Unfortunately, the Syracuse Orange won’t see Antwan Cordy on the field again in 2017.
The safety, who’s a redshirt junior this year, posted a message on Instagram to announce that he’d spend the rest of 2017 rehabbing from a hairline fracture in his leg suffered against Central Connecticut.
He said:
"I made up in my mind before I stepped in the doctor's office, no matter what the outcome was, I wasn't giving up. I wasn't quitting, I wasn't stopping. That's not my pedigree, that's not who I am so I'm not gone even entertain it. No one said this road was gone be easy. So I decided to keep rehabbing and not come back this year of (the) 2017 season. But just know I'ma work and come back better and stronger. Just another setback on something greatness coming."
The original timeline for return was the Clemson game, but he did not progress to the point where he could jump back in. With four games to go, and the potential to apply for a medical redshirt for a sixth year of eligibility, the upside of him returning this year had decreased to a point where this made far more sense for his career — whether he could have actually returned this year or not.
It’s been a very difficult two years for Cordy, who’s played in less than two full games since the start of 2016. He broke his forearm in the second game against Louisville last season and missed the remainder of the year.
In some ways, this is a similar situation to Terrel Hunt’s following 2015, when he was looking for a sixth year to make up for the injuries that shortened both his 2014 and 2015 campaigns. However, Cordy has played in fewer games than Hunt, which increases his ability to get that sixth season.
Though Syracuse has still been getting burned deep here and there, the secondary has performed reasonably well without him in 2017 — after falling apart in 2016. They’ve also been assisted by a renewed pass rush (something that wasn’t there last season).
We wish Cordy the best of luck in recovery, and we’ll see him next year.