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Lots to catch up on from day one of the 2014 ACC Kickoff. Syracuse Orange players Sean Hickey and Cameron Lynch were on hand to try and let people know what SU has to offer in the coming season. Let's see how they did...
First of all, how close did Sean Hickey come to leaving SU for the NFL this past off-season? Pretty damn close.
It was not easy turning down the opportunity to enter the draft, Hickey said, and he said if he was projected as a surefire second- or third-round pick, "you probably wouldn't be talking to me today."
INSERT 'GET A DEGREE' RHETORIC HERE.
What's great about the offensive line that Hickey returned to is that it might just be the deepest SU has had in years.
"Right now I think we have three starting guards," Hickey said Sunday here at the 2014 ACC Football Kickoff. "Omari (Palmer), he's got to beat out a two-year starter or a one-year starter. That's tough to do. It really is. It's a good situation for the team. Individually for one of them, it might not be a good situation."
Cam Lynch's word of the day? Okie. As in the Okie package, which features three linemen, five DBs and allows linebackers to blitz more often.
"If you lose a third-round draft pick defensive tackle, what you do is during passing downs you get in the Okie and you just blitz more," Lynch said at the ACC Football Kickoff on Sunday. "Have somebody cover up the middle, have the same defensive ends that we've had all year and blitz the linebackers more. Do it that way."
Florida State's Jameis Winston and North Carolina's Marquise Williams are considered two of the top QBs in the league and both spent time with SU's Terrel Hunt at the Manning Passing Academy. Both had high praise for the young signal-caller and his work ethic.
"I can see that he's willing to work," Williams said of Hunt." One time I didn't text him until I was going to work out, and he was already there."
