It may have been Fan Fest — a situational scrimmage open to fans and media — but it offered another quick glimpse at the player who will carry out Syracuse offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s new offense this season.

Senior quarterback Terrel Hunt missed SU’s final seven games of last season with a broken fibula, and is now in the middle of a system that will test his decision-making as much as his arm and legs.

Saturday, with the Orange using just snippets of its offense and no one tackling the quarterbacks, was mostly a look at Hunt’s passing. Going against the second-team defense, Hunt looked comfortable in the pocket while completing 10-of-14 passes across a handful of 11-on-11 series’, but could have been sharper with his intermediate throws.

“I thought he was a little off early,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said of Hunt. “And then I started to come into his game. So we’ll continue to work on some of those things.”

Distribution

Hunt seemed to be keying on a small handful of options. Of his 14 attempts, 10 were to either sophomores Steve Ishmael and Ervin Philips, or junior Ben Lewis. Ishmael is expected to be the Orange’s No. 1 wide receiver, and Lewis and Philips are playing Lester’s new position, which was used in a variety of ways Saturday.

Below is a breakdown of Hunt’s passes by receiver. It’s worth noting that junior Alvin Cornelius, who Shafer said is competing for a starting spot with junior Brisly Estime, was sidelined with a pulled muscle in his lower body.

Steve Ishmael: four targets

Ervin Philips: three targets

Ben Lewis: three targets

Sean Avant: two targets, both touchdowns

Brisly Estime: one target

George Morris: one target

Long passes

Hunt only threw two passes more than 20 yards, the first a comeback route to Lewis and the second a touchdown to Avant, roughly 30 yards, that he threw down the seam in the middle of the field.

The Lewis play, which ended with the ball going through Lewis’ hands, was a combination of good placement by Hunt and a good adjustment by the receiver. Lewis ran a wheel route out of the wing spot and was guarded closely by sophomore linebacker Jonathan Thomas. Hunt threw it behind both of them where only Lewis could get it, and he put himself in position to before ultimately fumbling the pass.

Intermediate passes

Some of Hunt’s worst passes were intermediate, but his best play of the night also came on a pass to Avant for a touchdown.

During a skeleton drill before the team went 11-on-11, Ishmael was a few steps ahead of safety Antwan Cordy on a slant route, but Hunt threw behind him and allowed Cordy to break up the pass. He later overthrew an open Ishmael on a curl route in the red zone, and threw a 10-yard sideline pass to Philips over his head and out of bounds.

Shafer said all of the Orange’s quarterbacks need to get better at throwing out routes, which would include Hunt.

On his fifth series of 11-on-11s, Hunt fumbled the snap but calmly collected the bouncing ball, wheeled to his right and found Avant in the front of the end zone.

Short passes

Four of Hunt’s 14 attempts were screens, and one fell incomplete. With the pass rush closing in from his left, Hunt had to lift himself up to see over the offensive line and threw a screen in the flat a few feet short of Lewis. Lewis dove for it but it hit the field, and Hunt smacked his side with his throwing hand in frustration.

Published on August 16, 2015 at 12:04 pm

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