Syracuse has been “ramping things up daily” for hybrid Ervin Philips, head coach Scott Shafer said on Wednesday’s Atlantic Coast Conference coaches’ teleconference. On Tuesday night, Philips tweeted that he’ll be back on the field when SU plays South Florida on Oct. 10, but later deleted the tweet.

He’s missed the last three-and-a-half games with a lower-body injury suffered during the first half of Syracuse’s season-opener against Rhode Island on Sept. 4.

“I’m excited that he sees the light at the end of the tunnel,” Shafer said. “Erv’s getting better every day, working hard at it. We just take it day by day and look to doctors and the training staff and ramp things up daily, which we’ve been doing.”

Shafer also said freshman quarterback Eric Dungey’s health is improving. He hasn’t played since leaving in the first half of the Orange’s win over Central Michigan after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from CMU defensive lineman Mitch Stanitzek.

In his place, walk-on sophomore Zack Mahoney has handled most of the quarterback duties, throwing for three touchdowns in the second half against then-No. 8 LSU last Saturday.

“Eric’s getting better every day and it’s good have a bye week,” Shafer said. “But he’s improving daily.”

Shafer also confirmed that Syracuse is indeed recruiting five-star UCLA transfer Chris Clark, who confirmed to The Daily Orange that he will take an official visit to SU.

Shafer didn’t want to take any risks going into further detail, though, being wary of NCAA rules on commenting about un-signed recruits.

“I’m not sure I can comment on that other than to say that we are recruiting him,” he said. “I’d want to be smart about knowing what I can say before I say anything else.”

Published on September 30, 2015 at 11:56 am

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