Syracuse Football: Orange heads to pre-season camp on Aug. 6

Syracuse football will soon begin its pre-season practice schedule where the entire team is together and players are in pads.

As Syracuse football waits for more details on its 2020 campaign, including dates of its league games and its non-conference opponent, Orange players will transition into their pre-season fall camp beginning this Thursday, Aug. 6.

Syracuse football communications officials have sent out a press release to media members outlining when the ‘Cuse will hold these full-team, padded practices.

The Orange will have 16 pre-season practices, running from Aug. 6 until Aug. 23, with two days off. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, all of these practices are closed to the media as well as the general public. Head coach Dino Babers and certain players will be available for virtual interviews via Zoom.

Syracuse football commencing its pre-season calendar is a product of a timeline approved by NCAA officials in June. Originally, the ‘Cuse was supposed to kick off its 2020 campaign on Sept. 4 at Boston College.

However, amid the pandemic, Atlantic Coast Conference leaders last week unveiled a proposed scheduling model that entails 10 conference contests and one non-conference clash.

Other Power Five conferences have announced their 2020 dockets as well, with the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC opting for only conference games, while the Big 12, like the ACC, is proposing one non-conference battle in addition to its league slate.

At this juncture, Syracuse football doesn’t know which foe it will face first. Further details on the Orange’s 2020 schedule, including dates for conference duels, should come soon, media reports indicate. So far, the first non-conference option for the ‘Cuse is Liberty.

The initial match-ups under the ACC’s plan are supposed to occur the week of Sept. 7-12, with the entire cadre of games spanning 13 weeks, as each crew will have two open dates.

Syracuse football is expected to host Boston College, Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. The Orange, meanwhile, will pay visits to Clemson, Notre Dame, Louisville, North Carolina and Pittsburgh.

In 2020, the ACC will have one division, rather than two, with Notre Dame joining the league for football just this fall. The ACC championship tilt will take place on Dec. 12 or Dec. 19 in Charlotte, N.C.

For Babers, he is entering his fifth year at the helm on the Hill. The squad had a disappointing 5-7 record in 2019, after going 10-3 and being ranked No. 15 in the major polls the campaign before that.

Many national pundits are projecting Syracuse football to finish near the bottom of the ACC in 2020. The Orange, though, is building momentum with its 2021 recruiting cycle.