Get to Know Your Orange Man: #10, QB Braden Davis

It’s time to start preparing for the upcoming Syracuse Orange football season. We’re going through the roster to take a look at each Syracuse player as we get ready for a critical season for the Orange.

Up next is….

Name: Braden Davis

Position: Quarterback

Year: Freshman

Height: 6’5”

Weight: 200 lbs

Hometown: Middletown, DE

High School/Previous College: Middletown High (University of South Carolina)

2022 stats: Davis took a redshirt year in 2022 but was stellar as a high school senior two years ago with 1,872 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns and a 73% completion rate (114/156 on passes). He also ran the ball 46 times for 638 yards and three touchdowns on his road to winning Gatorade Player of the Year in Delaware.

2023 projections: With Garrett Shrader entering this season as the presumed starter and Carlos Del Rio-Wilson backing him up, Davis will likely not get much playing time this upcoming season. However, his potential as an athletic, dual-threat quarterback is hard to shy away from - especially once you factor in how recruitment rankings, the number of SEC teams who went after him and the fit within the Orange’s offensive system. Here’s to hoping he can step up as a starter in 2024.

How’d he get here?: Davis originally committed to the South Carolina Gamecocks over a laundry list of elite programs - Alabama, Georgia, Penn State, Oregon, Clemson, Tennessee, LSU, Stanford, Florida State (the list keeps on going...) - before entering the transfer portal and joining the Orange in May.

What’d recruiting sites say?: Four stars on ESPN and ranked 239th overall in their ESPN300 recruiting list for the class of 2022. Three stars from ON3 and 247sports, who also ranked him as the best recruit in Delaware and the 23rd-best quarterback in the country.

Money quote: Nothing beats the motivational caption on an Instagram post:

“What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality.”

Twitter feed: @BradenDavis_5

Instagram feed: @_bradendavis

Instagram/Twitter posts of wonder: Davis can jump all the way into outer space:

Interesting nugget o’interest: Davis will look to build off a football legacy in his family. His dad, Antone, played for the Tennessee Volunteers before getting drafted with the eighth in the 1991 NFL Draft and enjoying a solid career with the Eagles, Falcons and Packers.

Let’s get a look at ya: Cue the Hudl tape: