Syracuse football: Offensive tackle Willie Tyler decommits

Transfer from Texas, Willie Tyler officially decommited from the Syracuse Orange football team last Friday afternoon. Tyler, the 6-foot-7, 335 lb. offensive lineman, originally committed to the Orange on April 8, 2021. He shared the decommit similarly to his commitment in a twitter post, below:

Tyler was originally recruited and offered by former offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh, who left Syracuse for a job with the Arizona State Sundevils. Even with Cavanaugh moving on, Tyler reportedly spoke numerous times with Syracuse staff, including new line coach Mike Schmidt before committing in April. He was rated as a three star defensive tackle out of high school, before attending Garden City Community College and Iowa Western Community College prior to his transfer to Texas.

The starting five for Syracuse all return to the program this season. The addition of newly eligible Florida transfer Chris Bleich and JUCO Jakob Bradford, as well as a full season and offseason of development, will lead to some competition along the line.

Tyler’s decommit leaves the Orange carrying 14 upperclassmen and 5 freshmen offensive lineman and the aforementioned JuCo transfer Bradford. That’s still a large number of bodies in the trenches and should bode well for the depth and development along the line. Also of note, for the first time in a few years, all signs point to a healthy unit.