Syracuse football: A first live look at spring practice.

So far this spring the Syracuse Orange football team has been fully behind closed doors. There have been some snippets of pictures and the interviews with the coordinators, which were great, but overall it seems that mum has been the word around the camp. Until today, we hadn’t seen any footage of the spring at all. Then Syracuse went and sent out a 53 second cut package of highlights, that of course started the hype train rolling.

Since we have a “trailer,” we’re going to break it down like a trailer. Frame. By. Frame. So here you go. Also with a lack of updated roster and quick camera cuts, bear with me on any misidentifications.

• 0:00 - As you should, the trailer starts on the offensive line, getting a good look at Dakota Davis going into a stance. Also, with the amount of metal he’s carrying we may have to start calling him Iron Man or War Machine.
• 0:03 - Cut to Jarveon Howard being congratulated and back in pads. Good to see the return.
• 0:04 - Pan Sean Tucker, because he’s Sean Tucker. Ladies and Gentlemen, there’s your running backs... we’ll see more later.
• 0:05 - Trying to match up tattoos because we can’t rely on numbers, that looks to be Kevon Darton, of the defensive line getting ready to go.
• 0:06 - Action opens up with a pass to Courtney Jackson down the sideline, and then another cut to a grab by him down the other sideline.
• 0:11 - Dillon Markeiwicz sighting, handing off to Howard, who is swallowed up by the defense after a couple. Looks to be with the second unit line, getting shots of Josh Ilaoa and Anthony Red and Garth Barklay in there. Can’t tell who 90 is who makes the tackle thanks to the roster status.
• 0:15 - Jacobian Morgan opens up to Stephen Mahar over the middle. You had me at tight end action.
• 0:20 - Markeiwicz to Mahar isn’t as pretty as it’s read by the DBs and a nice hit is made by what appears to be redshirt sophomore John Sweetwood, Leon Lowery and Kyle Strickland also in pursuit.
• 0:23 - Morgan tosses a pick six from a rough spot to what looks to be Justin Barron (#23) still on the defensive unit this year.
• 0:27 - Garrett Shrader hands off to Tucker and takes it to the house. Tucker looks to be making strong cuts and running vertical as was seen last year. Also, he had some holes that a truck could have driven through which is nice. He makes one cut and then just runs past whoever on defense is adopting the number three now.
• 0:30 - A good look at a block on Leon Lowery that we can’t tell who is blocking thanks to the fact that all numbers in the 90s seem to be placekickers or transferred.
• 0:32 - Cooper Lutz returns to us in the form of making cuts, making a few folks including Strickland miss and a beautiful spin move out of the Anwar Sparrow/Sweetwood sandwich for a nice gain. A stiff arm at the end to boot.
• 0:37 - Howard goes full Forrest Gump and just keeps running...
• 0:39 - Nice low pass pickup by Lutz.
• 0:41 - Shrader over the top to what looks to be Ethan Fischler (#20), for the score over the middle. Nice pass and catch. Followed by the celebration and a big ole jumping chest bump with Damien Alford.
• 0:47 - Geoff Cantin-Arku runs with the ball and his hand in the air. Seems like he did something good.
• 0:51 - Block S...

We may not have been able to glean a lot from the footage, but it’s good to see film. There were some names we’re not necessarily accustomed to that showed up and one big one missing was Tommy DeVito. Not sure whether that was concious to keep him under wraps, which is a distinct possibility with Coach Babers and the way he keeps things tight to the vest.