Syracuse QB in 2025

[richmondcuse03]

So, he doesn’t redshirt if Jakari wins the job and Rickie is the backup?!

no, I said the opposite. That's the only scenario where I see him redshirting.

 

[vegasnick]

He should be playing on the edge. I wonder why he doesn't.

Fully agree with this. He needs to add 20lbs which is very doable. He would be much more impactful coming off the edge.

 

[smartman]

The reason why he wasn’t ranked so high is because he played for a Christian school in Dallas that didn’t get much exposure. He lost 3 games in four years as a starter and won 4 Texas state championships. To add to his accolades, Brian Smith who’s a national recruiting analyst was a guest on Locked on Syracuse said if he played at a bigger school he would have been a top 10 QB in the class. He was also a 4 star with Rivals. 247 dropped the ball on their evaluation of him.

We are still going to need to find some gems that are not 4 and 5 star players. I would argue Watson was our best freshmen last year and one of our lower recruits. Looking forward to see who emerges in spring!

 

[GoSU96]

Is there any way Ewers can be next year's McCord? Texas is itching to start Manning. Ewers would be perfect here

No

 

[Crusty]

Most of the missed tackles weren’t the fault of Wax or Barron.

Barron missed a lot as well.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

no, I said the opposite. That's the only scenario where I see him redshirting.

Actually you said that he redshirts if Collins wins the job and Jakari is the backup.

 

[sufan59]

The focus should really be on the D and the lines. I trust Fran and Nixon that despite whom the QB is they will make it work. We aren’t getting another McCord any time soon, the guy broke all sorts of records in one year and people think we just have another guy step in and do the same thing. We haven’t seen production like that since the 90’s. It’s such a ridiculous take. There’s QB’s all the time that are just ok and they’re in the playoffs. Tons of people comment all the time how bad other QB play is and the team is undefeated or in the playoffs.

Am I saying we will be in the playoffs with ok QB play? No, but we can still have success with a decent QB and that’s at least what we should be looking for as a baseline. A guy that can make plays and help score points. How many backup QB’s have we played in the last 10 years that made our D look like crap? I fully expect Fran and Nixon have a QB on the roster they think is better than some backup QB’s we’ve played before and had decent success.

Agree with this and I thought in general we improved on defense throughout the year (BC being the exception). The defense in general I think we’re aiming to play aggressive and opportunistic football, but the transition is taking some time for good reasons. The holdovers from the Dino era on defense was key for us this season from a work ethic perspective as we started to change the way we tackle and scheme. Many of these guys were recruited to play a different play style which they were pretty good at overall, but limits the ceiling of how good you can be on defense when you face the elite offensive teams. I think the key with the new guys taking key positions in the defense will be how well they take from the work ethic from their predecessors because I think they are more physically gifted to execute in games with what we are trying to do on defense. We’ll see next season, but I’m confident we’ll be a cleaner and better matched physically squad on defense. Even if we struggle to start the year.

 

[phil77]

I assume the loser of the Rickie/JW battle transfer out in the spring. They both are on similar timelines regarding eligibility I don't see the loser sticking around to sit behind the other.

 

[Crusty]

A solid DLine is the key to our LBs stepping up. If the DL can get push and allow our LBers to fill - there will be progress.

I focus a lot on our DL. A lot of big runs against us this year were a result of our DL not getting a push into their slant/fill/stunt and simply allow a new LOs to be established a 1/2 yard - 1 yard up field.

It’s really hard to read a play when you’re seeing your teammates nameplate coming back at you.

Precisely.

 

[richmondcuse03]

Actually you said that he redshirts if Collins wins the job and Jakari is the backup.

Oops misread your post. I’m dyslexic sorry.

 

[Chip]

I thought it was Tommy Frazier.

He went Nebraska, so McNabb came to SU. I could be wrong.

Edit: Couldn’t remember for certain and had to look it up. Frazier was already at Nebraska (93-96) when McNabb picked SU. So I’m not sure who else was competing with him. Maybe it was Iverson. I just don’t remember that at all.

I remember hearing the Iverson thing later on.

McNabb picked us over Nebraska. He’d have a lot more options today. Like, every school.

 

[upperdeck]

I assume the loser of the Rickie/JW battle transfer out in the spring. They both are on similar timelines regarding eligibility I don't see the loser sticking around to sit behind the other.

i dont know why either would transfer in the spring. you really dont know if that will mean anything in the fall. In addition where are you going that means you would play in the fall anyway, Now perhaps if the gap is crazy huge and everyone sees it that may happen.

 

[Sudano]

Most of the missed tackles weren’t the fault of Wax or Barron.

Barron was just at fault for all his 15 yard penalties

 

[sutomcat]

I remember hearing the Iverson thing later on.

McNabb picked us over Nebraska. He’d have a lot more options today. Like, every school.

Iverson was later. The other name QB in McNabb’s class was a guy with a big head from Mississippi. Peyton Something.

https://parade.com/27124/parade/1994-roster/

 

[baggerbob]

if we run with this group of QBs, we know one thing for sure. The offense will be different.
The guys that are left are all true dual threat QBs.

We all heard about the rpo features in the Nixon offense. We didn’t really see the options for the QB to run with Kyle but if any of these guys is playing, we will.

Here are their stats for their senior year of HS…

Rickie Collins 6’2 205
Threw for 1512 yards and 17 TDs.
Ran for 598 yards and 6 TDs. Other stats not available.

Jakari Williams 6’2 203

Threw for 2113 yards and 23 TDs. 61.7% comp %. 1 pick.
Ran for 674 yards and 15 TDs. 5.2 ypc.

Michael Johnson Jr 6’3 213

Threw for 1821 yards and 19 TDs. 57.8 comp %. 3 picks.
Ran for 1290 yards and 18 TDs. 7.8 ypc.

Luke Carney 6’2 205

Passed for 2627 yards and 20 TDs. 76.1% comp %. 2 picks.
Ran for 1075 yards and 21 TDs. 12.1 ypc.

Rich Belin* 5’11 180

Passed for 3112 yards and 30 TDs. 56.6% comp %. 4 picks.
Ran for 1351 yards and 19 TDs. 9.4 ypc.

*=These are for his junior season because it appears he was hurt for most of his senior season.

Joe Filardi 6’1 184

Passed for 3115 yards and 43 TDs. 65.6% comp %. 6 picks.
Ran for 1138 yards and 12 TDs. 15.0 ypc. That is not a typo.

My impressions before spring camp begins:

Rickie has the strongest arm. Followed closely by Jakari.

Michael Johnson has the weakest. I believe he had a bad shoulder separation that was initially thought to end his career as a QB but they switched him back. Watching him throw before games, I don’t think he can make most of the throws needed and will be a wildcat option at best.

In terms of experience, Rickie enrolled early at LSU and participated in spring ball in 2023. So he has been playing major college football for 2 full years. And he was the backup QB for LSU most of 2024. That is important because it means he will good enough to beat out some really good players to be the backup there.

Jakari spent most of the summer and the fall of 2024 at Syracuse but he was not an early enrollee. And he was on the scout team almost the entire season, which is important because this means he was not executing our playbook and was attempting to mimic opposing QBs.

Michael Johnson has some playing time in college ball, especially at FAU. But he has been used almost exclusively as a running threat to date. He was the top backup for SU in 2024 and did run the offense most or all of the season. I think it was said Jakari might have taken over the backup job from Michael at some point late in the year. But I don’t think that has been confirmed by anyone officially.

The others are all HS kids. We know Carney is enrolling early and will have his first day of classes tomorrow. Not sure about the other two. Not sure if Belin is healthy enough to play even if he does enroll early.

I would be surprised if Filardi enrolled early. Even though he is going to both two sports here, his scholarship is for lax and I think he will play his senior year of HS lax at HHH. I checked and confirmed he is not listed on the 2025 SU lacrosse roster. In any event, it is going to be hard for a guy who misses every spring, when starting jobs are normally won, to win the starting job at QB at Syracuse. But Joe is a special kid. The kind that might come through on a 1 in a thousand chance.

I think Go is on record as expecting Belin to be converted to another position. I agree this is likely. But I am pretty sure the staf really wants to have a great athlete on the roster who can run around and make something happen when the offense is struggling and Rich (and Joe) are guys who can do that.

I would expect Luke to be the likely third QB for 2025. It looks to me as though he is smart, athletic, has a good arm and good size. Really impressive but no experience. It is great for him to be a spring enrollee. He will get a chance to show the coaches what he can do and get a chance to get more physically ready to play P4 football in the SU training program.

As said before, all these guys are fast and athletic and can pose problems for the defense running the ball. Hopefully at least one of them proves he can make the reads, make the decisions and the throws too.

Let the best man win.

We have never had this many good Athletes at the QB position at one time. Some of these guys seem to be great Athletes who could give defenses fits. Now if a couple end up being very good passers, we are in great shape.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Oops misread your post. I’m dyslexic sorry.

No problem my friend!

 

[Chip]

Iverson was later. The other name QB in McNabb’s class was a guy with a big head from Mississippi. Peyton Something.

https://parade.com/27124/parade/1994-roster/

Iverson was class of 1994 in high school as well. Played at Georgetown 94/95 and 95/96. But he was one of the top high school football players as well.

McNabb wasn’t #2 overall QB from what I recall, just #2 option QB (before they called them dual threat).

 

[All4SU]

Iverson was class of 1994 in high school as well. Played at Georgetown 94/95 and 95/96. But he was one of the top high school football players as well.

McNabb wasn’t #2 overall QB from what I recall, just #2 option QB (before they called them dual threat).

Iverson was a darned good bowler too from what I heard.

 

[cusefan88]

Belin and Carney both are enrolled. That means five scholarship QBs this spring.

 

[Crusty]

Iverson was later. The other name QB in McNabb’s class was a guy with a big head from Mississippi. Peyton Something.

https://parade.com/27124/parade/1994-roster/

Oh yeah, Peyton Smith. Where did he wind up going?

 

[IthacaMatt]

And you know this how? McNabb wasn't McNabb until RS frosh season. With strong developmental coaching, players tend to improve as they progress year to year.

I don't recall McNabb redshirting. I thought he started as a frosh straight out of Mt. Carmel.

 

[IthacaMatt]

David O backed up Diggs in 2024 and will hopefully be ready to be a key edge guy next year. Hopefully, Caden Brown can also contribute.

In the LB rotation, Heard and McDonald have experience, for better or worse. I’d like to see Moulrie-Goddard move up from specials here. I think Deslauries will play right away too.

Martin had a good bowl game. He might be a security blanket across from Kerr, who the staff clearly loves but hopefully can grow out of being so raw. McDaniel getting rotation would be a great sign too.

Safety is a question mark. Is Duce, Buxton, and Grant the answer? Can Duce step it up? Who are the rotation pieces.

We need to spend some money to get at least 3 difference makers on defense - one on the edge, one at LB and one DB, maybe 2.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Wax was a tackling machine, thats true, but nobody on our starting defensive front 6/7 missed a larger % of attempted tackles than Barron and Diggs.

Statistically speaking, not eyeball test

For a former captain at Texas A&M, in my opinion, Diggs was a huge let down. How many times did he fail to maintain the edge and gave up a 20 yard sweep around his end? He didn't get enough sacks to offset how bad he was at position defense against the run.

 

[OburgOrange]

 

[IthacaMatt]

How do you know these guys can’t get the ball out quickly? Also the ones here now are more mobile than 6.

We don't know that the other guys can't. But the fact was that McCord was remarkable at it, like 1.5 seconds a lot of the time.