Syracuse Football: QB Rex Culpepper Healthy, Will Participate in Spring Practice

When the Syracuse Orange football team begins spring practice, it appears they'll have their full depth chart of quarterbacks ready to go. As Syracuse.com's Stephen Bailey reported on Friday, freshman QB Rex Culepper will be a full participant, according to his dad. Culpepper missed his senior season at Plant High School (Tampa, Fla.) after tearing his ACL in July, but he's been throwing and running well during winter workouts at SU.

Culpepper will be one of five Syracuse quarterbacks in spring camp, even if the program manages to add a surprise quarterback to the 2016 class (unlikely at the moment). Culpepper is one of two freshman -- the other being preferred walk-on Tyler Gilfus -- taking spring snaps. Incumbent starter Eric Dungey also returns, as do Austin Wilson and walk-on Zack Mahoney. Kenterius Womack could potentially move back to the quarterback position (he played wide receiver and defensive back last year), but we'll have to wait and see on that shift.

Obviously Dungey is the odds-on starter right now, but with a new offensive scheme and entirely new staff under Dino Babers, it's tough to simply make assumptions of anything -- even the electrifying QB's place on the depth chart. Spring practice will start giving us glimpses of which members of the team are adjusting quickly to the new pace and tempo Babers is installing.

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For those that may have forgotten what Culpepper brings to the table, he's a 3-star pro-style QB that tossed 20 touchdowns and threw for over 2,000 yards in 2014 for Plant. Former Orange offensive coordinator Tim Lester developed a strong relationship with him during the recruiting process, which allowed SU to win his services over "bigger" offers like Ohio State, Florida and Clemson, among others. His father, Brad Culpepper, played defensive tackle at Florida and spent nine seasons in the NFL. Rex's recruitment also brought along safety Scoop Bradshaw, who was not an early enrollee but has been a long-time member of the 2016 class.