Syracuse cornerback Juwan Dowels will transfer from football program

The Syracuse Orange lose their third defensive back of the offseason now, with cornerback Juwan Dowels announcing he will pursue a graduate transfer opportunity. He posted about the decision on Instagram this weekend, as captured by Syracuse.com’s Stephen Bailey.

Dowels played in 10 games in 2017, tallying 25 tackles and one tackle for loss, while also defending a couple passes and pulling down an interception as well. He’d missed nearly all of 2016 following an injury against Louisville. When he returned this past offseason, however, Scoop Bradshaw and Christopher Fredrick had largely taken over the cornerback roles for SU.

Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

While he was still a significant contributor this year, Dowels’s situation is similar to that of the other three Orange players to announce transfers since the season came to a close. Cordell Hudson will also seek a grad transfer opportunity, and Daivon Ellison will transfer as well and sit out a season. On the defensive line, Kayton Samuels will also look for a grad transfer chance to play one more year.

As mentioned in the Samuels piece as well this morning, you can’t blame any of these guys for seeking chances elsewhere with diminished playing time. Syracuse is lucky in the secondary, in that there’s considerable depth there from recent/current recruiting, even with the departures.

Best of luck to Juwan and the other former Orange players, wherever they may end up next.