GOOD SPRING START FOR SYRACUSE FOOTBALL
SYRACUSE, N.Y. » Spring football ended on a most promising note for Syracuse and coach Dino Babers.
In between treatments for testicular cancer and a bald head under his helmet as evidence of the struggle, quarterback Rex Culpepper hit tight end Ravian Pierce for a 17-yard touchdown on the final play of spring scrimmage , setting off a moving celebration on the Carrier Dome field.
Culpepper, who had one start last year as a redshirt freshman, wasn’t on the two- deep depth chart for spring and likely won’t be at the end of summer camp, but the prognosis for recovery is good and he’ll be in the mix if healthy.
“I like all of our quarter- backs,” Babers said. “I think that we’ve got probably our best group of quarterbacks that we’ve had in a long time here.”
The more bodies available the better, and nobody knows that better than Babers, who has five quarterbacks on the roster. There’s been one constant for a team that’s finished 4-8 three straight times: Starting quarterback Eric Dungey has missed a lot of games — 10 in all, includ- ing the final three of each of his first three years, and the Orange have lost all but one of them.
Although he was a spectator in the spring game while the other quarterbacks took turns, Dungey has recovered from a leg injury he suffered late last season and is ready to pick up where he left off. While he was in there in 2017, he averaged 343.3 yards offensively per
game, fifth in the nation.
While highly regarded redshirt freshman Tommy DeVito took the bulk of the first-team snaps in spring and looked sharp in both phases in the spring game, there’s no question Dungey remains the leader of the team.
“He had an unbelievable spring. We know what he is going to do,” Babers said. “We wanted to give those other four quarterbacks
some turns. We don’t know how they’re going to do in front of a crowd.”
At least most of the team departed healthy in spite of a heavy spring workload that featured the starting offense against the starting defense.
“It’s been a very physical spring,” Babers said. “It’s good to get everybody what seems to be like healthy out of the spring game and moving out on to the summer and onto the fall.”
Other things to know about the Syracuse Orange:
O- LINE COMES OF
AGE: Syracuse has the makings of a solid, experienced offensive line. Evan Adams, Cody Conway, Sam Heckel and Airon Servais started every game last year and Aaron Roberts is back after missing all of 2017 with a knee injury. That’s the most experience on the offensive line since the late 1980s, when Syracuse was a regular in the national rankings.
“We’re not deep, but ... if we can figure out a way to keep those guys together, I think we’re going to be OK,” said Babers, in his third year at SU.
OUT OF NOWHERE: In his previous coaching jobs, Babers has had receivers blossom out of the blue and that trend has continued at Syracuse with Maryland transfer Amba Etta-Tawo (94 catches for 1,482 yards and seven 100yard games) two years ago and Steve Ishmael (1051,347) last year. Candidates on the current roster include Sean Riley, Jamal Custis, Nykeim Johnson, Sharod Johnson, and even hard-hitting senior safety Antwan Cordy, who dabbled on both sides of the ball in spring.