UPDATED: Aug. 28, 2017 at 5:35 p.m.

Syracuse football on Monday released its Week 1 depth chart, offering the first look at how position battles played out in preseason camp.

Here’s a look at what some of the chart means going into the Orange’s season-opener Friday night against Central Connecticut State in the Carrier Dome.

Quarterback

This is Eric Dungey’s offense and that was never in question, but his concussion history and tendency to extend plays out of the pocket made the battle for the second-string spot a storyline in camp. Senior Zach Mahoney won the job over true freshman Tommy DeVito, a four-star recruit and Elite Eleven quarterback. Mahoney, originally a walk-on after a season in junior college, has started seven career games including the final three of 2016.

Head coach Dino Babers said last week that should Dungey go down, the quarterback that puts the team in the best position to win would play. “Burning” DeVito’s redshirt year wasn’t a concern if he would be the best option. It will be interesting to see if things change should Dungey suffer an injury early in the season.

Wide Receiver 2

Redshirt junior Jamal Custis earned the other outside spot opposite senior receiver Steve Ishmael.

Custis redshirted last season after a high ankle sprain sidelined him early on, so this will be the first look at him in Babers’ offense. Someone will have to step up to replace Amba Etta-Tawo’s 94 receptions from 2016. Custis gets the first crack at being the guy. At 6-foot-5, he figures to be a solid option in the red zone.

Custis took the job over sophomore Devin C. Butler, who missed the second half of last season because of injury and recorded two catches in limited action before that. He played some running back in spring practice.

Nose Tackle

In somewhat of a surprise, redshirt junior Kayton Samuels will start instead of sophomore McKinley Williams. Babers didn’t go into much detail regarding his thought-process behind the choice, but said Samuels had a strong camp. Samuels played in 10 games last season and started five, while Williams started one but played in all 12.

Cornerback

SU had a lot of options here, some more experienced and some young. Two sophomores, redshirt Christopher Frederick and Scoop Bradshaw, earned the starting nods. Graduate transfer Jordan Martin was expected to compete for a spot but moved to safety during camp.

Frederick, now wearing No. 3, started the second half of last year and tallied 22 tackles. Bradshaw’s contributions as a true freshman last year were mostly on special teams.

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Punt Return

Starting free safety Antwan Cordy was listed as the only option. Cordy, a redshirt junior, suffered a forearm injury Week 3 against Louisville and missed the rest of the 2016 campaign.

Cordy’s athleticism — he’s totaled 13 tackles for loss in his career — will help him in this role. His importance to the defense adds a wrinkle of intrigue to the decision to put him out in the open field.

Linebacker

No surprise here in that seniors Parris Bennett, Zaire Franklin and Jonathan Thomas will start, but it’s worth keeping an eye on how SU will try to get snaps for the rest of the unit. Graduate transfer Austin Valdez put up big numbers in 2015 under Babers at Bowling Green, and he’s behind Franklin at middle linebacker. Kielan Whitner, second on the strong side after Thomas, has converted from safety and could be especially useful in coverage situations.

The story has been updated with appropriate style. 

Published on August 28, 2017 at 1:50 pm

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