Boca Raton, Fla. — Syracuse football 2023 offensive coordinator Jason Beck is not coaching the Orange for the Boca Raton Bowl.
Running backs coach Mike Lynch will call offensive plays during the game. All other 2023 coaches — including defensive coordinator Rocky Long and special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky are working the game.
Fran Brown, the Orange’s new head coach, is expected to join the team Tuesday, but Nunzio Campanile is acting head coach for the game, as he was for the regular-season finale following Dino Babers’ firing.
Braden Davis and Luke MacPhail are the team’s only quarterbacks in attendance. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, who was injured against Boston College, is not present.
Orange star linebacker Marlowe Wax and safety Justin Barron, both of whom were noncommittal about playing the bowl following the team’s sixth win of the season, were both practicing.
So were defensive lineman Caleb Okechukwu, offensive lineman Chris Bleich and wide receiver Damien Alford, other draft-eligible players who walked on Senior Day and could have chosen to opt-out of the game.
Asked about the decision to play and his plans for the future Monday, Wax declined to go into detail.
“Right now I’m focused on the bowl game,” Wax said. “I’m not worrying about none of that. That’s gonna be a later situation. We’re trying to not think about Marlowe right now. Thinking about the Syracuse football team right now.”
A handful of injured players, some who had dealt with in-season injuries and others who had not, worked out off to the side in tennis shoes.
That included offensive linemen Joe More and Joe Cruz, defensive lineman Chase Simmons and tight end David Clement.
Tight end Oronde Gadsden II and offensive lineman David Wohlabaugh were also in that group. Both wore helmets and were without the medical boots they’d been in most of the fall, sporting sneakers instead.
Three of the 16 players the Orange has had enter the NCAA transfer portal this offseason are listed on the team’s depth chart: linebacker Mekhi Mason, cornerback Quan Peterson and free safety Malcolm Folk.
