2025 Preseason Camp Thread

[CbusCuse]

Rooks, Thomas and Reese didn't come here to not play. Seems like Tank is going to be the cornerstone but still have Jobity, Jaquez (who was much improved last year) , Perry, Slimey, etc as well in rotation. We could go Jobity, Tank, Thomas, Rooks across the front 4 and be massive and get pressure by simply collapsing the pocket. We used to struggle to have DTs that were big enough, now we bigs that are athletic enough to play end and set edge while collapsing the pocket

Yeah those transfers are good but it doesn’t sound like they will be starters. Think that will end up being Tank and Jobity. But they will certainly get a lot of play in a rotation.

And another article just posted in this thread mentions Jobity moving inside. We have an abundance of DT size and depth. We easily go a solid 7 deep with experience at those two spots and have some young talent after that. We just have minimal DE depth. I think Reese, Jaquez and David O are solid but that’s just 3 dudes. After that its just a major question mark. That’s awful depth. We have to be lucky as hell and hope we don’t get any injuries there.

Maybe Jobity plays outside on first down or short yardage downs and moves inside on second and third downs unless they are shorter yardage?

I would be surprised if Simmons doesn’t need to move back to DE at some point. He is listed at 265 lbs now and one coach just said he was like 270 but that could have been exagerated.

I actually really like our DT spot right now and even think the DL is pretty solid as a whole with the starters. It’s just DE depth that is SCARY. An injury or two happens and we could have zero pass rush.

 

[CbusCuse]

Elijah Robinson wants to rotate bodies along the DL all game. Plenty of snaps to go around.

No not really. Math doesn’t add up for too many minutes for the bigs with 7 dudes unless you are playing the bigs at at least one of the DE spots, and from everything we hear that doesn’t sound like it’s the case. That’s why I’m a bit confused.

 

[Nahson]

The offense and their ability to score last year made me not worry about the defense so much. This year I’m hoping the Defense can step up so there won’t be so much pressure on the O

Something I’ve been thinking about… I know Fran and ERob are BFFs but if the defense doesn’t improve this year or takes a step back, does ERob’s seat start to get toasty?

 

[ImperialOrange]

Yeah those transfers are good but it doesn’t sound like they will be starters. Think that will bend up being Tank and Jobity. But they will certainly get a lot of play in a rotation.

And another article just posted in this thread mentions Jobity moving inside. We have an abundance of DT size and depth. We easily go a solid 7 deep with experience at those two spots and have some young talent after that. We just have minimal DE depth. I think Reese, Jaquez and David O are solid but that’s just 3 dudes. After that its just a major question mark. That’s awful depth. We have to be lucky as hell and hope we don’t get any injuries there.

Maybe Jobity plays outside on first down or short yardage downs and moves inside on second and third downs unless they are shorter yardage?

I would be surprised if Simmons doesn’t need to move back to DE at some point. He is listed at 265 lbs now and one coach just said he was like 270 but that could have been exagerated.

I actually really like our DT spot right now and even think the DL is pretty solid as a whole with the starters. It’s just DE depth that is SCARY. An injury or two happens and we could have zero pass rush.

I take Simmons being moved as the coaches thinking we have adequate options at DE. Why else sanction the move? I think some big can move out to DE situationally and some LBs can step in. Imagine Perry, Rooks or Jobity as SDE on run sets or Deslauriers, Sparrow or Heard on pass sets. We might not have an every down WDE but we've certainly got plenty on options based on down and distance

 

[ImperialOrange]

Remember when we had to go to the 3-3-5 because Syracuse could not recruit big athletic DTs.

With a 270 LB DT and 250 LB DEs... yeah I was there for some of those games as well

 

[ImperialOrange]

Hate this line, everyone has to earn playing time. I'm sure they expect to play and were told if they perform they can.

The best players should be on the field.

Why do you hate this line?

 

[Chip]

Hate this line, everyone has to earn playing time. I'm sure they expect to play and were told if they perform they can.

The best players should be on the field.

Agree, what are they going to do, walk out if they don't like the depth chart.

They came here because it was a great opportunity to play. But under Fran, I would assume everyone still has to earn it based on several factors.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I really think Perry can do damage when they let the dline loose. He is extremely quick. Just hoping they let them attack this yearor hunt instead of what actually happened.

We have a plethora of bigs for the first time possibly ever. Feel like the DL aggression will be predicted on how the coach's feel about what's behind them. Gary Bryant may be our most important off-season acquisition honestly

 

[AngryOtto]

Remember when we went 3-3-5 and we were 26 and 35 in total defense and not 76.
I wish we could be that good again.

Didn’t look it up but what were we the first year of the 3-3-5? I remember a lot of issues that first year of transition. Let’s see how we are this year. Love Darton’s energy and heart but I’ll take multiple 300 pound athletic DT’s to stop the run versus a 272 pound NT.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Yeah those transfers are good but it doesn’t sound like they will be starters. Think that will bend up being Tank and Jobity. But they will certainly get a lot of play in a rotation.

And another article just posted in this thread mentions Jobity moving inside. We have an abundance of DT size and depth. We easily go a solid 7 deep with experience at those two spots and have some young talent after that. We just have minimal DE depth. I think Reese, Jaquez and David O are solid but that’s just 3 dudes. After that its just a major question mark. That’s awful depth. We have to be lucky as hell and hope we don’t get any injuries there.

Maybe Jobity plays outside on first down or short yardage downs and moves inside on second and third downs unless they are shorter yardage?

I would be surprised if Simmons doesn’t need to move back to DE at some point. He is listed at 265 lbs now and one coach just said he was like 270 but that could have been exagerated.

I actually really like our DT spot right now and even think the DL is pretty solid as a whole with the starters. It’s just DE depth that is SCARY. An injury or two happens and we could have zero pass rush.

Think you will see some of the “edge/LB” guys move up on passing downs, Brown, Heard, McDonald, etc..They can all speed rush. Simmons would not have moved if they felt we needed more edge rushing.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Something I’ve been thinking about… I know Fran and ERob are BFFs but if the defense doesn’t improve this year or takes a step back, does ERob’s seat start to get toasty?

Fran and ERob are like P&D. Fran will go down with the ship and take the blame before he cans ERob.

 

[RedtheGOB]

I don’t like our DEs, LBs, Ss. Our CBs are young and inexperienced. Where is a pass rush coming from?

Hah you just called out the whole defense. I look at the defensive philosophy as bend don't break still.

The secondary and LB's are just going to make most of the tackles and the big men up front never will be a crew of guys meant to sack QB's or make big tackles for loss on their own. Their job is to fill gaps and contain, let the LB's and Secondary get free. We do have to tackle much better than last year though.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Remember when we had to go to the 3-3-5 because Syracuse could not recruit big athletic DTs.

To be fair that was pre portal. How many of our DTs were HS recruits?

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Hah you just called out the whole defense. I look at the defensive philosophy as bend don't break still.

The secondary and LB's are just going to make most of the tackles and the big men up front never will be a crew of guys meant to sack QB's or make big tackles for loss on their own. Their job is to fill gaps and contain, let the LB's and Secondary get free. We do have to tackle much better than last year though.

Personally I don't like the Bend style but if you are going to play that style, you cannot Break. In ACC games we allowed 5 runs per game over 10 yards. We gave up 6 runs over 40 yards (0.75 pg), a 7th run over 30, and another 6 runs over 20 (another 0.75 pg). On top of that we gave up 1.0 passes per game over 40 yards. In total we gave up 1.75 plays per game over 40 yards. Which of course was dead last in the ACC.

And it wasn't just in the ACC. In our other 5 games we gave up another eight 40+ yard plays. Which is 1.6 per in those 5 games. That made us 129th Nationally.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

No not really. Math doesn’t add up for too many minutes for the bigs with 7 dudes unless you are playing the bigs at at least one of the DE spots, and from everything we hear that doesn’t sound like it’s the case. That’s why I’m a bit confused.

Last year we rarely played a true for man front. He moved Diggs around. So maybe we play 3 DTs at a time? With the "DE" being moved around? That would at least make sense of the current roster. It would be like a 3-1-2-5.

 

[Sudano]

Didn’t look it up but what were we the first year of the 3-3-5? I remember a lot of issues that first year of transition. Let’s see how we are this year. Love Darton’s energy and heart but I’ll take multiple 300 pound athletic DT’s to stop the run versus a 272 pound NT.

I agree big DTs will help us improve, but let's concentrate on results. I think scheme and coaching will be a much more determinate factor on defensive improvement, which I think we all agree is necessary for team success. We will need to be top 30-ish to be a winning team and bowl eligible.

 

[RF2044]

Yeah those transfers are good but it doesn’t sound like they will be starters. Think that will bend up being Tank and Jobity. But they will certainly get a lot of play in a rotation.

And another article just posted in this thread mentions Jobity moving inside. We have an abundance of DT size and depth. We easily go a solid 7 deep with experience at those two spots and have some young talent after that. We just have minimal DE depth. I think Reese, Jaquez and David O are solid but that’s just 3 dudes. After that its just a major question mark. That’s awful depth. We have to be lucky as hell and hope we don’t get any injuries there.

Maybe Jobity plays outside on first down or short yardage downs and moves inside on second and third downs unless they are shorter yardage?

I would be surprised if Simmons doesn’t need to move back to DE at some point. He is listed at 265 lbs now and one coach just said he was like 270 but that could have been exagerated.

I actually really like our DT spot right now and even think the DL is pretty solid as a whole with the starters. It’s just DE depth that is SCARY. An injury or two happens and we could have zero pass rush.

Disagree on Reese.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[CbusCuse]

Disagree on Reese.

So you don’t think Reese will be solid?

 

[GoSU96]

Personally I don't like the Bend style but if you are going to play that style, you cannot Break. In ACC games we allowed 5 runs per game over 10 yards. We gave up 6 runs over 40 yards (0.75 pg), a 7th run over 30, and another 6 runs over 20 (another 0.75 pg). On top of that we gave up 1.0 passes per game over 40 yards. In total we gave up 1.75 plays per game over 40 yards. Which of course was dead last in the ACC.

And it wasn't just in the ACC. In our other 5 games we gave up another eight 40+ yard plays. Which is 1.6 per in those 5 games. That made us 129th Nationally.

Yep. Gave up a ridiculous number of bust plays for tds. And that’s fixable. Still at the end of the gave up 19 rushing TDS, which isn’t awful.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Personally I don't like the Bend style but if you are going to play that style, you cannot Break. In ACC games we allowed 5 runs per game over 10 yards. We gave up 6 runs over 40 yards (0.75 pg), a 7th run over 30, and another 6 runs over 20 (another 0.75 pg). On top of that we gave up 1.0 passes per game over 40 yards. In total we gave up 1.75 plays per game over 40 yards. Which of course was dead last in the ACC.

And it wasn't just in the ACC. In our other 5 games we gave up another eight 40+ yard plays. Which is 1.6 per in those 5 games. That made us 129th Nationally.

I think you need to do whatever will win you games. No arguments last year with bend don’t break, kept us in every game except PITT and defense was not the issue in that game. Our offense was generally good enough to win games without selling out on defense and giving up big plays.

 

[kcsu]

The D is loaded with dudes. Lots of talent across the board. LB position is the key. I feel good about everything else especially the DL rotation.

 

[RF2044]

So you don’t think Reese will be solid?

I think he will be very solid.

I disagreed that he didn't look like he would start.

 

[CbusCuse]

I think he will be very solid.

I disagreed that he didn't look like he would start.

Oh gotcha. I wasn’t trying to sa that. I could have worded that better. I was talking about the transfer DT’s in Rooks and Chris Thompson. I agree about Reese and I think he will likely start as well or at the very least be in a pretty equal 3 man rotation.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I think you need to do whatever will win you games. No arguments last year with bend don’t break, kept us in every game except PITT and defense was not the issue in that game. Our offense was generally good enough to win games without selling out on defense and giving up big plays.

We played below our talent level IMO. We had 5 guys who are now trying to make an NFL roster. That is a lot for SU's recent history. On top of that we had a guy who transferred to the current #1 team. another who transferred to a playoff team from last year and Top 20 team this year, and another 2 guys who transferred down but still to a P4 team. We also have a guy in the portal who was a 4 star recruit. It wasn't like we lacked talent and needed to duct tape our way to Ws.

I also wouldn't say the D kept us in games. Of our 12 FBS opponents only 2 were held below their scoring average vs P4 teams, and only one was held to their average. Which means the other 9 teams all scored more points vs SU than they did on average.