my two cents

[kcsu]

Interesting spring game. Tom I was also in 116, nothing like the 50-yard line.

There wasn't much I could take from the actual scrimmage, but I tried to focus on individual positions. Split each quarter into segments and watched units. My two cents is that we are overall a much bigger and more athletic team. We have athletes all over the field. Big, long, lean fast. We look like a program that means business. My next take is that we are raw. We lack experience. Not talent. Hopefully our great and dont say this lightly great coaching staff can make the difference this year. As to individual units we need help at LB. I would say that is our weakness going into the year. I agree with Tom in that we don't have a kickoff specialist at this point. None of the kickers are boomers.
On a very positive note if games are won in the trenches we have a punchers chance. Both the O and D lines are big, athletic and deep.
I thought at Jak looked solid. He has a gun and good wheels. We need to keep him. If he leaves i dont feel good about winning with anyone else if our starter goes down. Carey might get the nod as he has the tools but is really green. I also liked the lacrosse player. Yes, he made some mistakes, but he has it. You can just tell he's a winner. I wouldn't count him out down the line. Last point. If you ever get a chance to meet Fran Brown and his staff and kids, please do so. He is a very special person. SU, and more importantly the community is very fortunate to have him leading our program.

Go Orange!

 

[JRHEETER]

Interesting spring game. Tom I was also in 116, nothing like the 50-yard line.

There wasn't much I could take from the actual scrimmage, but I tried to focus on individual positions. Split each quarter into segments and watched units. My two cents is that we are overall a much bigger and more athletic team. We have athletes all over the field. Big, long, lean fast. We look like a program that means business. My next take is that we are raw. We lack experience. Not talent. Hopefully our great and dont say this lightly great coaching staff can make the difference this year. As to individual units we need help at LB. I would say that is our weakness going into the year. I agree with Tom in that we don't have a kickoff specialist at this point. None of the kickers are boomers.
On a very positive note if games are won in the trenches we have a punchers chance. Both the O and D lines are big, athletic and deep.
I thought at Jak looked solid. He has a gun and good wheels. We need to keep him. If he leaves i dont feel good about winning with anyone else if our starter goes down. Carey might get the nod as he has the tools but is really green. I also liked the lacrosse player. Yes, he made some mistakes, but he has it. You can just tell he's a winner. I wouldn't count him out down the line. Last point. If you ever get a chance to meet Fran Brown and his staff and kids, please do so. He is a very special person. SU, and more importantly the community is very fortunate to have him leading our program.

Go Orange!

Agree, Filardi was the QB that I was the most impressed with for the “younger” guys. He is just incredibly raw. Wouldn’t be shocked if he is pulled from Lacrosse if he continues to develop and told that he has a real solid chance at being the future starting qb here at Syracuse.

Jakari, IMO was in a different league compared to the rest of the QBs on this roster. He is still green but he seems to be developing nicely and has a ton of talent. Made some mistakes yesterday as well but he is certainly showing something.

This team is massive compared to previous teams we have had. The priority recruits that we had in are also some of the biggest recruits I think I have ever seen us bring in.

I think we are on the cusp of something special here at Syracuse

 

[kcsu]

Agree, Filardi was the QB that I was the most impressed with for the “younger” guys. He is just incredibly raw. Wouldn’t be shocked if he is pulled from Lacrosse if he continues to develop and told that he has a real solid chance at being the future starting qb here at Syracuse.

Jakari, IMO was in a different league compared to the rest of the QBs on this roster. He is still green but he seems to be developing nicely and has a ton of talent. Made some mistakes yesterday as well but he is certainly showing something.

This team is massive compared to previous teams we have had. The priority recruits that we had in are also some of the biggest recruits I think I have ever seen us bring in

I think we are on the cusp of something special here at Syracuse

Lots of kids pass the look test but wow when it came to Anderson, 77, and 84. Also Ross Simmons is a man and Ross showed why he could have picked any school in the country. All of the dline kids looked the part. Not sure why the California transfer isn't on campus, but we need him. I liked Hardt at RB looks chiseled, but we don't have a LA and will miss him for sure. I expect us to use the QB legs this season and as such we are going to need more than one.

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

Lots of kids pass the look test but wow when it came to Anderson, 77, and 84. Also Ross Simmons is a man and Ross showed why he could have picked any school in the country. All of the dline kids looked the part. Not sure why the California transfer isn't on campus, but we need him. I liked Hardt at RB looks chiseled, but we don't have a LA and will miss him for sure. I expect us to use the QB legs this season and as such we are going to need more than one.

Interesting points, thanks for the .02. From my seat in 115 I saw many of the same (positive) things you saw: bigger, more athletic linemen on both sides; talent at WR (JRS, Ross, Pena of course, and some exciting newcomers like Russell and Johnson); and speed in the defensive backfield with an unsettling mix of experience (safety) and inexperience (corner and backup star). The youth is at corner with K-1 and Samuel (backed up by Singleton and Andrews). At star, I saw Martin and McDaniels - both are fast and rangy. The young guys will be swimming in the deep end very soon. The OL line of Mack, Miller, Petry (at Center!), Cruz and Spoon looked good. Hornsby subbed in with the 1's at center, and played in the same spot on a big second unit (Betrand, TBM on the left and huge BW and ECruz on the right).

The areas of concern: 1) QB. We didn't even get to see the likely starter (no film for Tennessee), and the guy Collins was "even" with (if that's accurate and not just coach-speak) did not inspire a lot of confidence. Clearly, JW has talent. He's athletic, he can zip the ball. But, perhaps because of the format and the time of year, he was out of sinc with his receivers, lacked "touch" on layered throws, and had little success connecting on 'over the top' passes. He has lots of time to improve and get more comfortable and I'm sure he will. But this position, for me, remains a major area of concern - even if Tennessee and its QB are having an NIL spat and may part ways - because a "dual threat" QB will always have a dual risk of injury.

2) LB. The good news is that, if our base D is a 4-2-5, the LB's (MacDonald/Sparrow backed up by Heard/ZMG) won't get as dirtied up as they have in the past behind guys like Watson and Thomas (Hastings, WIlson, EFC, etc). The main concern is speed. We didn't see Deslauriers, and the cat from Cal isn't on campus. It'll help that we're deep and talented at star (Martin, McDaniels and maybe Grant depending on where they slot him), but clearly there's a void that will hopefully get filled by one of the younger players, Reese, or a portal.

3) TE. Yes TE. Very few targets for Tremble and not much for Clement (wearing "0"?). This is a major weapon that I hope we didn't lose when OG walked out the door. The staff might have been hiding this part of the offense, but i'm just nervous about what I saw; and

4) FG/Kickoff. Not much scoring (so few KO's), but once again, very unsettled position with nothing past the 5 yard line and < 50% successful FG's. Woody and JO looked decent in practice but when the scrimmage started - same old problems. If we are to have aspirations for a winning season, this part of ST's has to get cleaned up - unless there is spectacular improvement it looks like the portal might be the only option.

Overall, a great experience. The quad was full of recruits and their families. When the players hopped out of the trolley and began the walk, they passed the look test with flying colors. Because of the long lines, Fran walked down to offer apologies and mug for photos with those of us who couldn't make it to the tent in time. I asked Grant how his leg was on the way by and he said it was "great" (no limp at all). Also, my 13 y/o was lucky enough to get a selfie with a very special (former) QB who was sitting (mostly unnoticed) in our section.

 

[SuFTW]

Interesting points, thanks for the .02. From my seat in 115 I saw many of the same (positive) things you saw: bigger, more athletic linemen on both sides; talent at WR (JRS, Ross, Pena of course, and some exciting newcomers like Russell and Johnson); and speed in the defensive backfield with an unsettling mix of experience (safety) and inexperience (corner and backup star). The young guys (K-1 and Samuel at corner and McDaniels at Star) are fast and rangy. But they will be swimming in the deep end very soon - making mistakes and learning. We have plenty of experience ahead of them when Grant comes back, and Perry is also capable. The OL line of Mack, Miller, Petry (at Center!), Cruz and Spoon looked good Hornsby subbed in at center, and there is plenty of size on the second unit (Betrand, TBM on the left and big BW and ECruz on the right).

The areas of concern: 1) QB. We didn't even get to see the likely starter (no film for Tennessee), and the guy Collins was "even" with (if that's accurate and not just coach-speak) did not inspire a lot of confidence. Clearly, JW has talent. He's athletic, he can zip the ball. But, perhaps because of the format and the time of year, he was out of sinc with his receivers, lacked "touch" on layered throws, and had little success connecting on 'over the top' passes. He has lots of time to improve and get more comfortable and I'm sure he will. But this position, for me, remains a major area of concern - even if Tennessee and its QB are having an NIL spat and may part ways - because a "dual threat" QB will also have double the risk of injury.

2) LB. The good news is that, if our base D is a 4-2-5, the LB's (MacDonald/Sparrow backed up by Heard/ZMG) won't get as dirtied up as they have in the past behind guys like Watson and Thomas (Hastings, WIlson, EFC, etc). The main concern is speed. We didn't see Deslauriers, and the cat from Cal isn't on campus. It'll help that we're deep and talented at star (Martin, McDaniels and maybe Grant depending on where they slot him), but clearly there's a void that will hopefully get filled by one of the younger players, Reese, or a portal.

3) TE. Yes TE. Very few targets for Tremble and not much from Clement (wearing "0"?). This is a major weapon that I hope we didn't lose when OG walked out the door. The staff might have been hiding this part of the offense, but i'm just nervous about what I saw; and

4) FG/Kickoff. Once again, very unsettled position with no kickoffs that got even close to the end zone. FG's looked good in practice but when the scrimmage started - same old problems. If we are to have aspirations for a decent season, this part of ST's has to get cleaned up - unless there is spectacular improvement it looks like the portal might be the only option.

Overall, a great experience even though the autograph line was so long we never made it. Players on the quad walk certainly passed the look test, and it was nice of Fran to walk down the line and mugged for photos with those of us who didn't reach the tent in time. My 13 y/o also got a photo with a very special (former) QB who was sitting (mostly unnoticed) nearby.

Fran had said later on that Collins was definitely ahead of Williams, so you can’t really make any conjecture on Collins ability based on Williams play. But you are right, the backup may need to play this year.

Tennessee’s QB is definitely gone from the team.

 

[cusefan88]

Deslauriers and Caden Brown both didn't play I think. Didn't look injured so maybe already locked down a spot?