The competition between two college transfers for the starting quarterback position at Syracuse football for the upcoming campaign was a "complete battle," head coach Fran Brown says.
News broke on Monday that Brown would be rolling with former Notre Dame signal-caller Steve Angeli as the Orange's QB1 in the 2025 season. ESPN's Pete Thamel broke this story on Monday morning, and I confirmed it with a source. SU Athletics also put out a press release on Angeli being tabbed as the starting quarterback via cuse.com in the late morning on Monday.
In a press conference following a 'Cuse practice on Monday, Brown said he "was up for a long time just trying to figure this out" before he ended up picking the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Angeli, a redshirt junior from Westfield, N.J.
The Orange's quarterback competition during preseason camp has proven one of the more intriguing ones across the country. Angeli won the starting QB job over LSU transfer Rickie Collins, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound redshirt sophomore from Baton Rouge, La.
"It just came down to a little bit of operation," Brown said. "Able to run the operation the best. We felt he just a little bit of a nod over him, but it was extremely hard."
Syracuse football has its starting quarterback for the 2025 season.
During preseason camp, both Orange signal-callers have played well. Angeli has a bit more playing experience in college, he's a solid pocket-passer, and Brown has praised his leadership skills.
Collins is a year younger. He's the more athletic and mobile quarterback, and he has a cannon. While Brown doesn't plan on playing both quarterbacks, he does acknowledge that Collins is just one play away from entering a game, should Angeli ever get injured, which I hope never transpires.
"Rickie's a good player," the Syracuse football head coach continued. "It was really, really close. So when it's close, it gives you as a coach a sense of okay, if something happens and he has to go in, we're fine. Because of how close the battle was. That was something that was great for us to see as a staff, knowing that both of those guys are that close. It makes you coach with a bit of confidence, freedom. Knowing if something happens to him, the next guy will be able to go in and help us be able to win games."
Brown named Collins as the Orange's starting quarterback for 2025 back in April, but that was before Angeli decided to transfer from the Fighting Irish to the 'Cuse. Each quarterback was a four-star prep recruit and a top-25 QB in national transfer rankings this off-season.
A key trait that helped give Angeli the edge is his leadership, according to Brown. "He's just a natural leader," the Syracuse football head coach said. "A lot of the guys gravitated towards him. He makes it his business to build personal relationships with everyone. I think that's what really good quarterbacks do. Just his leadership. That was pretty much it, just the leadership that I've seen from him was really good."
We're counting down the days until the Orange's 2025 campaign gets underway. The 'Cuse will travel to Atlanta on Saturday, Aug. 30, to face No. 24 Tennessee in a juicy non-conference encounter.