Syracuse vs. Rhode Island Depth Chart Features Two New Starters

Just as soon as I wrote about this week's updated depth chart, Syracuse went and released it's new and improved depth chart for the upcoming game against the Rhode Island Rams.

The biggest takeaway is that walk-on senior Seamus Shanley will be the starting right guard instead of assumed starter RF Aaron Roberts. According to Shafer, it came down to actual performance.

"He played better than the other guys who were competing at that position," Shafer said during a press conference Saturday afternoon. "Early in camp, we were like, 'Boy, he's playing pretty good,' and then day after day after day, his consistency was really high."

The Wesy Genny product (GTNAO profile here) who is the son of student-favorite DPS officer Joe Shanley, hasn't seen much playing time in his career to this date, but he's clearly made an impact during camp. That's a lot of hard work paying off...

Never give up on your dreams

— Seamus Shanley (@scshanle) August 29, 2015

The other new starter on the depth chart is Corey Winfield, who beat out Wayne Morgan for one of the starting CB spots. The former wide receiver might have gotten the job due to "splitting hairs" according to Shafer and he still expects to see all of the corners compete. Consider this a battle to be continued.

The Kendall Moore offensive line experiment appears to be dead and buried. The former tight end was moved to O-line at the beginning of the offseason and then back to tight end during fall camp and now he's 2nd on the depth chart there. That shifts Cameron MacPherson down a spot on the chart.

That battle for No. 2 between Austin Wilson and Eric Dungey appears to be ongoing as they've both been listed as the backup quarterback in an "OR" situation. Of course the imminent return of AJ Long to the mix will muddy those waters further. Let's just hope it's not a situation we have to deal with (again).

Ron Thompson is included as the starter, though that doesn't necessarily mean he's playing. Luke Arciniega is the No. 2 at that DE spot.

Cole Murphy retains his job as kicker on field goals and extra points but Ryan Norton will handle kickoffs.

Brisly Estime and Ervin Phillips are your go-to guys for both kick returns and punt returns. Brisly also maintains his spot atop the WR depth chart with Steve Ishmael.

Some other freshmen that are notably included on the two-deep: LT Cody Conway, DE Qaadir Shepard, DT Steven Clark, CB Cordell Hudson, SS Keilan Whitner and LS Matt Keller. There's also transfer newbieTed Taylor, who will back up Parris Bennett at the strong side linebacker spot.

Meanwhile, Scott Shafer met with the local press to discuss the depth chart as well as some final thoughts before the team went into Rhode Island Week. Big on everyone's mind...what SU will do this season to avoid last season's results:

"Everybody in this room and everybody on our team could go down and put damn near the same things down," Shafer said.

"We all want to play more than 12 games. We all want to fight toward a championship. We all want to put good numbers up on offense and defense. But at the end of the day, so many times you look too far forward, in my opinion, (it was) a mistake I made last year, and you don't stay true to what's most important and that's just simply getting better everyday."