2013 Syracuse Football Camp: Day One Recap

Day one of the 2013 Syracuse Orange football camp is in the books. Let's see what we all learned...

Coaches

Scott Shafer is many things, but a person who takes things too seriously is not one of them:

"Let me guess," Shafer said. "You guys want to know how the defensive back battle’s going, right? Is that the first question?"

So what is it like for the lifetime assistant to finally get a chance to coach an entire football team as the head honcho?

"It’s a blast," Shafer said. "It’s so different. It’s different because for 22 years I was just chasing those same kids around on defense and in the secondary."

"It’s kind of eye-opening to me because there’s opportunities to watch some kids I barely get to watch on the offensive side of the ball."

One person who wasn't having such a fantastic time out there was Mr. Athletic Performance himself, Will Hicks...

"That’s horsesh*t," Syracuse assistant athletics director for athletic performance Will Hicks bellowed at the team while stretching. "It’s the first day and you guys are moping out here."

I hope he meant "to mope" and not "to mop" because I would be extremely concerned if any of our guys instinctively started cleaning up during stretching.

QB

Drew Allen this and Drew Allen that. Guess what? Terrel Hunt is your No. 1 quarterback right here and right now. Deal with it. Until, that is, you don't have to anymore.

That said, Allen continued to look the part with his large frame and command of the basics. Nothing too flashy so far but it's looking like a two-man battle for the job.

Charley Loeb remains Ridiculously Good Looking.

OL

Here's some video of Sean Hickey and Rob Trudo working on their blocking, courtesy of Syracuse.com:

DB

The gold star of the day went to Julian Whigham. The DB so impressed Coach Shafer that got a special call-out, and a notice for all of the people ahead of him on the depth chart.

"Julian Whigham made a hell of an interception down the sideline, and I was really pleased to see that." Shafer said, "so he’s putting some heat on Ri’Shard (Anderson) and Keon Lyn, as well as Brandon Reddish."

Durell Eskridge has some big shoes and big hits to fill now that Shamarko Thomas is gone. He's taking what #SHAMARKO taught him and applying it to his game...

"One thing he always told me was to work, work harder than everybody," Eskridge said. "Work until you can't feel your hands and feet, as he would always say."

ST

Das Boot Ross Krautman might have had his "worst" season last year but he's still got a firm grip on the starting kicker job. Scott Shafer basically said so.

"I think Ross is definitely the established placekicker for us," Shafer said. "Competition, we always want to invite that competition. But I think Ross -- he's the guy."

I like that even though he's a coach and he has to keep the playing field level, Scott Shafer doesn't bulls*** for the sake of bulls****ing. If something's obvious, he just says it.