Syracuse Football: Mike Schmidt brings track record of OL success to SU

The Syracuse football offensive-line struggles over the past few years are well-documented, and hopefully, Mike Schmidt can help turn things around for this Orange unit.

Pete Thamel, a national reporter for Yahoo Sports, first broke the news via Twitter that the ‘Cuse is planning to hire San Diego State offensive-line coach Schmidt to the same position on the Hill.

Schmidt would replace former Orange offensive-line coach Mike Cavanaugh, who last month elected to leave Central New York to become the new OL coach at Arizona State.

In 2018, Syracuse football notched a 10-3 season and finished the year ranked No. 15 in both major polls. However, since then, the team has put forth 5-7 and 1-10 campaigns, and the offensive line has had its share of performance woes.

To be fair, during the recently completed 2020 stanza, when the squad only collected one victory, the ‘Cuse offensive line did experience some unfortunate injuries that certainly contributed to its struggles.

However, Syracuse football boasts a couple of talented offensive linemen within its 2021 recruiting cycle. Plus, as Stephen Bailey of 247Sports points out, “the unit does return all of its production from 2020, including a healthy Dakota Davis at guard, and adds Florida transfer Chris Bleich, who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, as well as junior college product Jakob Bradford. The Orange is expected to pick up another transfer lineman to that group with one of its three remaining scholarships for the 2021 cycle.”

Syracuse football has reportedly found a new OL coach in Mike Schmidt.

Schmidt has served as a full-time assistant coach for San Diego State since 2012, per his bio on that team’s athletics department Web site.

"Dating back to 2012, Schmidt “has been influential in SDSU establishing itself as one of the top rushing programs in the country.” For example, over those last nine years, “the Aztecs rank 15th nationally in rushing yards per carry (5.0), 15th in rushing yardage per game (216.9) and are tied for 21st in rushing touchdowns (201).”"

A 2009 alum of San Diego State who played on the Aztecs’ offensive line from 2005 to 2008 and was a captain in his senior season, Schmidt in 2017 “molded a young and inexperienced line into a force that paved the way for consensus All-American Rashaad Penny, who led the nation with 2,027 yards rushing.”

San Diego State is a member of the Mountain West Conference. Is that league on the same level as the Atlantic Coast Conference? No, it is not. But Schmidt still has found a lot of success in recent terms, and that could bode well for the ‘Cuse and its future offensive line.