sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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First off, yes, there might not be a season in 2020. Let’s acknowledge that. If it happens, it might not happen until February. Lots of things are in the air. This post is not about that. There are many on that topic already. Let’s just assume for the purposes of this post, that the season is going to be played.
That said, I usually do a post before the spring game summarizing where I think the depth chart is at that point, and another after the game, updating things based on what I saw.
I will still do two posts at the end of spring practice, but in lieu of no spring game this year, the first will focus on what I think the real depth chart is on offense. The second will do the same on the defensive side.
Projected Depth Chart Offense
Quarterback
Obviously Tommy is at the top here. There is no one close to beating him out. I think a lot of people on the board were disappointed in his sophomore season. He probably is too. The numbers he put up, while not awful, are not in line with the numbers most QBs have put up playing for Dino.
It should also be obvious the relative lack of production is not all on him. The offensive line pass blocking was really bad. Historically bad. Worst in the country bad. The play calling was questionable. Enough so that we have a new OC now.
The wide receivers were also, IMHO, not great at getting open and not great at catching the ball. At times, there was confusion running routes and at times, the WRs and the QB were not on the same page. Especially when the ball was thrown in the direction of Taj Harris. How much of that was on Tommy? It happened with all the WRs so I suspect some of it is on him. But it happened with Taj a lot. More finger pointing and complaining that I have ever seen between a WR, QB and the staff that I have ever seen, Surely one of the reasons for the change at OC relates to the chaos with the passing game we had last season.
I will say this: if you just look at ability to make strong, accurate throws and get the ball to someone who is open, Tommy was as good or better last season than any SU QB I have ever seen. That should mean a lot. The thing is, Tommy is not going to buy a lot of time if his primary is not open. He should not be counted on to rescue a passing play put in peril by a blown blocking assignment with a great run. He might once in a while but that is not his game.
For Tommy to be successful, he needs a well run unit with reliable pass blockers, receivers who can get open consistently and a running game that defenses must respect. In a nutshell, the success of this offensive unit in 2020 depends largely on getting Tommy these things. This post is all about trying to determine if this can and will happen or not.
Assuming Tommy is presented with all I have discussed above, I think he is going to put up really good numbers. Really good. If he doesn’t, he won’t.
Rex Culpepper is the 2nd team QB on the depth chart. I think he will remain there this season. Might not throw it great but he knows the offense and that is the most important thing. Very similar situation to what we had last season when Clayton Welch was the top backup. If we need a QB in a game where we are down and need to throw the ball though, Drew Gunther or one of the frosh might get the call. Gunther appears to have the second most accurate arm on the team right now
Running Back
Abdul Adams is a senior. He is listed first on the depth chart. This should be his chance to shine. He had a big fumble or two last season that really hurt his playing time. Dino does not like it when a RB fumbles the ball. Ball security is going to be a key with him. He is listed at 5’11 212 on the depth chart and probably will be a little larger than that come September. He has the blend of power and speed you want at RB. Also appears to be an excellent receiver; has excellent hands. He should know the balls, should be hungry to play and as a senior, should do the little things you need to win. Get those tough 3rd and short first downs, pick up the blitz on passing plays, etc. He should be very solid.
Jarveon Howard is going to be a junior. 5’10, 214 pounds. Appears to be a team leader and maybe our best RB ever at lifting weights (I think Delone Carter was great here too). If Abdul Adams loses a fumble or two early in the season, Jarveon is going to get a ton of PT. My guess is Jarveon is going to get his share of carries regardless, especially late in games, when the staff loves to put him in fresh against defenses that are willing against the crazed pace Syracuse likes to play at.
Then we come to Jawhar Jordan. He got a lot of publicity when he verbaled to Syracuse and a bunch more when he finally got on campus. Really didn’t get much playing time until late in the season, when he showed signs of being a dominant force. He is currently listed on the roster at 5’9. 165 pounds. I don’t know if he is ever going to be big enough to carry the ball 25 times a game. But he brings game breaking speed to the table for an offense that desperately needs game breakers. Because of that, I think he has to get on the field. A lot.
One of Sterling’s Gilbert’s biggest challenges this season is to figure out how best to take advantage of Jordan’s speed and elusiveness. Again, I don’t think the answer to to give him 25 carries a game at RB. He will get banged up and not survive that kind of a workload. Maybe someday down the road he will get beefed up at 185 and will be able to handle it. But not now.
So I expect we will see him on the field with Adams or Howard a fair amount. In those cases, we might go with an I formation with Jordan as the tailback. Sometimes I think Jordan will line up in the backfield and split out, either in motion or line up in the slot. Sometimes he will probably just line up at a WR. He will surely run some reverses. In short, he will do a bit of everything. I expect he will be used a lot like Dino used Ervin Phillips.
Offensive Line
This is arguably the most important position group on the team. Are they going to be better? Let’s break it down position by position:
At center, we have Carlos Vetterello. We all know the story here...he won a starting job on the offensive line as a frosh at OT, then was moved inside when Ryan Alexander proven to be a major failure at OT, and Servais struggled filling in for Heckel at center. I think he ended up starting the last 4 games of the season here.
Let’s be real. He was not awesome at center. His shotgun snaps were not great. Often they were barely passable. He made some mistakes in other areas, some penalties and missed assignments. But he was not physically overwhelmed. That person that seemed to be coming from up the middle on every passing play suddenly stopped once Carlos was moved. And to my eyes, the holes inside on running plays got noticeably bigger. I think he did a very good job under trying conditions and I expect, given additional time to learn his assignments and his role at center, he will going to be much better next season.
Josh Kosciol is listed as his backup on the spring depth chart. Josh is a frosh who redshirted this season. He is from the Rochester area, Smart kid. Had an ACL tear in HS that ended any thoughts of him getting a scholarship. We all know the coaches like to use the depth charts to motivate players and play mind games, but Josh is a weight room warrior, a hard worker and he might just end up developing into The real deal. As far as scholarship players go, I know Qadir White has worked some at center and incoming frosh Josh Ilaoa looks like the prototype center from genetic engineering class.
At guard, the spring depth chart has Pat Davis and Darius Tisdale as the starters. It is a shame we lost the spring because it would have been a great chance for both of these guys to get some quality experience under their belt. Returning starter Dakota Davis is expected to start at one of the guard positions. He struggled at OG for SU for the first part of the season but steadily got better and was pretty solid by the end of the year. Especially run blocking. He should be someone we can count on.
At the other guard position, Florida transfer Chris Bleich will be the guy if he get the immediate eligibility he has petitioned for. You never know with the NCAA but there were extenuating circumstances even before COVID and I would be really surprised if he does not end up starting. Note that he had surgery recently but it was minor and he is expected to be at 100% for the season. At 6’6, 330 pounds he would be one of the largest OGs Syracuse has ever had. The biggest question to me on Chris regards him getting ready to play at the breakneck pace Syracuse likes to play at on offense. He might need to play at a lighter weight at Syracuse. It is good he has some college experience to help him here.
Darius Tisdale and Pat David both got snaps in games last season and look to be the top subs at OG. We have some decent depth here. Will Froumy or Qadir White could also emerge.
At OT, Airon Servais will surely be a captain and a leader on the offensive unit. He is already bulked up to play OT and given a year focus on the position, should be a very good player for us here. He has a ton of experience and athletic ability. I think of all our OL, he has the best chance to get named to one of the ACC all conference teams.
At the other OT spot, last season, Matthew Bergeron emerged as a starter as a true frosh and I think everyone was impressed with his athletic ability and rapid improvement. He has great foot. Hard to beat him from the outside. I expect him to be very good his sophomore season.
By all accounts, Anthony Red is the next really good OT we have coming up and if we have an injury, I would expect him to start. Another guy with good athletic ability. Just needs one more season to finish filling out. Probably will replace Servais as a starter next season.
Tight End
Things were looking pretty bleak here a couple of seasons ago but times have changed. There is talent at this position and quality depth is emerging. Aaron Hackett quietly had a fine season last year, blocking and catching the ball and has emerged as a reliable weapon. He is especially dangerous in the red zone, where he makes a lot of TD catches.
Luke Benson got a fair amount of playing time as a true frosh and did very well when called upon. He is among the fastest TEs in the country and given another year in the weight room, and more knowledge of the plays, I think he is poised to have a big sophomore season. Look for Aaron and Luke to play together quite often, as Sterlin looks to get mismatches where unsuspecting defenses put slow LBs on Luke.
Steven Mahar is an incoming frosh from out of Rochester who has the size and athletic ability to get on the playing field early. Watch out for him.
Wide Receiver
It all starts here with Taj Harris. He got some criticism last year for perhaps running the wrong route, or making the wrong read in certain situations and he had a few drops. But he is tall, fast and has terrific athletic ability. His YAC is excellent and his production overall has been very good. I wish he would find a way to add 10 pounds of muscle during the off season. He is good at getting open but against physical CBs, he had a tendency to disappear. He needs to get stronger and tougher, physically and mentally. I don’t think it would be outrageous to pencil him in with 100 catches for 1000 yards and 10 TDs.
Nykeim Johnson is going to be a senior. He appeared to not be at 100% most of last season, which hurt his production a bit. But he is fast, athletic and tough and has a ton of experience and I expect he will get a lot more touches his final season in orange, He should be a reliable weapon for Tommy.
After those two, it gets murky. Sean Riley graduated. Trishton Jackson went pro.
I think the guy that got the next most playing time was Cam Jordan (yes, we could have two Jordans on this team catching balls and making plays). Cam has size, good speed, appears to be one of our best blockers at WR and should know the plays very well (he will be a redshirt junior). I expect he will crack the receiver rotation and get a lot of PT on the outside.
Sharod Johnson is another redshirt junior who has seen some playing time and been around the program a long time. He is well positioned to get some playing time as well.
The third of the redshirt juniors is Russell Thompson-Bishop. He is another guy with size, who is physically mature and should know his assignments. My guess is that there is PT for one big veteran WR and he will be fighting it out with Jordan for that role.
If you want to bet on a long shot with big upside, look at Ed Hendrix. He has had knee injuries block him his first two seasons on the hill but if he is finally healthy (and he was cleared for spring practice), he might have the highest ceiling of all our WRs. He has size, speed and elite athletic ability.
If Ed doesn’t have the highest ceiling of all of our WRs, Damien Alford probably does. He is Only a true frosh but he has size, speed and skill, played HS ball last year at a high level in Florida and might be the smartest bet to put up good numbers coming out of nowhere.
Kevin Mital is another guy with great size and strength ego had the potential to be a great player down the road.
But the guy I think is most likely to emerge here is Courtney Jackson. I think he is a terrific athlete with great hands and feet and has the smarts and strength to make a big impact this season. Watch out for him.
I would also keep in mind that Jawhar Jordan is likely to play some snaps at WR. The coaches need to find a way to get their most talented players on the field. This would be one way to do that.
This should be a good offense. There still isn’t a ton of depth, there are definitely questions about the ability of the WRs to get open and make catches but I would expect this unit to be significantly more successful than the offense last year. It will be a fun unit to watch play. Let’s hope we get a chance to watch them come the start of September.
That said, I usually do a post before the spring game summarizing where I think the depth chart is at that point, and another after the game, updating things based on what I saw.
I will still do two posts at the end of spring practice, but in lieu of no spring game this year, the first will focus on what I think the real depth chart is on offense. The second will do the same on the defensive side.
Projected Depth Chart Offense
Quarterback
Obviously Tommy is at the top here. There is no one close to beating him out. I think a lot of people on the board were disappointed in his sophomore season. He probably is too. The numbers he put up, while not awful, are not in line with the numbers most QBs have put up playing for Dino.
It should also be obvious the relative lack of production is not all on him. The offensive line pass blocking was really bad. Historically bad. Worst in the country bad. The play calling was questionable. Enough so that we have a new OC now.
The wide receivers were also, IMHO, not great at getting open and not great at catching the ball. At times, there was confusion running routes and at times, the WRs and the QB were not on the same page. Especially when the ball was thrown in the direction of Taj Harris. How much of that was on Tommy? It happened with all the WRs so I suspect some of it is on him. But it happened with Taj a lot. More finger pointing and complaining that I have ever seen between a WR, QB and the staff that I have ever seen, Surely one of the reasons for the change at OC relates to the chaos with the passing game we had last season.
I will say this: if you just look at ability to make strong, accurate throws and get the ball to someone who is open, Tommy was as good or better last season than any SU QB I have ever seen. That should mean a lot. The thing is, Tommy is not going to buy a lot of time if his primary is not open. He should not be counted on to rescue a passing play put in peril by a blown blocking assignment with a great run. He might once in a while but that is not his game.
For Tommy to be successful, he needs a well run unit with reliable pass blockers, receivers who can get open consistently and a running game that defenses must respect. In a nutshell, the success of this offensive unit in 2020 depends largely on getting Tommy these things. This post is all about trying to determine if this can and will happen or not.
Assuming Tommy is presented with all I have discussed above, I think he is going to put up really good numbers. Really good. If he doesn’t, he won’t.
Rex Culpepper is the 2nd team QB on the depth chart. I think he will remain there this season. Might not throw it great but he knows the offense and that is the most important thing. Very similar situation to what we had last season when Clayton Welch was the top backup. If we need a QB in a game where we are down and need to throw the ball though, Drew Gunther or one of the frosh might get the call. Gunther appears to have the second most accurate arm on the team right now
Running Back
Abdul Adams is a senior. He is listed first on the depth chart. This should be his chance to shine. He had a big fumble or two last season that really hurt his playing time. Dino does not like it when a RB fumbles the ball. Ball security is going to be a key with him. He is listed at 5’11 212 on the depth chart and probably will be a little larger than that come September. He has the blend of power and speed you want at RB. Also appears to be an excellent receiver; has excellent hands. He should know the balls, should be hungry to play and as a senior, should do the little things you need to win. Get those tough 3rd and short first downs, pick up the blitz on passing plays, etc. He should be very solid.
Jarveon Howard is going to be a junior. 5’10, 214 pounds. Appears to be a team leader and maybe our best RB ever at lifting weights (I think Delone Carter was great here too). If Abdul Adams loses a fumble or two early in the season, Jarveon is going to get a ton of PT. My guess is Jarveon is going to get his share of carries regardless, especially late in games, when the staff loves to put him in fresh against defenses that are willing against the crazed pace Syracuse likes to play at.
Then we come to Jawhar Jordan. He got a lot of publicity when he verbaled to Syracuse and a bunch more when he finally got on campus. Really didn’t get much playing time until late in the season, when he showed signs of being a dominant force. He is currently listed on the roster at 5’9. 165 pounds. I don’t know if he is ever going to be big enough to carry the ball 25 times a game. But he brings game breaking speed to the table for an offense that desperately needs game breakers. Because of that, I think he has to get on the field. A lot.
One of Sterling’s Gilbert’s biggest challenges this season is to figure out how best to take advantage of Jordan’s speed and elusiveness. Again, I don’t think the answer to to give him 25 carries a game at RB. He will get banged up and not survive that kind of a workload. Maybe someday down the road he will get beefed up at 185 and will be able to handle it. But not now.
So I expect we will see him on the field with Adams or Howard a fair amount. In those cases, we might go with an I formation with Jordan as the tailback. Sometimes I think Jordan will line up in the backfield and split out, either in motion or line up in the slot. Sometimes he will probably just line up at a WR. He will surely run some reverses. In short, he will do a bit of everything. I expect he will be used a lot like Dino used Ervin Phillips.
Offensive Line
This is arguably the most important position group on the team. Are they going to be better? Let’s break it down position by position:
At center, we have Carlos Vetterello. We all know the story here...he won a starting job on the offensive line as a frosh at OT, then was moved inside when Ryan Alexander proven to be a major failure at OT, and Servais struggled filling in for Heckel at center. I think he ended up starting the last 4 games of the season here.
Let’s be real. He was not awesome at center. His shotgun snaps were not great. Often they were barely passable. He made some mistakes in other areas, some penalties and missed assignments. But he was not physically overwhelmed. That person that seemed to be coming from up the middle on every passing play suddenly stopped once Carlos was moved. And to my eyes, the holes inside on running plays got noticeably bigger. I think he did a very good job under trying conditions and I expect, given additional time to learn his assignments and his role at center, he will going to be much better next season.
Josh Kosciol is listed as his backup on the spring depth chart. Josh is a frosh who redshirted this season. He is from the Rochester area, Smart kid. Had an ACL tear in HS that ended any thoughts of him getting a scholarship. We all know the coaches like to use the depth charts to motivate players and play mind games, but Josh is a weight room warrior, a hard worker and he might just end up developing into The real deal. As far as scholarship players go, I know Qadir White has worked some at center and incoming frosh Josh Ilaoa looks like the prototype center from genetic engineering class.
At guard, the spring depth chart has Pat Davis and Darius Tisdale as the starters. It is a shame we lost the spring because it would have been a great chance for both of these guys to get some quality experience under their belt. Returning starter Dakota Davis is expected to start at one of the guard positions. He struggled at OG for SU for the first part of the season but steadily got better and was pretty solid by the end of the year. Especially run blocking. He should be someone we can count on.
At the other guard position, Florida transfer Chris Bleich will be the guy if he get the immediate eligibility he has petitioned for. You never know with the NCAA but there were extenuating circumstances even before COVID and I would be really surprised if he does not end up starting. Note that he had surgery recently but it was minor and he is expected to be at 100% for the season. At 6’6, 330 pounds he would be one of the largest OGs Syracuse has ever had. The biggest question to me on Chris regards him getting ready to play at the breakneck pace Syracuse likes to play at on offense. He might need to play at a lighter weight at Syracuse. It is good he has some college experience to help him here.
Darius Tisdale and Pat David both got snaps in games last season and look to be the top subs at OG. We have some decent depth here. Will Froumy or Qadir White could also emerge.
At OT, Airon Servais will surely be a captain and a leader on the offensive unit. He is already bulked up to play OT and given a year focus on the position, should be a very good player for us here. He has a ton of experience and athletic ability. I think of all our OL, he has the best chance to get named to one of the ACC all conference teams.
At the other OT spot, last season, Matthew Bergeron emerged as a starter as a true frosh and I think everyone was impressed with his athletic ability and rapid improvement. He has great foot. Hard to beat him from the outside. I expect him to be very good his sophomore season.
By all accounts, Anthony Red is the next really good OT we have coming up and if we have an injury, I would expect him to start. Another guy with good athletic ability. Just needs one more season to finish filling out. Probably will replace Servais as a starter next season.
Tight End
Things were looking pretty bleak here a couple of seasons ago but times have changed. There is talent at this position and quality depth is emerging. Aaron Hackett quietly had a fine season last year, blocking and catching the ball and has emerged as a reliable weapon. He is especially dangerous in the red zone, where he makes a lot of TD catches.
Luke Benson got a fair amount of playing time as a true frosh and did very well when called upon. He is among the fastest TEs in the country and given another year in the weight room, and more knowledge of the plays, I think he is poised to have a big sophomore season. Look for Aaron and Luke to play together quite often, as Sterlin looks to get mismatches where unsuspecting defenses put slow LBs on Luke.
Steven Mahar is an incoming frosh from out of Rochester who has the size and athletic ability to get on the playing field early. Watch out for him.
Wide Receiver
It all starts here with Taj Harris. He got some criticism last year for perhaps running the wrong route, or making the wrong read in certain situations and he had a few drops. But he is tall, fast and has terrific athletic ability. His YAC is excellent and his production overall has been very good. I wish he would find a way to add 10 pounds of muscle during the off season. He is good at getting open but against physical CBs, he had a tendency to disappear. He needs to get stronger and tougher, physically and mentally. I don’t think it would be outrageous to pencil him in with 100 catches for 1000 yards and 10 TDs.
Nykeim Johnson is going to be a senior. He appeared to not be at 100% most of last season, which hurt his production a bit. But he is fast, athletic and tough and has a ton of experience and I expect he will get a lot more touches his final season in orange, He should be a reliable weapon for Tommy.
After those two, it gets murky. Sean Riley graduated. Trishton Jackson went pro.
I think the guy that got the next most playing time was Cam Jordan (yes, we could have two Jordans on this team catching balls and making plays). Cam has size, good speed, appears to be one of our best blockers at WR and should know the plays very well (he will be a redshirt junior). I expect he will crack the receiver rotation and get a lot of PT on the outside.
Sharod Johnson is another redshirt junior who has seen some playing time and been around the program a long time. He is well positioned to get some playing time as well.
The third of the redshirt juniors is Russell Thompson-Bishop. He is another guy with size, who is physically mature and should know his assignments. My guess is that there is PT for one big veteran WR and he will be fighting it out with Jordan for that role.
If you want to bet on a long shot with big upside, look at Ed Hendrix. He has had knee injuries block him his first two seasons on the hill but if he is finally healthy (and he was cleared for spring practice), he might have the highest ceiling of all our WRs. He has size, speed and elite athletic ability.
If Ed doesn’t have the highest ceiling of all of our WRs, Damien Alford probably does. He is Only a true frosh but he has size, speed and skill, played HS ball last year at a high level in Florida and might be the smartest bet to put up good numbers coming out of nowhere.
Kevin Mital is another guy with great size and strength ego had the potential to be a great player down the road.
But the guy I think is most likely to emerge here is Courtney Jackson. I think he is a terrific athlete with great hands and feet and has the smarts and strength to make a big impact this season. Watch out for him.
I would also keep in mind that Jawhar Jordan is likely to play some snaps at WR. The coaches need to find a way to get their most talented players on the field. This would be one way to do that.
This should be a good offense. There still isn’t a ton of depth, there are definitely questions about the ability of the WRs to get open and make catches but I would expect this unit to be significantly more successful than the offense last year. It will be a fun unit to watch play. Let’s hope we get a chance to watch them come the start of September.
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