Syracuse Football: As spring game nears, examining key positional battles

We are just about one week away from the Syracuse football spring game on Friday, April 1, which is the only chance that most fans will get to see the team prior to their first game this September.

With a roster featuring just nine seniors and nine juniors, there are plenty of position battles to keep track of as spring camp wraps up.

As last year’s quarterback battle clearly showed, who wins these position battles has the potential to dictate what direction the offense or defense will move towards this fall. With that being said, here are a few position battles that could end up dictating what kind of a team we see this fall.

Let’s take a look at several key positional battles for Syracuse football heading into the 2022 season.

Quarterback:

The Quarterback competition features returning starting quarterback Garrett Shrader, and a trio of redshirt freshmen behind him. They will be competing to right the ship of a passing game that finished dead last in the ACC in yards in 2021.

The most heralded of these freshman options is probably the Michigan transfer Dan Villari, a former three-star recruit. Villari appeared in four games for a Michigan team who made the College Football Playoff, though he saw very limited action in those games. Villari (who once described Syracuse as his “dream school”) is seen as a dual-threat quarterback, but one who still prefers to stay in the pocket if he can. He will be attempting to show head coach Dino Babers and the new offensive coaches that he can hit the happy medium that they want by providing both a competent run and pass threat.

You also have returning redshirt freshmen JaCobian Morgan and Justin Lamson. Morgan has looked decent in limited action at Syracuse, and Lamson has yet to see the field as a member of the Orange. While anything is possible in an open quarterback competition, most analysts see Morgan and Lamson as unlikely starters for the 2022 campaign. It will likely come down to Shrader vs Villari.

To hold onto his starting position, Shrader will likely need to demonstrate to the coaching staff that he can provide a more competent threat in the passing game than he did in 2021. With an abysmal 120 passing yards per game in 2021, and dozens of plays throughout the season where he did not seem capable of throwing the ball competently, Shrader failed to pass both the statistical test and the eye test in 2021. If he cannot progress from that point, he may put Dino Babers in the position of having to rely on a freshman. Either that, or face the prospect of having a one-dimensional offense again in 2022.

Wide Receiver:

If there was a position group in 2021 that was more disappointing than the quarterback room, it was certainly the receivers. As I mentioned in the Quarterback section, Syracuse football finished dead last in the ACC in passing yards in 2021. Slot receiver Courtney Jackson led the team in receptions (37), yards (388) and touchdowns (3), all three of which are very pedestrian numbers. These pedestrian numbers were the result regardless of whether we had Garrett Shrader or Tommy DeVito at quarterback.

Just to give you an idea of how low that level of production is for a team’s leading receiver, division rival Louisville had four receivers with more yards, three with more touchdowns, and one with more receptions. Division rival North Carolina State had four receivers with more touchdowns, three with more yards and two with more catches. That being said, Syracuse’s receiver group will have to find a guy who can produce at a higher level than a #3 or #4 receiver in the ACC to have a chance of going to a bowl game this season.

To resolve this, Syracuse football will be relying on a combination of transfers, young players and returning starters. Michigan State transfer CJ Hayes is widely expected to compete for playing time, after having played defensive back at Michigan State in 2021. In 2019, as a receiver, Hayes caught 13 balls for 141 yards. They will also be relying heavily on UTEP transfer Devaughn Cooper, who had 21 catches for 199 yards for the Orange in 2021.

If these older players cannot step up and increase production, it will be up to younger players like Oronde Gadsden, Damien Alford, Trebor Pena and a cast of freshmen to step up and provide a competent receiving threat in 2022. In this writer’s opinion, getting significant growth out of this group might be the biggest key to success for the 2022 team. Syracuse football simply cannot afford to have another season where their highest producing receiver would be the 3rd or 4th highest producing receiver on any other team in the ACC. That is a clear recipe for failure.

Offensive Line:

Due to the tendency of Dino Babers to cross-train his offensive linemen, the OLine competition is likely to come down to which players Babers considers to be the best five. With seven returning linemen who have starting experience, Babers will have one of his most experienced offensive line units since he has been at Syracuse University.

Last year’s offensive line was one of the bright spots of the Syracuse football team throughout the season. Though they struggled heavily in pass blocking, they excelled in blocking against the run and improved significantly as the season progressed. This unit will be hoping to build on that momentum going into 2022.

The unit will be led by Matthew Bergeron, who showed tremendous poise at left tackle in both run and pass blocking in 2021. Beyond that, it gets very murky when attempting to project starters. According to 247Sports reporter Stephen Bailey, Babers has largely gone with the Bergeron-Ellis-Ilaoa-Davis-Vettorello lineup as the first-team offensive line during spring practice. That being said, Chris Bleich and Darius Tisdale will certainly have something to say about those guard spots, where both have started in the past.

Nose Tackle:

This position is the biggest question mark for Syracuse University in 2022. With all three starters on last year’s defensive line graduating, and perilously thin depth at all three defensive line spots, it almost seems as if Coach Babers will have no choice but to bring in a transfer option to start at nose tackle in 2022. After all, the current largest player on the Syracuse D-Line is 6-foot-3, 277-pound walk-on Elijah Wright. Wright is the only Syracuse defensive lineman listed above 269 pounds.

Should there be no transfer option, the job appears to be most likely to go to 293-pound senior fullback Chris Elmore, sophomore walk-on Kevon Darton, or junior Caleb Okechuckwu. At 268 and 269 pounds, Darton and Okechuckwu are the two largest defensive linemen on the roster, and also have among the most experience of any of the returners. This writer has significant doubts as to whether a nose tackle who weighs less than 270 pounds is going to be able to stand up to the rigors of playing that position in the ACC. In the absence of a transfer, Elmore seems to be the most likely option to start at nose tackle.

Defensive End:

Though stocked with more top-end talent than nose tackle, defensive end is another position where Syracuse faces some questions surrounding depth and experience. Sophomores Steve Linton and Terry Lockett return with the most experience, with both having played substantial amounts of time at defensive end in 2021. Linton was impressive as a pass rusher, grabbing a sack and demonstrating a very quick burst off the edge, though at a listed weight of 217 pounds there are serious concerns about his size at defensive end, particularly in a three-man front.

Behind Linton and Lockett will be a group almost completely composed of freshmen, unless the transfer portal brings in more options for fall camp. They will be expected to step up and fill depth roles that they may not yet be ready to fill, given their size and experience deficits. If one of the freshmen steps up and plays well in the spring game and during fall camp, they may see themselves thrust into a very significant role in 2022.

Safety:

A group that excelled in 2021, Syracuse football has more depth at safety than perhaps any position on the football field. With five safeties returning with starting experience, for only three starting spots, the competition here should be fierce. Ja’Had Carter stood out last season for his athleticism and ability to be effective in run support, as did Justin Barron for similar reasons.

Guys like Jason Simmons, Rob Hanna and Aman Greenwood will be competing with them for these starting positions. Hanna and Greenwood are both undersized defensive backs, which has given them problems in the past. That being said, all five of these players have started in a defensive back unit which was fairly effective in 2021. Of all the competitions underway, this is the one fans should feel most confident about. There should be no reason whatsoever why Syracuse football cannot produce a good group of starting safeties in 2022.

What To Watch For:

Demonstrating a competent passing game and a competent run defense are going to be the things I watch most for in the spring game this year. The offensive playbook will likely be very basic, which should theoretically aid the defense in stopping the run and aid the offense in completing simple passes. If they can successfully execute on both of those things, I think we can come away from the spring game with some hope that our fundamental flaws from 2021 are being addressed. In the absence of such execution, Orange fans have a right to feel apprehensive about the passing game and run defense in 2022.