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

Name: Josh Black

Position: Defensive end

Year: Redshirt Senior

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 277

Hometown: Loves Park, Ill.

High School: Harlem

2019 stats: Started every game at nose tackle for the Orange after splitting snaps with McKinley Williams his sophomore year. Black had 39 tackles, including four sacks on the year and blocked a kick.

2020 projections: With Bear back and healthy inside, it looks like Black is moved out the the starting defensive end role in the 3-3-5. This end role plays as a bit of a hybrid end/three-technique role, which should fit someone who has played both traditional tackle and end through the course of his career.

How’d he get here?: Black was being recruited by Minnesota, Illinois, Bowling Green, Ball State and Toledo before heading to Syracuse.

What’d recruiting sites say?: 247Sports and Rivals both had Black with three-stars during the recruiting process.

Money Quote: Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com profiled Black last season, where Josh dropped this gem —

“I never really wanted to be a college football player,” Black said. “Sports wasn’t a goal of mine growing up. I just kind of played sports because it was a big family background of mine. I didn’t want to let my parents down.”

Twitter feed: @jnblack85

Tweets of wonder: Josh had some spare time with that whole pandemic thing, so he decided to go all Assassin’s Creed, per his replies.

What movie would Dino recommend for him?: Not sure how big Dino is on Pixar films, but yet another gem from them is Inside Out, featuring Lewis Black as Anger, go figure...

Interesting nugget o’interest: Black’s father Leon Black played football for the University of Wisconsin-Superior at the Division III level.

Let’s get a look at ya: