. DeVito absolutely deserves to be on this list. While he and the Orange didn’t live up to full expectations, his 19 touchdowns to 5 interceptions and over 2,300 passing yards showed a player with a strong arm, who just needs to limit mistakes.

Some of those mistakes weren’t all of DeVito’s fault. The Syracuse football offensive line was dismal last season, something that the ‘Cuse needs to fix. It goes without saying that even a decent O-Line can keep the Orange competitive in 2020, but given DeVito is a pocket passer, it becomes that much more important. He can run enough to keep defenses on their feet, but it isn’t a strength of his, meaning he has to rely on protection upfront.

One common mistake DeVito will need to fix is his wobbly passes down the sideline. Although he only threw for five interceptions last season, that number could have been a lot more. DeVito often raced to the sideline and tried to gun in a cross-body throw parallel to the out of bounds mark. That simply won’t fly in the ACC, and ultimately can cost good drives. Every young quarterback has a flaw they need to fix, and DeVito’s would be trying to extend plays where he’s better off throwing the ball away and letting ‘Punter U’ pin the opponent deep in their own territory.

DeVito’s strengths are his deep ball and the Dino Babers formula

Look, there’s no question that DeVito can throw the football far. He’s got perhaps the strongest arm on an Orange quarterback since Ryan Nassib, and we all saw how well that worked out for Syracuse football. With speedy and playmaking wideouts Nykeim Johnson and Taj Harris among others, DeVito has some good options to go to both in the flat and deep. His arm strength can put him over the top.

Finally, with Dino Babers as his head coach, the possibilities are endless. Babers turned Eric Dungey into one of, if not the greatest quarterback in Syracuse football history. He coached Jimmy Garoppolo at Eastern Illinois before he became the NFC representing QB in the 2020 Super Bowl.

In other words, Dino Babers is the quarterback whisperer and Tommy DeVito could be next in line. If Babers can work his magic with yet another QB, watch out for the Tommy DeVito show in 2020. He may just be the next Joe Burrow.