Syracuse QB room: Steve Angeli shouldn't be written off, and Amari Odom should get a shot at UConn

At the ACC Kickoff event this past July in Charlotte, N.C., Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown was asked by a reporter what his biggest lessons learned were from the team's 3-9 overall record in 2025.

Brown's response: "To have backup quarterbacks."

That quote is front and center now for the Orange, which dropped to 1-2 overall after falling to Pittsburgh on the road, 27-13, on Thursday night. Starting quarterback Steve Angeli simply doesn't look right, and I mean no disrespect when I say that.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Angeli, a fifth-year player who missed much of last season due to an Achilles injury, has repeatedly said that he's fully healthy, but he was limping some during last Saturday's home loss to California.

Over the past two games, both losses, he's only completing around 50 percent of his pass attempts with just one touchdown and five interceptions. Perhaps Angeli isn't fully healthy. Maybe it's physical and mental stuff going on. I don't know. Angeli seems like a great young man, he's a leader, he loves his teammates and he's self-aware.

He's just not getting the job done, and while the 2026 regular season is only 25 percent complete, I adamantly believe it's time for Brown to turn to another quarterback for the next game. I'm not in any way, shape or form suggesting Angeli should be benched for the rest of this campaign.

Syracuse football needs an infusion of better play at quarterback.

But amid summer workouts and then preseason camp, Brown and other SU assistant coaches raved about the team's quarterback room and its depth. The 'Cuse has a bye week coming up, then it will travel to Connecticut on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Without question, Syracuse football players and coaches have a lot of work to do on both sides of the field and in special teams. Brown, though, should strongly consider giving senior Amari Odom a start against the Huskies.

I'm not alone in that sentiment. On Friday, I asked fellow fans on social media about this topic, and there are a lot of comments in favor of letting the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Odom, a transfer from Kennesaw State, be QB1 at UConn. To reiterate, this isn't to say that Angeli shouldn't play against the Huskies or in other games throughout the 2026 season.

Odom, named to the All-Conference USA first team in 2025, is athletic and mobile. He's experienced and has a strong arm. When called into duty at Pitt on Thursday evening, Odom went 7-of-7 for 44 yards. For 2026 as a whole, he's 9-of-10 for 56 yards with one touchdown and no picks.

Granted, Conference USA is not the same as the Atlantic Coast Conference or other power conferences. Yet Odom, in his limited reps this season, has shown his potential and promise.

I'm not throwing in the towel on Steve Angeli. Hopefully, you aren't, either. At the same time, the last two setbacks have proven rough, and while penalties and other things are factors, too, the quarterback play must improve.

It's Amari Odom's turn. Even if just for one contest.

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