Get to Know Your Orange Man: #85, DL Josh Black

Name: Josh Black

Position: Defensive line

Year: (Redshirt) Sophomore

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 288

Hometown: Loves Park, Ill.

High School: Harlem

2017 Stats: Played in the first four games of the Syracuse Orange’s season before losing the rest of the year to injury. He tallied eight tackles, including five against Central Connecticut. Black also had two tackles for loss vs. MTSU.

2018 projections: It appears Black will be healthy and ready to go for Syracuse this fall, but for right now, that’s likely in a reserve role. He came to Syracuse as a defensive end, but has added some weight (31 pounds since last offseason) and is now primarily a tackle. Perhaps he provides some relief for Chris Slayton and/or McKinley Williams there.

How’d he get here? He received the usual big MAC offers, but his home state school Illinois seemed to appeal most to him, earning a commitment. But a late visit to Syracuse in January of his senior year flipped him to the Orange.

What’d recruiting sites say?: Three star rating all around, and top-70 or so pass-rusher in the class.

Money quote: Slayton, arguably Syracuse’s best defensive player, sees some great potential in Black at tackle this year:

“His athleticism is helping him out. He has a good get-off, he’s strong, he’s tough. He’s going to be a special 3-technique.”

Twitterfeed: @JBlk85

Tweets of wonder: Intriguing question for Disney/Pixar’s “Cars,” which probably exists in a post-human hellscape version of the world, if some theories are to be believed.

What movie would Dino Babers recommend for him? Dino may not be a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (I don’t know if he is... can someone ask him?), but he’d still tell Josh to watch “Black Panther.” It’s a great superhero film with a good villain for once. You also don’t need to see the other MCU films to understand most of what’s happening here.

Interesting Nugget O’Interest: Black didn’t really want to play sports for a long time, and more started with football because of his family’s experience with the game. His dad played, as did his brother, Benjamin Black. Ben’s an assistant coach with Robert Morris today after playing four years at RMU.

Let’s get a good look at ya: