Syracuse football: Wagner depth chart has some linebacker swaps and other tweaks

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Depth charts in the Dino Babers era as head coach of the Syracuse Orange tend to be reflective rather than projecting. This week is no different. After the last minute 22-20 win against the Virginia Cavaliers, Coach Babers released a depth chart that pretty well mirrored what we saw out on the field. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. There was a bit of a wrinkle in the linebackers though.

Derek McDonald is still listed as the starting Sam backer, so it’s probably safe to say the injury that kept him out against Virginia isn’t a season ender. That said, he now has a new backup listed behind him and listed as an “OR”, in Anwar Sparrow. This could mean McDonald is out again this week, or it could just be what we saw on the field because of the injury.

Prior on the depth chart, Sparrow was listed as the Will, behind Marlowe Wax. He has swapped with Leon Lowery who was previously listed as the backup in that slot. Either way both got run this past weekend, so it’s a bit of a moot point, but it looks like Sparrow is the first man in at the outside linebacker positions.

Offensively, we didn’t mention the two-deep, but with Isaiah Jones going down, Umari Hatcher and D’Marcus Adams are listed as the “OR” backup to Damien Alford for both UVA week and this week against Wagner.

Also of note with the Terry Lockett injury (confirmed today to be season ending knee), Kevon Darton has assumed that slot in the ones. His backup is now Elijah Fuentes-Cundiff, the redshirt freshman from the Bronx. This blow at least comes at a ripe time to get both Darton and Fuentes-Cundiff snaps against Wagner this week.

On a special teams note, Mike Midkiff is back to being the backup holder from James Williams, who was listed last week. Midkiff was the holder last week when Justin Barron was tossed for targeting.