Syracuse football training camp opened Wednesday, Aug. 2. The Daily Orange beat writer Henry O’Brien will keep a running tab of updates from each practice this summer before SU’s first game against Colgate on Sept. 2. Follow along here and on Twitter @DOsports.
Aug. 11
Syracuse men’s basketball center John Bol Ajak stopped by football training camp early Friday morning and caught up with some of the players on the team. While the Orange took part in the 11-on-11 drill, Ajak stood on the defensive sideline, chatting with players and dancing to songs like “Set It Off” by Lil Boosie and “FAR” by Gunna.
“He’s one of my friends,” Justin Barron said of Ajak. “When I first got here, he was one of the first guys I met.”
But when Barron wasn’t commanding the middle of the field, he spent his time on the sidelines on one knee watching over the defense or talking with Ajak. Barron, who started 12 games last season as Syracuse’s rover, has become one of the most vocal players in the defensive backs room. He said that as a rover he had to be vocal, but now with Garrett Williams in the NFL, he speaks up much more.
While SU also lost defensive backs Duce Chestnut and Ja’Had Carter to the transfer portal, the Orange still kept key pieces like Barron and redshirt senior Isaiah Johnson. Johnson, who transferred to Syracuse from Dartmouth following the 2021 season, recorded 53 tackles, a pass breakup and an interception in 2022.
When the defensive backs were taking part in one-on-one drills against wide receivers, Johnson displayed his physicality against experienced pass catcher Damien Alford. Johnson tackled Alford hard into the grass, popping the ball loose. As a self-described “long defensive back,” Johnson said he focused on playing with lower leverage during the summer to improve on his man-to-man coverage. And with cornerbacks coach Travis Fisher, Johnson feels receptive to change in his game.
“I’m getting better,” Johnson said. “There’s some things that I want to clean up. But technique-wise, Coach Fisher is a technician He played nine years in the league, so he really knows what he’s talking about.”
Before Johnson and his fellow defensive backs could take on the wide receivers, though, they acted like wide receivers during drills. Fisher and his assistants divided the unit into two groups for most of the media viewing period. The first group, which featured rovers and safeties like Barron and Jason Simmons Jr., took part in receiving drills, catching long passes from the coaches. In the second group, which included cornerbacks Johnson and Jeremiah Wilson, worked on footwork and staying tight on wide receivers in coverage.
Later, all the defensive backs worked on drills where they slapped each other’s hands out of the way, similar to how receivers and defensive back would during games. As the unit used their footwork and slapped each other’s hands, most of the safeties and corners seemed in sync. Barron said the cohesion amongst the group was stronger more than at any point during his tenure at SU.
“We’re coming together as a group,” Barron said. “As in years past, we’d like to say that we have but this year more so than ever. We’re really becoming one.”
Aug. 9
Dino Babers watched Syracuse’s running backs with disgust yesterday. He stopped a drill to loudly give them a piece of his mind before stomping away.
“They need to understand that they just stepped up a level in competition, and they need to raise their expectations and raise their efforts in order for them to survive,” Babers said of the position group’s performance on Tuesday.
Redshirt junior running back Juwaun Price said that’s just how Babers is and he wants the Orange head coach to continue to do that. Price noted that because of the history of great running backs who have come through SU, the expectations can always be raised higher. Babers still watched over the running backs at today’s practice and offered the group some input, but nowhere near as much as yesterday.
Just as noticeable as Babers coaching up the running backs was the lack of the some of the rushers who have defined the position group for the past two seasons. Sean Tucker signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after going undrafted in the 2023 NFL Draft. LeQuint Allen remains away from the team despite reaching an agreement with SU to end a suspension.
“I’m not going to get into his business, but it does suck,” Price said about Allen’s absence.
For now, Price is trying to “stay the course” as he has been getting more and more first-team reps. During drills with the whole Syracuse offense, Price stood alongside Garrett Shrader, receiving handoffs and getting dump-off passes from the Orange’s starting quarterback.
Price also made some catches during 11-on-11s, hauling in a pass from Shrader before breaking away from sophomore cornerback Jeremiah Wilson down the right sideline.
Price has had experience being a featured back in an offense. As a redshirt freshman at New Mexico State in 2021, Price ran the ball 135 times for 692 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. But with Tucker and Allen in front of him on the depth chart, Price finished last season with just eight carries for 39 yards. He primarily worked with special teams.
“I have a lot of experience,” Price said. “But I feel like getting as many reps as I have been getting has been helping. I’m getting better each day and I’m gonna continue to do so.”
Aside from Price, redshirt junior tailback JJ Branham has been getting plenty of reps. Throughout training camp, Branham had turned short passes from Shrader and Del Rio-Wilson into long touchdowns, using his speed to breeze past some offensive coaches who served as defenders during drills. Branham comes from Blinn College, a public junior college in east Texas, and ran for 648 yards and seven touchdowns.
Other notable backs who have become featured frequently in drills have been freshman Ike Daniels and sophomore Deston Hawkins.
Still, Price remains the No. 1 back at the moment. During interviews with the media, Price has even started to manifest himself being one of the key players in the running back room. He answered multiple questions with “LeQuint and I,” saying that he’ll keep working and taking reps.
“That’s the mindset I built,” Price said. “…I’m saying me and LeQuint because I know that no matter what, whoever goes in, is gonna do the job.”
Aug. 8
The one word that has been repeated the most among Syracuse’s offensive linemen and the position coaches has been “violence.” New offensive line coach Steve Farmer and his assistants have repeated the phrase, “Be violent!” multiple times during each training camp practice. Last week, SU head coach Dino Babers said the first day of camp was a chance for new position coaches like Farmer to put their personality on their respective position groups.
“That’s important as an assistant coach, it’s also important as a coordinator,” Babers said on Aug. 2. “They were excited and moving around with energy and loud voices. So I think that’s okay.”
Farmer has displayed an aggressive attitude and personality to a unit that was in need of a new voice after former offensive line coach Mike Schmidt left for Mississippi State. Syracuse’s newest position coach has spent nine seasons as an offensive coordinator and has worked at schools like Texas Tech, Utah State and most recently Tulsa.
Farmer routinely has spent training camp in a crouched position, donning an all-blue attire with orange shoes and led the unit in a sprint each time they moved from part of the field to the other. He can routinely be founded in a crouched position, usually shouting at his players with phrases like “Play with your heads low!”, “Make him work!”, “Quit doing sh*tty reps.”
From new linemen like Joe Cruz to experienced players like Josh Ilaoa, Farmer would chastise any player that would make any mistakes. He would teach the linemen what to with their hands and hips. Once they started to have better technique, specifically when the offensive linemen matched up against SU’s defensive linemen, Farmer would start to praise them.
“Now we’re playing football,” Farmer exclaimed.
The intensity that Farmer had established when the offensive linemen would try to out-block the other started to seep its way to the linemen themselves. Once a rep was over, some of the o-linemen still pushed and shoved each other. Jakob Bradford and Enrique Cruz Jr. went after each other multiple times, trying to get the edge on the other.
Pro Football Focus graded Orange’s o-line as the fourth-best pass blocking team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but eighth-best in run blocking. In the offseason, Syracuse lost starters Matthew Bergeron (picked 38th by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2023 NFL draft), Carlos Vettorello and Dakota Davis. SU picked up transfers like David Wohlabaugh Jr. from Kentucky and Joe More from Richmond, while also signing community college players like J’Onre Reed.
Reed came from Hutchinson Community College in Kansas and has the nickname, “Big General.” But Babers said that Reed has to play a bunch of games before he can have a nickname. Reed comes in as a candidate for the center position following the Vettorello’s departure.
In one of the last drill during the media viewing period, the o-line still faced critiques from Farmer, but also saw some success when they gave running back JJ Branham an opening for a long touchdown.
“I think those guys are coming out and playing with the right effort,” Babers said. “But once again, we’re gonna have to have some flexibility in that thing and coach Farmer is doing a nice job of moving those interior guys around to build the depth once again.”
Aug. 4
New defensive coordinator Rocky Long usually stood by himself while watching Syracuse’s defense during the fourth day of training camp. Both he and head coach Babers preferred standing in solitude, watching over the team. Long donned a bright orange shirt and shorts and let the various defensive position coaches lead their groups. But Long still inserted his input and personality, especially during the 11-on-11 period of practice, where the offense, wearing orange, matched up against the defense, wearing white.
The 11-on-11 period saw success for both the Orange’s offense and defense. When quarterback Garrett Shrader faced pressure from the defensive linemen, he found a gap and scrambled. Shrader accelerated and dodged every SU defender for roughly a 70-yard rushing touchdown. As the quarterback broke away, Long was left standing still and talking with defensive assistants about what happened. Linebacker Marlowe Wax, who was standing on the sidelines during the play, asked his teammates “What was the play?”
“I think we played really well (with) a lot of energy from the first play,” Caleb Okechukwu said. “We’ll be honest with each other and let somebody know you need to go harder or pull back a little bit.”
Still, the defensive backs forced Shrader and fellow quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson into some interceptions. During the same 11-on-11 period, defensive back Justin Barron picked off Shrader after the quarterback felt some pressure. For Barron, this made up for the prior drill where defensive backs had to go one-on-one against receivers and running backs. On one play, Barron tightly covered Trebor Pena on an intermediate pass from Del Rio-Wilson. But even as Barron swarmed him, the receiver still came down with the ball.
“I try and guard the little guys as much as I can,” Barron said. “I’ll guard (Trebor) as often as I can just because of how quick and how fast he is. It forces me to get better.”
Alijah Clark found Long to be a fun person and not as uptight as people think. Clark has seen Long joke most of practice and has rarely seen the 73-year old defensive coordinator be serious. Even as the morning practices came to an end, Long chatted and joked with Okechukwu and other defensive linemen.
Okechukwu said Long has mainly focused on conditioning through the opening week of camp. The linemen continued, saying there has been emphasis on running to the ball harder. Many of the drills for the defenders featured players tackling the pop-up dummies. As players’ grunts started to get louder as the temperature rose, some on the Orange shoved the dummies to the ground instead of just hitting them.
Long, the architect of the 3-3-5 defense, joined a program that has utilized the formation since 2020. Linebackers like Wax have loved to play in that specific defense because of the versatility it provides him. Even though Wax wasn’t much of a pass rusher in high school, he has moved into a role where he can position himself at the line or in coverage.
The linebacker lined up against Juwaun Price, with quarterback Braden Davis throwing passes. On some plays, Price used quick footwork to get a step ahead of Wax. On others, Wax would stay tight on Price, and Davis’ passes to the sidelines would fly over both of their heads. Okechukwu said finishing plays harder and longer was also critical for Long, especially with heightened expectations for a unit that allowed the sixth fewest points per game in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“In the spring he was getting to know us,” Okechukwu said of Long. “But now he has like an expectation because at the end of the day, we want to win games and that’s what he’s about. So it’s been fun learning from him over the last six months.”
Aug. 2
Nearing the end of his time speaking with the media, Garrett Shrader paused before giving his opinion on where Syracuse football will end up in December.
“This team will be bowl eligible,” Shrader said. “It’s just now (figuring out) what else can we do to win those close games.”
Shrader said that the talent on the Orange’s roster is better than that of the past two seasons, where Syracuse went 12-13 and lost to Minnesota 28-20 in the 2022 Pinstripe Bowl.
SU head coach Dino Babers ended his first press conference of the 2023 season yesterday with an update on Shrader. He said that the quarterback would be “put on a pitch count” for the opening day of training camp. Shrader, who is starting his third year with the Orange, missed spring practices in March after a procedure on his right elbow.
As songs like “7sixers” by Veeze and “DIE DIE” by Trippie Redd and LUCKI blared at the practice field, Shrader’s pitch count was in full effect. While he wore a white sleeve that the quarterback jokingly said was for “aesthetics,” Shrader threw short and intermediate spirals mainly to running backs Price and freshman Ike Daniels. Shrader also pitched the ball to other tailbacks, including Branham. But as the media viewing period moved along, he went through many of the motions of offensive plays, specifically deep passes to receivers, but never actually released the ball.
That doesn’t mean Shrader didn’t practice the deep ball, though. He attempted a long throw down the right side to Damien Alford, who couldn’t pull in the wobbly pass. On another play, receiver Umari Hatcher cut back to catch a low pass from the quarterback.
When Shrader wasn’t throwing the ball around the field, he was chatting with various Syracuse football staffers and trainers. The quarterback led many of the sprints as the offense transitioned to different parts of the practice field. While Babers said Shrader was sore, everything was OK functionally. The coaching staff, the head coach said, is happy with where their starting quarterback is currently at.
“He’s really smart,” Babers said. “And he’s aggressive. But he’s smart. I think he understands that this is good for him and it’s good for the other guys, too.”
Along with the Babers, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson got plenty of reps, slinging intermediate passes to redshirt freshman receiver Donovan Brown and quarterback-turned-tight-end Dan Villari. Del Rio-Wilson threw to Brown toward the middle of the field, but Brown dropped it once he faced contact from the defensive backs.
Even though Del Rio-Wilson and South Carolina transfer Davis got throws in, Shrader got the first-team reps. This upcoming season will be the first time in Shrader’s collegiate career that he will have the same offensive system for multiple seasons. Shrader said that he’s able to see the game how new offensive coordinator Jason Beck sees it because of the coach’s time last year as the quarterbacks coach.
“When (Beck) puts something in and he’s installing something, we get the firsthand of why we’re doing what we’re doing versus him being a middleman,” Shrader said.
Yesterday, Babers said that Syracuse’s 2023 offensive coaching staff is the “the strongest offensive staff we’ve had” during his eight-year tenure with the program. Shrader agreed with the head coach’s assessment, noting the charisma and excitement the coaches bring each day. While working with the offensive linemen, new offensive line coach Farmer would crouch down and yell things phrases like “Be violent!” or “Bring it back! Let’s go!”
“It’s opening day for them too,” Babers said of the new coaches. “This is their first opportunity to put their personality or their impression on their group.”
Babers, donning an all-blue Syracuse outfit and a dark blue sun hat, loomed over the practice. He moved around the field, chatting with associates and journalists while also occasionally loudly telling the receivers to move more to the outside on certain plays. Shrader said that Babers has changed his demeanor over the quarterback’s three seasons.
“He’s been a lot more hands off and just kind of letting the coordinators do their thing,” Shrader said. “And he’s still there, the receivers are still his babies. So he loves to coach them up all the time.”
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