Forgive me while I completely ignore the other disheartening story going on...

Phillip Thomas by all accounts is done at SU, which otherwise would be a pretty big story. First and foremost, I'm not here to discuss rumors, all I can assume is that by receiving a one year suspension from the Athletics Department, and not the iron fist of HCDM, that whatever Phil did must've been pretty bad. This is obviously a huge loss to an already struggling defense.

via media.syracuse.com

Phil is a talented player. Florida State made a late push to add Phil to their 2009 recruiting class, and from the day he started at SU, he looked to be a solid addition to the team. While having a safety lead the team in tackles is not a good sign for your defense overall, couple that with his INT total, I think he was well on his way to being named 1st team all Big East this year. Simply put, you don't get stats like that unless you're in a position to make a play virtually every time you take the field. That doesn't mean I think he was a perfect player, however. Phil perhaps is a bit hot-headed, maybe even a bit selfish, and is definitely not above trash talking opponents (or even taking a swing at them). What that means as far as individual character, and off the field behavior, who knows. Maybe he's just misunderstood. He's (or was) the Eric Devendorf of SU Football, if you will.

(There's also the disturbing fact that he was a HCDM guy, whom presumably has gone the way of Cater, Carter and Hawkes, never to play another down for SU. But that's a conversation for another day.)

Then compare Phil to a guy like Kevyn Scott. Kevyn also came to SU from Florida, except that was in 2007, spurning powerhouses such as Akron and Bowling Green to play for the Gerg. He's been around SU awhile now, and has given quite a bit to the SU Football program, and also made the most of his time at SU. He's graduated from SU with a  degree in information management and technology and is pursuing a Master's degree in information management. He's routinely been a member of the Athletic Directors honor roll and Big East All-Academic team. He's also a team leader, named a team Captain for 2011. However, save for a few good plays he's made (mostly early in the season), Kevyn's not been a great football player. Actually that's being rather kind. He's looked flat out awful at times. Having been at Syracuse for 5 years, 3 of them under HCDM and Scott Shafer, it's safe to say this is as good of a football player as he will ever be, and there's a 100% chance that at the end of this season will be the end of his football career. I feel bad in saying that, because Kevyn, otherwise, seems like a role model and stand-up guy in every aspect.

via static.foxsports.com

So the question I have is, and purely for discussion purposes, if you had to pick one, and ONLY one to be on your team, who would it be?

The obvious answer is it would be great to have a player that had the best qualities of both players, but as it is being an SU Football fan these days, we have to take what we can get. So who would you pick?

(for the record, I've enjoyed having both players at SU up until now.)