Syracuse Football: It’s time for running back Jawhar Jordan to shine

With Syracuse football running backs Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard absent from the team’s first 2020 depth chart, this puts Jawhar Jordan in the spotlight.

Syracuse football is only a handful of days from its 2020 season opener at No. 18 North Carolina, and some clarity at running back appeared on Monday, with Jawhar Jordan listed as the first-squad player at this position.

That’s according to the Orange’s first depth chart of the 2020 campaign, which the ‘Cuse unveiled on Monday, according to a report by Stephen Bailey of Syracuse.com.

As we recently penned a column on, redshirt senior Abdul Adams and junior Jarveon Howard entered the fall term as the top-two running backs, as it pertains to yardage gained in 2019, who were on the roster heading into the 2020 stanza.

In our piece, we noted that during a recent virtual call with media members, Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers got asked about the status of Adams and Howard on the team, and Babers responded by saying journalists should contact them individually. That didn’t prove an encouraging sign.

On Monday afternoon, both of their bios still appear on cuse.com, however, as Bailey writes in his story, per the Orange’s two-deep depth chart, redshirt freshman Jordan is placed as the first-crew running back, with redshirt junior Markenzy Pierre slotted as the back-up at this position.

Adams and Howard each accumulated more than 300 yards rushing in 2019, when the ‘Cuse went 5-7, and both were expected to contend for the starting job. Thus, this development stings a bit for Syracuse football, a group that is hoping to prove the doubters wrong after the Atlantic Coast Conference’s pre-season media poll and a bevy of other national prognostications forecast the ‘Cuse to hover around the league’s basement.

Syracuse football players Jawhar Jordan and Markenzy Pierre are the top-two running backs on the Orange’s first 2020 depth chart.

So against the talented Tar Heels and perhaps throughout the entire 2020 season, Jordan and then also Pierre will have to make their marks at running back.

The 5-foot-9, 172-pound Jordan, who attended Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz., and hails from Farmingdale, N.Y., is an explosive all-purpose runner who competed in four encounters during his redshirt season of 2019, per his bio on cuse.com.

In those quartet of contests, Jordan tallied 306 all-purpose yards, including 105 rushing yards, 87 receiving yards and 114 return yards. He also had a rushing touchdown.

Pierre, meanwhile, is from Orlando, Fla., and went to Liberty High School in nearby Kissimmee, Fla. The 5-foot-11, 216-pound Pierre to date in his tenure on the Hill has served as a reserve running back and special-teams player.

He has suited up in 27 games, says his cuse.com bio, with Pierre having managed 38 carries for 130 rushing yards, four kickoff returns for 96 yards, and one reception for six yards.

Undeniably, the running-back spot will prove something to monitor when heavily favored UNC hosts Syracuse football this Saturday at noon.