Syracuse Football: Some May musings on the Orange football program

Hello, Syracuse football fans and welcome to May 2023 (cue NSYNC and “It’s Gonna Be May”). Normally, I pick a subject and write about one topic, but there’s been a few items hit lately that I wanted to touch briefly on and share what’s going on.

Here are my May musings on Syracuse football.

2023 NFL Draft and signees

First, congratulations to some of the Syracuse football players now on NFL teams. Offensive lineman Matthew Bergeron was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft (although it appears the Dallas Cowboys almost drafted him in the first round).

Then a round later, cornerback Garrett Williams was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round.

Then when the draft was completed, three other players signed UFA (Undrafted Free Agent) deals with NFL teams. Kicker Andre Szmyt signed with the Chicago Bears, linebacker Mikel Jones signed with the Los Angeles Chargers and running back Sean Tucker signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Good luck to all…you all worked hard to get this opportunity so I hope you continue to work and it pays off.

WWE has a draft, too

And speaking of drafts, does anyone remember former Syracuse football offensive lineman Omari Palmer? Well for the last couple of years, Omari had been wrestling in WWE’s “developmental brand” called NXT under the name Odyssey Jones.

I believe Omari said in an interview that he had someone sending clips of him in a gym to former WWE wrestler and current AEW employee Mark Henry who saw his workout and got him a tryout with WWE.

He was out for a while due to injury but recently returned and just this past Monday was “drafted” to the WWE Raw brand. I look forward to seeing him on Raw in the future and wonder if one day we might see more former Orange players in the WWE system.

Transfer portal losses

Unfortunately with that good news comes news of a transfer as Syracuse football quarterback Justin Lamson has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal. He joins fellow QB JaCobian Morgan and defensive lineman Jatius Geer, who it was speculated would see a lot of playing time this season.

The Lamson & Morgan news means the quarterback room lost one guy who two years ago saw game action in a backup role in Morgan and a guy competing with Carlos Del Rio-Wilson as the backup to Garrett Shrader.

Lamson & Del Rio-Wilson both showed promise in the spring outings so it’s sad to see what could have been some quality depth at a valuable position. I wish any player well if they decide to leave because I’m not in their shoes to know why they made the decision or what is going on in their lives so I won’t speculate, but I’ll miss all three men but wish them well wherever they go.

SI.com writer Mike McAllister has a list of possible names that Syracuse football coaches could pursue in the portal.

Meet Yosuke Sugano

Did you know May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month? Spectrum News’ Jackson Wang will be featuring three local athletes with Asian heritage.

His first spotlight is on Syracuse football linebacker Yosuke Sugano, a Japanese-born athlete who came to the United States in his senior year of high school and went from Saint Francis University to Syracuse football for his redshirt senior season. You can read more about him here.

‘Cuse in the community

And one last side note, thank you to those Syracuse football players who recently spent time with Clear Path for Veterans in Chittenango, N.Y.

I’m so happy when I see players out in the community working with others and getting to know the city. It also hopefully helps grow future fans of the program as well.