Syracuse football training camp opened Wednesday, Aug. 3. The Daily Orange beat writer Anthony Alandt will keep a running tab of updates from each practice this summer before SU’s first game against Louisville on Sept. 3. Follow along here and on Twitter @DOsports.

Aug. 23

As late as last week, head coach Dino Babers said the punter competition was still unsettled. Both James Williams and Andre Szmyt are taking reps, though Williams secured the job last season.

The kicking competition is ironed out, however, with Szmyt as the point-person for the fifth straight season. On Tuesday, he lined up on the right hash preparing for a 40-yard field goal. After the ball seamlessly flew through the goal post, special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky screamed as the field goal unit jogged over to the left hash.

“Great job boys. There we go Andre. Adjust, adjust,” Ligashesky said.

The ensuing kick also made its way through the uprights, prompting Ligashesky to back the unit up to the 42-yard line, prepping for a 52-yard field goal kick. The wind, though slight, blew into Szmyt’s face. He missed the first attempt wide left and short, and left the second kick short as well.

The unit finished off by backing up a couple more yards and transitioning into punt formation. Lightly dropping the ball, Szmyt proceeded to softly loft the ball toward the right edge of the endzone. It bounced once around the five yard line and quickly rolled out around the two yard line.

The Orange finished with the lowest average punt yards in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2021 and tied for the most punts (67) in the conference. It’s been a point of emphasis throughout the course of training camp, though punters tend to work on the soccer practice field separated from the rest of the team.

While the punting unit is trying to recover from a historically poor statistical season, Smzyt had 14 touchbacks last year, by far the fewest in the conference. During Tuesday’s practice, Williams and Szmyt traded off kickoff reps, with backup running back LeQuint Allen — who caught two hail mary passes during last Friday’s camp — positioned in the endzone.

Transfer receiver D’Marcus Adams saw reps as the backup kick returner. True freshman Donovan Brown also traded off kickoff returns with Adams in a third string role.

The final kickoff of the set Tuesday morning went short, an intentional placement that landed the ball in the hands of Maximilian Mang on the right edge of the formation. He quickly ran up the sideline and collected a 10-yard return before being pushed out of play.

“There’s no doubt that coach Ligashesky is a fantastic coach,” Babers said. “The proof will be in the pudding when we play on Sept. 3.”

Aug. 22

Dan Villari, the former Michigan quarterback who played sparingly with the Wolverines and saw time with special teams, stood behind the rest of the wide receivers inside the Ensley Athletic Center. For the first time since joining Syracuse’s squad, he tugged at his orange jersey, signaling that he wasn’t practicing as one of the Orange’s six rostered quarterbacks.

Toward the end of the drill, quarterback coach Jason Beck spun around and grabbed Villari, motioning him to move up to the front of the one-on-one drill. Across the line of scrimmage stood Bralyn Oliver, who has rotated through the starting safety position throughout camp. Garrett Shrader whipped in a pass across the middle to Villari seven steps after he cut in on a 10 yard in-route. While the redshirt freshman initially grabbed it, a late right hook from Oliver punched it out.

Villari hasn’t seen work with the second string team since the first week of camp, and even then, it was periodic. Transfer Carlos del Rio-Wilson has garnered most of the second team snaps, and Shrader’s fully solidified as the No. 1 guy. Despite playing quarterback in the scrimmage Syracuse had on Saturday, Villari saw reps with the receivers during Monday’s practice.

“We wanted to get him into some special teams stuff. He’s an athletic guy,” Babers said. “So we wanted to get him on the field in some other positions, besides still playing quarterback.”

During his senior season at Plainedge High School (NY), Villari collected 1,522 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns along with 1,306 passing yards and 13 passing touchdowns en route to a state championship. He fits the mold of Shrader — a mobile quarterback with more speed than others who was in competition at the start of training camp, according to Babers, for the backup job with del Rio-Wilson and Jacobian Morgan.

But in the beginning of practice, Villari has only run routes and been on the back end of throwing one-on-ones, usually working alongside Morgan or Luke MacPhail. Then on Monday he lined up on the left side of MacPhail, this time not to wait his turn to throw or set his feet looking for a man down field. He took off as the ball was tossed back to MacPhail and cut across the field on a post route, extending his arms to make a solid catch as he stumbled past a coach.

“I think it’s more that we know who our starting quarterback is,” Babers said of Villari playing receiver. “He’s a fantastic athlete and we’re trying to get all of the athletes out there.”

Aug. 19

The simulated game clock stood at 14 seconds as the offense convened around the defense’s 40-yard line. Garrett Shrader calmly looked down at his forearm playsheet, translating the signals thrown up by Robert Anae and Jason Beck. He’d just overthrown Sean Tucker on a flat route to the right side, a sped up pass due to pressure from Caleb Okechukwu.

Then Steve Linton got pancaked on two straight plays by Dakota Davis before he was taken out in favor of Chase Simmons. A hole opened up on the second play allowing Shrader to scramble through for the first down. Then Shrader got the ball out to Tucker on a mesh route for another seven yards. The defense stormed back, helped along by pass rushes from Simmons and Jatius Geer, setting up a 4th-and-10.

“I think the biggest thing is just when things are going fast to keep our communication calm and constant,” Garrett Williams said.

Williams and the rest of the secondary dropped back in deep zone coverage to prepare for a long touchdown attempt. With six seconds remaining, the offense needed to finish off the two-minute drill set with a touchdown. Two receivers bolted from the right side to execute a double post, one that the defense easily smothered and forced Shrader to his left. But with pressure coming, the Orange’s starting quarterback heaved a pass toward the end zone.

The ball was tipped by Mikel Jones, then batted around by Damien Alford. But LeQuint Allen had snuck around defenders to land himself in position to catch the Hail Mary attempt, sending the offensive sideline sprinting down the field to congratulate him. It was the first of two Hail Mary catches Allen made in as many sequences.

“I feel like defense, we struggled today,” Williams said. “They came out today, they had the energy. Those two Hail Marys that LeQuint had kinda knocked the energy a little bit.”

Stefon Thompson, a self-described hybrid player between linebacker and defensive line, said the defense sees “third down, money down.” The unproven group is focused on getting a sack on the quarterback, one Linton almost got as he broke through the line to nearly touch Shrader on a scramble. It’s been harder against Syracuse’s new offense, one that runs routes that Williams hasn’t heard of until he asked a receiver.

Specifically against running back mesh routes, three of which Tucker ran during the 11-on-11 set, Thompson has to stay home to make sure he doesn’t open up a hole over top. A rub route, which is an angle flat option route executed by the offense, was new to Thompson.

Williams said the more balanced offense approach leads to much more pressure on the back end of the defense than he’s used to during his time at Syracuse. Both he and Thompson have seen these formations against other teams, but this training camp marks the first they’ve faced it against an SU team.

“We scrimmage tomorrow. So hopefully we’ll be ready to go,” Williams said.

Aug. 17

Syracuse barely utilized its tight ends in the passing game last season, with Luke Benson’s 22 receiving yards topping everyone in the unit. While head coach Dino Babers brought in Robert Anae to help shift the offense to a more balanced approach with a greater emphasis on passing, the Orange have continued to mobilize tight ends around the run game. It’s a more experienced room, led by Chris Elmore and Maximilian Mang, with Steven Mahar Jr. on the rise, but one that plays off each other when setting up for blocks.

For Mang, last year — after he was somewhat thrown into the main mix of players mid-season — was all about blocking. So far in August, Anae has had him work more on improving his hands, which could be as simple as doing work on the jugs machine or tossing a ball around his University Village apartment. But for Mang, along with Elmore, it’s still about being able to block from a variety of positions.

“He and me, we are working hand to hand in the run game,” Mang said. “We know what to do, what queue we have and work off of each other.”

On Wednesday’s first play during the goal line series, Elmore lined up in the backfield as a fullback, with two tight ends flanking each side of the offensive line. From the four yard line, Garrett Shrader handed off to Sean Tucker, who worked behind his eight blockers to find a hole to the one yard line. Tuesday’s practice featured tight ends cycling in with offensive linemen to work on second-level and double-team blocking sets.

Tight ends continued in these 5-on-5 drills Wednesday morning, this time sliding left or right to block for a halfback screen. The group did work in place of running backs on three yard screens for a short period at the end of the drill, but the group hasn’t been seen working on many passing drills since camp began. The goal is to create space for Tucker and adjust on the fly for mobile quarterbacks like Shrader or Carlos del Rio-Wilson.

“It’s just fun because (Tucker) can make a big run out of a small block,” Mang said. “He just needs a little gap. You give him what he needs, and he’s off to the races.”

Mang said he’s worked on keeping his hands inside since the spring. All-Atlantic Coast Conference offensive lineman Matthew Bergeron noted that he still needs to make sure defenders aren’t getting underneath him and blowing past his block. SU allowed 34 sacks last season, finishing 107th in the country despite a line that featured Bergeron and Airon Servais.

During the first part of a team 11-on-11 set, one in which Shrader said the offense started strong, he was able to find Courtney Jackson across the middle after four seconds sitting in the pocket. A few plays later, with Mang on the right side adding an extra pass blocker, SU’s offensive line broke down on the left side, forcing Shrader to scramble a few feet to the right. An extra protection by Mang allowed Shrader to rifle a pass toward the right sideline for Damien Alford, who easily grabbed it for the first down.

“I’m just getting more trust into like where he wants me, where he was going to put the ball and what I see when I run into coverage,” Mang said of Shrader.

Aug. 16

In the first press conference before training camp began, head coach Dino Babers said he wanted to establish a group of seven dependable offensive linemen. While there’s enough depth going into this season to find that, Babers said on Tuesday that guys are still rotating through the lineup. Dakota Davis, for example, has gotten work at right guard, tackle and center throughout training camp.

“They got to play multiple positions,” Babers said.

With less than three weeks before Syracuse’s first game against Louisville, the Orange’s offensive line showcased a variety of drills as they work to improve under offensive line coach and run game coordinator Mike Schmidt. The line has executed pull drills over the last two weeks of camp, with a recent emphasis on getting to the second-level block. Schmidt is trying to elevate a group that turned in the fifth-most productive rushing season in program history (2,562) last season and returns All-Atlantic Coast Conference lineman Matthew Bergeron.

Despite the shift toward a more pass-centric offense, Syracuse still has All-American running back Sean Tucker and relies on Garrett Shrader’s legs throughout games. On Tuesday, the Orange set up a 5-on-5 drill in which linemen — and frequently fullback Chris Elmore — played out a delayed quarterback draw to give them time to complete second-level blocks. Schmidt and quarterbacks coach Jason Beck traded off critiquing linemen following each play.

“They’re all fast, and they’re all hard to handle,” Babers said.

Linemen also participated in 1-on-1 drills, seen for the first time this training camp, with tight ends also mixing in the sets. Syracuse hardly used tight ends in the passing game last year, but Babers is leaning on the experience of Maxamillian Mang and Elmore to lead the position group. Sophomore Steven Mahar Jr. has also shown flashes of potential throughout camp as another receiving option from the thigh end room. He’s also someone Babers pointed out as a player the staff is excited to see this season.

During 11-on-11 practices and goal line sets, the Orange have tended to revert to inside zones and outside power runs, typically with at least one guard pulling. SU’s second goal line play on Tuesday was a run-pass option that Shrader kept as he stared down a wide open hole in the middle of the zone. He easily darted through it and reached into the endzone unscathed.

Schmidt’s main critiques following drills were if players were too slow off the ball or not quick enough cutting off a defender. Guards tend to pull if they’re smaller and have to attack a defender from a running start, but with most of Syracuse’s linemen being used at nearly all five positions, each player has gotten work in pulling and getting to linebacker level, including Davis.

“(Dakota’s) got a lot of versatility and we’re gonna need him man,” Babers said. “We’re gonna need that versatility during the year.”

Aug. 12

Mikel Jones takes notes after each practice on what he needs to improve on. The next day, that becomes his focus. If he sees the same mistake written down twice, it means he needs to spend the next week working through that. Jones heads a studded linebacking core that burst onto the scene last season. He led it to become one of the most experienced units in the country, with a secondary that’s looking to make national strides from last year.

Their first test has come against a revamped offense under new offensive coordinator Robert Anae, who is throwing new schemes at a unit that’s seen a mostly RPO-style approach. Both he and Garrett Williams noted that a heavier reliance on the passing game has forced them to focus on fundamental techniques. Combined with some of the mistakes they made toward the end of games last season, getting tested from the air has put more pressure on a nationally recognized group.

“They’re giving the defense, us, a lot of great competition, preparing this for the season really well,” Williams said.

Williams, despite testing professional waters at the end of last season, said the new techniques are helping sharpen his game at cornerback, leading to him be more comfortable with a variety of scenarios. So far in camp, it’s led to head coach Dino Babers saying the defense has finished most days as the more sound unit. Quarterback Garrett Shrader even admitted on Wednesday that the defense had outright won the last few days of practice. 

In Friday’s 1-on-1 drills, defenders frequently tripped up wide receivers and broke up passes. Toward the end of the drill, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson rifled a short throw to Umari Hatcher for a comeback attempt, but Williams had planted his foot well before, reading the route well enough to break up the pass. Dartmouth transfer Isaiah Johnson found similar success when he stutter-stepped and leaped over his receiver in the left corner of the endzone to bat down a long ball attempt.

“In the first group, a lot of us have been playing together … going through our third year together,” Williams said. “So, it’s kind of expected.”

But the Orange’s secondary demonstrated its ability to get into the backfield last season, as it ranked fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 37 sacks. They once again pressured Syracuse’s offense on the second play of the 11-on-11 set, with Austin Roon meandering to Shrader and tapping his shoulder as he threw a 15-yard pass to Maxamilian Mang. The secondary also ate up the run, except for the first inside zone handoff to Sean Tucker, who proceeded to shift through tackles and escape for a long run before the play was called dead.

During the goal line set, linebackers stuffed running backs on inside power plays, stacking the box so much that the outside receiver stood virtually uncovered on the left side of the formation. Tucker and LeQuint Allen traded off snaps in the backfield, with Chris Elmore acting as a fullback starting from the backfield in jumbo sets. Running backs saw similar holes immediately dissipate during the 11-on-11 set. Two straight inside handoffs from the opponent’s goal line ended with Babers aggressively blowing his whistle and signaling a safety.

“(I want to see a) top-10 defense, a bunch of turnovers, winning games,” Williams said.

Aug. 10

Garrett Shrader said Syracuse’s offense has hit a bit of a slump over the last few days. Still in the midst of learning a new offensive scheme and without a set starting five on the offensive line, the Orange defense has been able to “get after” the offense. On Wednesday, Shrader said that the offense overtook control of practice today, getting back on track after switching through personnel sets and rotating players in and out.

“We finally were able to turn that corner today and capitalize on a lot of things that were missing those couple of days,” Shrader said. “More of like working out the kinks.”

While Tuesday’s practice was full of jumped routes and interceptions, SU’s wide receivers overtook their counterparts, including All-Atlantic Coast Conference corners Garrett Williams and Duce Chestnut. On individual drills, receivers worked primarily on finding a pocket after cutting inside against zone coverage on 10-yard in-routes. They also worked through jet sweep motion routes as offensive coordinator Robert Anae yelled at the group to focus on their plant foot.

On one goal line play Syracuse ran against the second-team defense, Courtney Jackson flew past freshman Jeremiah Wilson and glided toward the back left hash of the endzone, completing the sequence with a basket catch from Shrader. Jackson, who moved from slot receiver to the X receiver prior to this season, said he’s had to work more on press releases, something he didn’t get experience with over the last few years.

Receivers also worked on a sequence of getting around a linebacker but breaking in before the safety comes down from the top of the zone. Once again, they are working on finding a window in the soft spots of a zone defense. While the room contains names such as Anthony Queeley, Damien Alford and Jackson, there’s still questions as to who will emerge as the No. 1 receiver for the Orange in a more pass-centric offense. 

“Those guys have come along,” Shrader said. “They’re making a lot of plays, we got a lot of guys that can run.”

Transfer D’Marcus Adams has continued to impress throughout camp, and seventh-year receiver Devaughn Cooper, an original recruit of head coach Dino Babers, said he’s enjoying operating in the new routes and schemes implemented by Anae. On one play during Syracuse’s 11-on-11 set, Alford streaked down the left sideline, executing a press release on his man well enough to earn solid separation that Shrader used to connect with Alford on a play-action pass.

Jackson said receivers are starting to gain considerable trust with Shrader, who is a more confident conductor of the offense now that he’s solidified the starting job. Shrader and Jackson can communicate by simply looking at each other and, with a few head movements they can converse right up to the snap. That wasn’t possible last year when he was “forced” into the starting role.

Even on a goal line play where the secondary overwhelmed the offensive line on a roll out to the left side, Shrader looked across the field to find Maximilian Mang wide open for a touchdown. Cooper, who ran a wheel route on Shrader’s side, raised his arms to signal the score.

“The biggest thing with this offense is it may not be perfect, each tape how we want it, but if we’re on the same page, we make it happen, that’s all that matters,” Shrader said.

Aug. 9

Ja’Had Carter committed to Syracuse prior to the 2020 season as one of the top-25 players from Virginia. He immediately burst onto the scene, playing in all 11 games and finishing the season with 67 total tackles, the second-most for the Orange. While unable to repeat the leading numbers from his first season, he still managed 35 tackles, 24 of which were solo, in limited playing time.

Coming into training camp, Carter was projected as one of the starting safeties in Syracuse’s defense, acting primarily as the boundary safety. But on Tuesday during a defensive team drill, Carter went down near the goal line with an apparent injury. He stayed on the turf for around 15 minutes as team members gradually finished up drills and shuffled over to kneel around the sophomore.

“Ja’Had is one of our guys. Ja’Had is one of our best players,” head coach Dino Babers said.

Eventually, the entire practice stopped, music turned off and all coaches and players huddled around while medical personnel lifted Carter onto a secured stretcher. Babers said he was able to talk to Carter while the safety lay on the ground and that he was able to move all of his limbs and extremities.

Once practice resumed, defensive backs and wide receivers once again split off into one-on-one drills, continuing what Babers summarized as a “physical” day of camp. First, it was receivers taking over with back shoulder catches up against the sideline. They transitioned to 15-yard post routes before breaking off to execute block and release routes against a coach decoying as a corner.

Once the second round of one-on-ones came around, with receivers having an option route that either sent them deep or to one of the corners, the defense started flashing their talent. Duce Chestnut got beat by transfer D’Marcus Adams because he weaved his hips too much, but batted balls and jumped routes set up for an overmatched set of 11-on-11s for the offense.

“The defense definitely won the day today,” Babers said. “They rallied and they really bounced back from the first part of practice and really dominated the second, third and fourth quarter.”

While running a two-minute drill, two straight pass plays had to be blown dead because redshirt freshman Austin Roon cut his way through the offensive line. On the next play, from his own endzone, quarterback Garrett Shrader looked down the left sideline for his receiver on a streak. But the ball came out short, and Chestnut easily jumped the route for an interception. Redshirt freshman Bralyn Oliver, a transfer from Louisville, picked off another short throw from Shrader.

Aug. 5

Duce Chestnut believes Syracuse’s defense can finish as one of the top 10, even top five units in the country when it’s playing at its best. With the surprise return of linebacker Mikel Jones and a full year under Chestnut’s belt, the secondary is shaping up to be one of the deepest in the country. Cornerback Garrett Williams serves as a star counterpart to Chestnut, and the addition of Alijah Clark from Rutgers further adds to the veteran lineup.

Chestnut, who finished his true freshman year with three interceptions and 11 pass deflections, said that after working on his speed training this summer in Tampa Bay, Florida, the game is slowing down for him. But he and the rest of the secondary have faced a different kind of offense under new coordinator Robert Anae. The new offense leans more on the passing game and opens up the playbook for quarterback Garrett Shrader.

“This offense is the first new offense for me since I’ve been here,” Jones said. “You can see a lot of new things, a lot of good new things. A better connection with the receivers and quarterbacks and running backs.”

During one-on-ones on day three of training camp, the first opportunity the Orange had to put on shoulder pads, cornerbacks continued to be pressured by a wide receiver room full of what Chestnut referred to as “playmakers.” On Friday, cornerbacks tended to stick close to their men as they executed post routes, faked inside and pivoted for a goal line fade and ran 10-yard slants. Freshman Dom Foster cut off a route on a throw from backup Carlos Del Rio-Wilson. Then shortly after, Neil Nunn nearly intercepted transfer quarterback Dan Villari on an underthrown ball to Damien Alford.

Defensive backs and corners have also gotten work on a two-receiver option pass that Syracuse ran on goal line sets this week. Running backs are being incorporated more into the passing game, running lots of angle routes in the flat with another receiver coming across from the outside. Jones explained that you can either opt to bite inside or stay over the top. Either way, there’s a receiver coming up that’s likely to get away from the defender. On Friday, these plays either ended in a touchdown or a jumped route where the cornerback illegally touched the receiver.

“I feel like they use them (running backs) a little bit more in the passing game,” Jones said. “They’ve got a lot of good concepts that help them in their favor.”

Corners also worked on pseudo-interception routes. They crouched around 15 yards away from a coach in the middle of the field who threw the ball to either the left or right sideline. SU only nabbed four interceptions last season, but it returns Williams and Chestnut at the top of a deep cornerback room. Chestnut wants to do away with rookie mistakes this season, and he and Williams have set a bowl game appearance as a season goal. Neither want to make the same mistakes they did last year, so they’ve leaned on each other, with Williams taking a “big brother” role.

“(I’m) really just focusing on being more consistent, not being a young guy no more,” Chestnut said. “Just being that lockdown corner that I could be, just filling out my potential.”

Aug. 3

Syracuse’s plan is that offensive coordinator Robert Anae installs a more balanced offense. This year the Orange will rely more heavily on passing as opposed to last season’s run-first attack centered around Sean Tucker. Tucker’s excited, and so is the rest of the team, for the opportunities it will create. Head coach Dino Babers said he didn’t need to change that much since he and the new offensive coordinator agree on close to everything with SU’s new scheme.

The Orange are trying to improve on their passing offense, one that finished with the fewest passing yards in the Atlantic Coast Conference by a large margin last season. They brought in Anae from Virginia and shuffled position coaches to do it. On the first day of training camp, Syracuse displayed a number of goal line plays — all passes — immediately after opening stretches.

“Ultimately, the goal is to have less carries and the same amount of yards,” quarterback Garrett Shrader said. “We’ve got a lot of play makers though … that I’m happy running around with.”

Syracuse hasn’t incorporated pads into practice yet, but they ran about a dozen goal line plays before splitting off into position workouts. The first, second and third teams shuffled on and off between plays, which tended to include the running back sprinting into the endzone on a delay before pivoting around for a pass option.

Quarterbacks also looked for wideouts, throwing fade routes up for players like Isaiah Jones to leap over his defender for the touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Each quarterback worked in a separate drill with running backs progressing through the same five-yard delayed out route. Wide receivers ran five and seven-yard cross routes on the same play.

Shrader has the starting quarterback job, a certainty that has allowed the rest of the offense to throw their confidence and familiarity behind him. For backups, Babers said Tuesday that everyone is on even footing. He’s just trying to find “somebody that’s going to move the chains, somebody who is going to be consistent, somebody that we can depend on.”

Florida quarterback transfer Carlos Del Rio-Wilson debuted for Syracuse. Notably, he was intercepted by cornerback Jeremiah Wilson during 1-on-1s, and Michigan transfer Dan Villari saw the bulk of his reps with the second strings. Both of them saw fast-paced opportunities on goal line pass plays.

Despite a larger emphasis on passing, Syracuse’s young defensive line found itself in the backfield more often than not Wednesday morning. Bergeron said the offensive line did a good job last season in the rush game, but they need to work more on pass protection. He’s taken Enrique Cruz Jr., a redshirt freshman whom Bergeron believes can be a dominant tackle one day, under his wing to ensure that Cruz focuses on pass protection as well.

Published on August 3, 2022 at 2:27 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt