Syracuse football: Orange release depth chart vs. Colgate

At long last, we’ve arrived. It’s GAME WEEK for the Syracuse Orange football team. First up in our signs that football truly is upon us: an updated depth chart.

Full image below, followed by a breakdown of some changes in this depth chart vs. Colgate, compared to the last one of these we saw post-spring practice.

Notable switches (going from QBs down to special teams):

Offense

• Jamal Custis moves up to the first outside receiver spot, behind Steve Ishmael. He was previous at the second outside receiver position.
• With only three WR spots here and four in the previous depth chart, there needed to be some shifts. One major one is Ervin Philips taking the first (and seemingly only) slot receiver position, with Brisly Estime relieving him.
• Amba Etta-Tawo takes the other outside receiver role, with Alvin Cornelius backing up him. This makes a lot of sense given Etta-Tawo’s performance this summer.
• Cody Conway officially supplanted Michael Lasker as the starting left tackle. Lasker shifts to the right side behind Jamal McGloster.
• Freshman Sam Heckel is now the backup center behind Jason Emerich.

Defense

• Chris Slayton moves from defensive tackle to end, as alluded to in recent practices. Jake Pickard sits behind him there.
• In arguably the biggest surprise of all, freshman Kendall Coleman will start at the other defensive end spot, with De’Jon Wilson listed after. Originally, it was assumed that Pickard and potentially Kenneth Ruff would start out the gate, so surprising to see neither atop the two-deep (and Ruff completely off it).
• With Slayton switched to end, Steven Clark is now starting alongside Kayton Samuels as the two tackles.
• Seeing Kielan Whitner starting at strong safety with no sign of Rodney Williams likely means Williams’s injury is keeping him out of week one.

Special teams

• One interesting shift moves Philips to primary kick return duties, while Estime keeps punt returns. Fielding punts was Estime’s stronger suit, so it’s no surprise to see the change to a different player on kicks. What IS surprising is that both primary return men are both receivers that’ll receive a lot of playing time on offense already.

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Anything else that shocks or amazes on this week’s depth chart? While this is kept to a two-deep, Babers has already said that lots of players will receive playing time as he cycles bodies in and out to account for the increased pace of his system. So it’s a strong possibility that we go well past this list at positions like wide receiver and tight end.

Colgate’s just a few days away! #BrushGate