Syracuse football releases week 2 depth chart vs. Middle Tennessee

After more than a season with Dino Babers as the Syracuse Orange head football coach, we should be used to depth chart updates providing little “new” information. That’s not a knock on the coach. But rather, just a fact of the closely guarded nature of the program under his stewardship.

The trend continued this week when the Orange released the week two depth chart for this Saturday’s matchup with the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. Most notably, we still don’t know the extent of free safety Antwan Cordy’s injury. The redshirt junior left the game in the first half after dealing with what appeared to be a serious leg issue. He had a boot and crutches at the conclusion of the game.

Given the blowout win, it’s no surprise to see so few changes from last week to this one. The only alterations:

• “OR” making an appearance at free safety between Cordy and Jordan Martin
• Josh Black and Brandon Berry also getting an “OR” at defensive end
• Nykeim Johnson sharing kickoff duties with Sean Riley after a strong opener

Obviously the free safety spot rests on the Cordy update. But even if he’s able to go, you should see plenty of Martin. The Toledo grad transfer collected three tackles in relief of Cordy on Friday night.

Punt return duties have been handed over to Sean Riley, with Steve Ishmael backing him up there. Riley returned four punts for five yards — his long was 11 yards -- but also displayed an inability to exhibit the right judgment calls on fair catches (took several unnecessarily big hits instead of taking the fair catch). Perhaps Nykeim Johnson gets a look here as well.

The “OR” for Black is actually incredibly surprising, since the sophomore tied for the lead in both total tackles (five) and tackles for loss (one) in Friday’s win. Berry had just one tackle in the game.

Any other surprising developments?