Syracuse football: DB Chase Atkinson enters transfer portal, per report

While we wait to hear who the Syracuse Orange football program will add during Wednesday’s early signing period, the transfer portal remains active... in the wrong direction.

According to a report from 247Sports’ Stephen Bailey, defensive back Chase Atkinson is the latest Orange player to enter the portal. He’ll have several years of eligibility left, wherever he winds up since he didn’t appear in any games during the 2020 or 2021 seasons.

Atkinson is just the latest departure in a long line of them dating back to the start of the 2021 season, but also the last weeks or so, too. Wide receiver Sharod Johnson entered the portal in the last week, as did walk-on defensive back John Sweetwood. And while we already knew he was no longer with the program, Bailey also reported that Ben Labrosse had officially entered the portal as well.

With Atkinson gone, Syracuse is down to 59 scholarship players by my count, and that’s before we know anything of pending draft decisions (for Garrett Williams and Mikel Jones, in particular) and additional transfers out.

Hopefully the staff has a plan here. Because things are increasingly not looking great as the roster once again looks to lack depth and continuity heading into a new season in 2022.