Scott Shafer is super-serious about his Syracuse Orange football team captains. So serious he more or less refused to give freshman any kind of real input in the process, lest they vote for A.J. Long, Ryan Norton, Johnny Manziel and a day-old cruller.
If Shafer wanted to ensure that he got captains who were members in good standing that would be great examples for the team on and off the field, mission accomplished. (Sorry, day-old cruller).
The team recently held a vote and elected four seniors: left tackle Sean Hickey, linebacker Cam Lynch, running back Prince-Tyson Gulley and long snapper Sam Rodgers.
The first two were obvious choices given that they repped the team at media day and are expected to be NFL-worthy talents (Hickey "plays the game it's meant to be played," according to Shafer). PTG was a solid choice given everything he's been through to get here (Shafer notes that PTG was almost a captain last year). As for Rodgers, he's a surprise choice for those outside of the locker room but something tells me he's much more of a leader, especially on special teams, than we know. As Shafer notes in the video below, Rodgers is also very involved in charity and the community.