Syracuse football: McNeese State transfer DE Cody Roscoe joining Orange

Fear not, Syracuse Orange fans. The graduations of Alton Robinson and Kendall Coleman have been made easier to deal with as Syracuse gets experience and talent from the transfer portal. McNeese State transfer Cody Roscoe announced today that he’s taking his talents to the Salt City.

The 6-1, 247-pound defensive lineman joins the Orange after an impressive 2019 junior campaign with the Cowboys. He ranked second on the team in both tackles for loss and sacks with 11 and nine respectively. Roscoe leaves McNeese State with 94 career tackles, 26 career tackles for loss, 16 career sacks, and four forced fumbles in three seasons. Most recently, he earned All-Southland Conference Third-Team honors after his 2019 season.

Transferring schools can be difficult, especially given current circumstances around the world, but Roscoe is used to being thrown into difficult situations. He was thrust into the starting lineup as a true freshman at McNeese state due to injuries to normal starters. Ever since, he’s started 30 games for the Cowboys.

There’s also a good connection between Roscoe and the current Syracuse coaching staff. New offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert was the head coach of McNeese State last season. While he may not be directly involved with Roscoe this year, the familiarity should help Roscoe and the current Syracuse staff get to know each other more quickly.

Roscoe wasn’t highly recruited coming out of Heights High School in Houston. He only received two starts from Rivals and 247sports with no ranking from ESPN. Roscoe also received offers from in-state schools Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word before committing to McNeese State.

Roscoe becomes the first transfer to join SU this year, and he’s needed to help fill some big shoes. Robinson and Coleman combined for 20 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in 2019. As most of you know, Robinson was selected in the 5th round of this year’s NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. While I don’t think any of us are expecting someone to immediately plug in and replicate Robinson’s production, the addition of Roscoe certainly helps to fill that void.

Though he isn’t necessarily a “grad transfer” (he’s only been in college for three seasons so far), Roscoe stands a good chance to get a waiver to play right away in 2020. McNeese State is dealing with a postseason ban this fall, so the case can be made that he’s leaving because of that limitation.

Also keep in mind that Syracuse is also still learning a new defensive scheme with Tony White’s 3-3-5 system. Many have believed that Josh Black and Kingsley Jonathan would be the starters on the edge, but Roscoe immediately puts his name in the hat as a potential starter for the upcoming season. He could also make for a pretty potent pass-rush rotation among the three players and McKinley Williams inside, should ‘Cuse look to vary looks a bit.

Welcome to Syracuse, Cody! Just one quick tip — it’s Syracuse University, not the University of Syracuse. They’re our arch rivals.

Take a look at some of Roscoe’s tape here: