Get to Know Your Orange Man: #99, DE Jake Pickard

Name: Jake Pickard

Position: Defensive end

Year: (Redshirt) Junior

Height: 6’5”

Weight: 252

Hometown: Short Hills, N.J.

High School: Millburn

2017 Stats: Played in one game, versus Boston College, but did not record any statistics.

2018 Projections: Pickard potentially works his way into the Syracuse Orange’s rotation as a reserve defensive end, assuming he’s healthy. Health has been the biggest problem for him and it’s kept him out quite a bit since he arrived at SU. It also prevented him from getting onto the spring two-deep depth chart. Hopefully he’s 100-percent this summer.

How’d He Get Here?: Gary Andersen had convinced Pickard to come aboard, but then Andersen left for Oregon State and Pickard felt he needed to move on too. He flipped to Syracuse, where he was interested earlier in the recruiting process, over offers from schools like Michigan, Boston College, Louisville, Nebraska and Oregon (among others).

What’d Recruiting Sites Say?: Three stars from everyone!

Money Quote: Pickard spoke about Scott Shafer and his staff when they won him over late in the 2015 recruiting process: “I was just like, ‘Wow, these guys love each other. Not only do they love the game, love the university, they are a family.”

Twitterfeed: @jspickard99

Tweets Of Wonder: Positive vibes coming from Pickard after surgery this offsesaon.

What movie would Dino Babers recommend for him?: We’ve mentioned this before, but it’s tough to avoid the Captain Picard references in Star Trek films.

Interesting Nugget O’Interest: Pickard is not the first person in his family to play college football. His father, Andy, played for Ball State before his career was cut short by injury.

Let’s Get A Good Look Atcha: