Syracuse Football Replay: Recruiting recap and Western Michigan

Since we don’t have any current sports on the docket, and we don’t have any current iterations of NCAA Football, we’ll be continuing to play through the Syracuse Orange football season on NCAA Football 13 for the PlayStation 3.

Check out the rest of the series here.

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This week brings about a bit of an odd point in the season. While the Orange were scheduled to take on the Western Michigan Broncos, my console from eleven years ago had other ideas. Every time the game attempted to start, it would get locked up on the same screen. Of course, Google saved the season, and we can continue on, as the trick is to apparently simulate a game and then all goes back to normal. As such, there’s no major game recap, but here’s a quick recap and stats from the simmed week.

As mentioned, I couldn’t see it, but from the look of things, the Orange did something very Orange. They let a MAC team hang around when they shouldn’t. Syracuse started early, with Nykiem Johnson catching a 61-yard completion from Tommy DeVito for the opening score on the third play of the game. Unfortunately, while the defense did it’s job and got the Orange back the ball, Justin Tranquill returned a DeVito fumble 45-yards to even the score. From that point on, it was field goals for days. Andre Szmyt banged home two in the second quarter, including a 55-yarder, to give the Orange a cushion going into the half. The second half ended with a field goal each and not much else happening. The defense held the Broncos to 195 yards of total offense and ended the game victorious, the final score 16-10, Syracuse.

Coming off his Player of the Game performance against Virginia Tech, DeVito had some serious issues with the Broncos defense. He went 18-50 on the day for 229 yards, a touchdown, three interceptions and a fumble, while being sacked four times. That 36% completion percentage helped him towards a glorious 69.0 quarterback rating.

That said, Nykiem Johnson caught most of those yards, garnering this week’s Player of the Game honors. Besides the 61-yard score, he completed two other passes, for a total of 128 yards, 49 of which were YAC yards.

Weekly Stats:

Player of the Week - Nykeim Johnson - 3 Rec, 128 yards, TD

Passing - DeVito - 18/50, 229 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT, 1 Fumble, 4 sacks, 69.0 rating

Rushing - Moe Neal - 14 carries, 99 yards, 7.0 YPC

Receiving - Sean Riley - 2 Rec, 29 yards; Trishton Johnson - 5 Rec, 32 yards; Taj Harris - 3 Rec, 26 yards

Defense - Alton Robinson - 8 tackles, 4 solo, 4 TFL, 1.5 sacks; Mikel Jones - 7 tackles, 6 solo; Trill Williams - 6 tackles, 2 solo

Some final notes from the game - Scoop Bradshaw is now out three weeks with a torn pectoral muscle and Ryan Alexander has given up three of the teams six sacks through three games. Sometimes simulations can mirror reality it seems.

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On the recruiting front, it’s been an interesting few weeks. In switching the defense to the current 3-3-5 hybrid and the offense to Baylor’s (2012) playbook, it’s drastically changed by needs. Current needs as follows (as of week three recruiting being complete):

• Cornerbacks (3)
• Punter (1)
• Defensive Tackle (1)
• Center (1)

You may note one of the positions of need dropping off that wouldn’t be affected by the offense or defense changes. The Orange have their first commit for the Class of 2020, Tony Koch. Koch is a 3-star scrambling quarterback from Fair Haven, Vermont. Not a flashy get, but a solid building piece that Syracuse can now be happy we have in the fold.

There are currently two other quarterbacks looking to visit campus, Marshall Allen, a 4-star balanced passer from University Heights, Ohio, who has already had an offer extended, and Joe Paul, a 3-star balanced quarterback from New Rochelle, New York. Both have the Orange in their Top-5, so it may be possible to snag some additional passing assistance in this class.

Unfortunately Penn State sniped the hot target punter in the region, with Tyler Seward, a 3-star kid from New Jersey. Seward scouted out at “gem” status and was an 80 overall punter, coming in as a freshman. He would have been a good get, but it apparently wasn’t going to happen against Penn State.

After Koch commited and the rest of the week played out, the top of the recruiting board looks as follows heading into Week Four against Boston College.

Currently there are eight scholarships offered, including the one accounted for with the commit, Koch.

• David Tyson - 5* ATH - 72 - Interest: 3rd
• Josh Holiday - 2* DT - 60 - Interest: 3rd
• Joshua Poe - 2* T - 67 (Gem) - Interest: 1st
• Steven Johnson - 3* CB - 65 - Interest: 1st
• Trey Schroeder - 3* MLB - 70 - Interest: 1st - Visited Week 3
• Marshall Allen - 4* QB - 70 - Interest: 5th
• Zach Johnson - 3* WR - 66 - Interest: 1st

Also, four total players are ready for a visit to campus. Paul and Allen, the two quarterbacks are ready to see the Dome, as well as the tackle Poe and the DT, Holiday. The big question will be if the Orange convert.

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