Syracuse releases depth chart vs. Maryland (plus Dino Babers press conference)

When the Syracuse Orange take on the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday, the Orange and Head Coach Dino Babers will be taking on their second team with a new head coach/philosophy in as many weeks. That’s an additional challenge to playing on the road for the second week to open the season, and so consistency with the first team will be a huge key to the Orange’s success. Looks like that will mostly be the case this weekend.

Some notes from Dino Babers about the depth chart from his press conference:

• Sam Heckel has an upper body injury. No elaboration from Dino on whether that rules him out of Saturday’s contest or not.
• McKinley Williams won’t be playing this Saturday. When pressed about his status beyond week 2, Dino was cagey, saying he wouldn’t comment on anything, beyond that the defensive lineman is progressing where they expect him to be.
• Senior running back Otto Zaccardo has been awarded a scholarship. Dino called out his work on special teams specifically.

Not related to the depth chart, but naturally plenty of questions dancing around the fact that the defense and special teams look solid, while the offense looked a bit of a mess. Babers had a bunch of coach speak quotes around it all, but two tidbits stood out. First, he said only Sean Riley missed time this summer/fall with the first team special teams unit. Similarly, the defense had a ton of consistency in camp, while the offense saw players coming in and out. Babers said the timing needs worked on and will come together with reps.

Secondly, Dino said that if you told him he’d have a team with excellent special teams and a strong defense, but offense was what needed work, he’d take that challenge. I tend to think Dino has it covered.