Syracuse Football: Jake Moreland Hired as TE Coach, Acosta Moved to WRs

In the end, Scott Shafer didn't hire a new wide receivers coach to replace George McDonald.

Instead, Shafer did something we thought he might do, moving second-year assistant Bobby Acosta from tight ends to wide receivers and then hiring Jake Moreland as the team's new TE coach.

You're never going to believe this but Moreland and Shafer previously coached together in the MAC. That seems so unlike him.

So who is Jake Moreland? Well, he played football for the Western Michigan Broncos, leaving with the school reception record for a TE (143). After briefly playing for the Jets and Browns in the NFL, he started his coaching career in 2004 at St. Joseph's College as a special teams coordinator and offensive assistant. At the end of that season, he returned to WMU, where he coached tight ends. While there, he crossed paths with DC Scott Shafer ('05 - '06) and QB Coach Tim Lester ('05 - '06). They moved on but Moreland stayed with the Broncos for seven seasons before heading to Air Force, where he's been coaching tight ends for the past three seasons.

The hire allows Acosta to move to the position he's used to coaching. He was a WR coach at two previous schools before coming to SU.

Is it the right move? It's the obvious move, for sure. Shafer continues to value personal relationships highly (perhaps too highly?) and the fact that Moreland has worked with both him and Lester made him the most likely target in retrospect. Moreland obviously has recruiting ties to the Midwest, though quite a few other SU coaches have that as well.

What it does mean is that Scott Shafer isn't going to change his hiring strategy as he heads into critical Year 3. For better or worse. Recruiting-wise, the big question for SU now is how in the heck are we gonna get any Florida recruits? But maybe we've got other things to worry about. Give Coach Moreland a follow on Twitter and start wondering what, if anything, the hire means for Syracuse Orange football.