Spring practice starts on Sunday for the Syracuse Orange football program, and ahead of that, we’ve gotten our first look at the two-deep depth chart.
Syracuse.com’s Stephen Bailey posts some initial observations:
Thread: Syracuse football has released its spring depth chart. Some quick notes:
— Stephen Bailey (@Stephen_Bailey1) March 2, 2019
OL Airon Servais is listed as RT1 with rFr. Carlos Vettorello penciled in as the other tackle.
Transfer WR Trishton Jackson, RB Abdul Adams will need to earn starting jobs
Tyrell Richards @ LB pic.twitter.com/T9gSLPKd2b
And our thoughts on the offensive and defensive adjustments:
Offense
- Clayton Welch at least begins spring as the backup QB (we’ll see if Rex Culpepper ends up slotting in ahead of him at some point)
- Jarveon Howard and Abdul Adams get the “OR” at second-string running back
- Cameron Jordan gets an “OR” with Sharod Johnson at one of the two outside receiver spots (no Russell Thompson-Bishop, however)
- Trishton Jackson begins sitting behind Sean Riley at inside receiver
- Sam Heckel takes over at center, with (starting center) Airon Servais shifting out to right tackle
- Dakota Davis (left guard) and Carlos Vettorello (left tackle) are new listed starters; walk-on Austin Chandler is the reserve left guard right now
- January arrival Anthony Red gets himself on the two-deep (no former four-star Qadir White, however)
Defense
- Josh Black now starting at nose tackle
- We’re back to a 4-2-5 alignment, which Syracuse announced right before last season and then switched back and forth from during the year depending on opponents
- Andrew Armstrong is slated as starting weakside linebacker, with Lakiem Williams listed as the middle linebacker
- Tyrell Richards, who spent some time as a linebacker and edge rusher in 2018, sits behind Armstrong
- Trill Williams is the starting nickel corner, as one may have expected (Antwan Cordy served that role at various times last year — it’s TBD whether he’ll return for his sixth year)
- Adrian Cole, who just arrived in January, is listed as a backup cornerback
- Carl Jones is currently manning one of the two starting cornerback spots (Scoop Bradshaw is injured) — slightly surprised that Ifeatu Melifonwu wasn’t listed as the starter given what we saw from him briefly last year
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Certainly more updates to come. Check out Stephen Bailey’s feed for some other nuggets around weight increases/decreases, etc.