Syracuse Football: Pundits give Orange standouts some preseason love within the ACC

The Syracuse football 2025 roster has a big makeover from the Orange's 10-3 team a stanza ago. Key players on offense and defense exhausted their eligibility or hit the transfer portal, as is the case with programs all around the country.

At the same time, 'Cuse coaches have done a solid job with their own portal recruiting this off-season, and the Orange brings in a large and promising 2025 class at the high school level.

So the main question becomes, how will Syracuse football fare in 2025, when it faces a daunting docket? Less important, but still fun to discuss, is how many 'Cuse players will make All-ACC squads in the upcoming campaign.

Lately, some national media outlets have chimed in on this topic, publishing their preseason All-ACC teams. A few Orange standouts are deemed to be among the top players within the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2025.

Let's review which Syracuse football players are getting a little preseason love in the ACC.

National writer Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports has five Orange players on his All-ACC teams ahead of 2025. Jack Stonehouse, a punter who will be a redshirt senior in the upcoming term, is on the first team.

He was an All-ACC honorable mention in 2024 after averaging 45.7 yards per punt. In 2023, Stonehouse resided on the All-ACC third team.

Rising redshirt senior Duce Chestnut is on the second team. In 2024, he transitioned from cornerback to safety and made 11 starts there. According to SU Athletics, he finished with a career-high 62 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, one sack, one forced fumble and five pass breakups.

Rising sophomore running back Yasin Willis and rising junior wide receiver Darrell Gill Jr. are on the third team. Willis, a four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle, is the presumed starter at running back in 2025 after LeQuint Allen Jr. headed to the NFL.

Gill, meanwhile, was one of five Syracuse football players who notched at least 500 receiving yards in 2024, which led the country, I might add. As a sophomore, he hauled in 31 catches for 570 yards and two receiving touchdowns.

Rising redshirt senior offensive lineman Da'Metrius Weatherspoon is on the fourth team. In 2024, he had 10 starts at left tackle, and Weatherspoon was part of an offensive line that helped propel Allen to more than 1,000 rushing yards, while quarterback Kyle McCord led the nation in passing yards.

Last month, per Syracuse Athletics, Stonehouse was named to Phil Steele's preseason All-ACC second team, while Gill is on the fourth squad via this noted college football expert.