Syracuse 2013 Football Camp: Last Practice Before Fort Drum

The Syracuse Orange football team is about to make their annual trip to Fort Drum to build camraderie and give Scott Shafer reasons to say awesome things:

"You get a chance to sit next to a guy that's defending our country," said Shafer, who had an uncle and cousin die while on duty, "a guy that's dodging bullets not hits, a guy that's over there in the mountains for nine months fighting the good fight to give us an opportunity to have a blast and go get a Dairy Queen.

"We owe it to them to get off the bus and bust our ass," Shafer said. "So if those guys get an hour to come out and watch us practice, I want them to be able to say, 'You know what? They're not dodging bullets, but God doggit they frickin' play their ass off.'"

That's one frickin', one God doggit and two "ass" for those keeping score.

(By the way, we've now heard Shafer utter "God doggit" and "Doggone it." This season just gets more exciting)

Before they go bust their asses at Ft. Drum, let's find out what busting their asses at SU earned them...

QB

WR John Kinder is the first person associated with the team to basically admit the QB spot is a two-man race. Kinder also said of his change to WR, "I did this change to get on the field."

Terrel Hunt worked with the first-team while Drew Allen worked with the second-team. Take it as you will.

Shafer actually mentioned his two freshman QBs, Mitch Kimble and Austin Wilson, making a rather bold statement:

"I really like our two freshman quarterbacks," Shafer said. "I wouldn’t lose sleep if I had to get one ready to be honest with you."

WR

Quinta Funderburk was MIA from practice Monday, sparking some mini-concern online. However, it sounds like it's just an injury issue.

TE

Nate Mink noticed that freshman P.J. Batten is also getting some reps with the wide recievers.

OL

LG Rob Trudo was on the field during practice but did not participate in any contact drills. Omari Palmer stepped into his starting role.

DL

Tyler Marona missed practice due to some kind of injury.

Isaiah Johnson continues to impress and even got a call-out from Shafer...

"There’s some guys that are knocking at the door," head coach Scott Shafer said, "and (Johnson’s) one of them."

LB

Josh Kirkland was on the field during practice but did not participate in any contact drills.

Shafer mentioned freshman linebacker Marqez Hodge, noting that "he's just knocking people out" on the field.

DB

Josh Mims and Joe Stanard missed practice due to some kind of injury.