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It's week two of Syracuse spring football, and as always, there's news of varying degrees of importance. Syracuse.com's Stephen Bailey has his big takeaways from yesterday, which you should definitely check out. But for us, what were the most important nuggets learned from Scott Shafer and staff (and players)?
This one we've already discussed. It's not revelatory, necessarily, but still big news this early that the QB position is settled enough with Terrel Hunt to just give Long the shirt now. This falls right in line with the original plan on Long, of course, but you'd have to think he would have at least gotten a shot at competing this spring.
Ryan Sloan's playing career is over
Sloan has always been an enigma since arriving on campus, and his play has never been all that consistent. And of course, we all remember his role in last November's Boston College fight. According to Scott Shafer, Sloan is graduating in May now, which deals another blow to already-slim defensive tackle depth.
Rob Trudo has a high ankle sprain
And of course, what's spring practice without a disconcerting injury? Last week, we'd mentioned that Trudo was getting some early reps at center, and the overall sentiment was that the O-line was better with him at that position. Well, now we get to figure out how they'll manage without him for a few days, since that appears to be the timetable for him to return to practice. This isn't a huge blow, per se, if it's only a couple days. But given the injuries all across the line last season, and Trudo's own missed time with a dreaded "lower-body injury" in 2014, this certainly doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy.
Jamal Custis and Antwan Cordy could make bigger impact this fall
Shafer has been complimentary of these two since before they even arrived on campus as freshman last year, and it looks like the same is true for this season as well. While Custis got some early reps at tight end in 2014 before being pushed down the depth chart, Cordy saw time toward the end of the season as injuries took their toll on the secondary. Both will very much be in the mix for starting gigs this year, and strong showings in spring could do a lot for them in that regard.
No more running back-by-committee
We discussed bits of this yesterday, and it's good to see that the staff understands how much last year's setup didn't work. Right now, there are two backs -- George Morris II and Devante McFarlane -- and it's highly likely those two receive the lion's share of carries. We thought similar things with Prince-Tyson Gulley and one of either Adonis Ameen-Moore, Morris or McFarlane last year, but obviously that never came to fruition. This season should do much more to establish a rhythm for running backs and allow both returning rushers to be more involved in the overall offensive scheme.
Recruiting already ramping up for 2016
As you've likely noticed over on @NunesRecruiting, the Syracuse staff is hard at work already attracting kids for 2016. Offers are out to some, and there are plenty more to go. But good to see the Orange once again getting interest in on talented kids early. After a couple years of this, now it's time to really close the deal, though, and bring home those big talents we're regularly among the first to notice.
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And there are your updates for the week -- unless something else happens outside of regular media availability. Again, nothing earth-shattering, but still some news worth looking at nonetheless. Spring football is cranking along swimmingly, it seems. But we'll see how things look closer toward the spring game when fans are going to be pining for at least some results to show a change from 2014.