LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Zack Mahoney didn’t make his first start under center until the end of the 11th grade. He was asked to become the backup quarterback that year at Lyons Township (Illinois) High School only because other quarterbacks had quit or gotten injured. Mahoney had what he called an “OK,” high school career in which he started only one season and received zero FBS offers.

Yet Mahoney has started nine games over the past three seasons as Syracuse’s backup. With starter Eric Dungey’s propensity to get injured late in the year, Mahoney has gone from high-school backup to Syracuse walk-on to the guy the Orange has entrusted with its offense at the end of the past three seasons.

Mahoney, a 6-foot-2 senior, has turned in pedestrian performances throughout his career, mostly against conference teams in unfavorable conditions. Saturday was the latest segment, a 56-10 loss at Louisville (7-4, 4-4 Atlantic Coast). Mahoney earned his ninth start for SU (4-7, 2-5) and finished 5-for-15 with two interceptions and 49 passing yards. In the second quarter, he was replaced by third-string QB Rex Culpepper.

Given the circumstances, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said Mahoney has “been a major contributor,” and “someone people from Syracuse will always remember.” Mahoney didn’t get recruited by Syracuse. He didn’t earn a scholarship right away, yet he came to become one of the more important players in the program over the past three seasons.

“It’s been one hell of a ride,” Mahoney said after SU’s loss to the Cardinals, dropping Mahoney’s career record as a starter to 1-8. “Had an OK high school career. Coming here, I had very little expectation, and everything I’ve accomplished, I look back and take it all in.”

Mahoney has had a lot to take in. In high school, he mostly played receiver and defensive back. He received a handful of Division II and FCS offers, as well as Big 10 walk-on spots, but he “was adamant he would get to a Power conference school,” his father, Rick, said.

Mahoney felt the best way he could eventually get there was via junior college. He ended up about 15 miles from where he grew up in Chicago suburbs, at the College of DuPage, where he redshirted as a freshman because he was inexperienced and underdeveloped, DuPage head coach Matt Foster said.

“But he never ever stopped believing,” Foster said. “He knew he wanted to play big time as a QB. He was very raw first. He wasn’t as ready as we thought he needed to be. He took that whole year to practice on the scout team and came back the next year. He completely transformed our team.”

His redshirt freshman year, 2014, Mahoney, a team captain, threw for 1,943 yards and was named a Top 20 National Junior College Athletic Association quarterback. After the season, he met with Foster about his transfer options. Foster put him in touch with several FCS schools, he said. Mahoney declined all of them. His eyes were set on Power 5, the dream he had all of his life.

“I said there are some options (in FCS) and he told me that’s not what he’s looking for,” Foster said. “My mouth dropped. He said, ‘Coach, I want to play at the highest level.’ That’s when I called his dad and asked him to make sure. I said, ‘I just want to make sure we’ll on the same page.’ And his dad said, ‘That’s what he wants to do, coach.’ He turned down 1-AA scholarships.”

Foster was incredulous, but he knew who to call. He graduated from an Illinois high school with Tim Lester, who was Syracuse’s offensive coordinator then. Foster said he told Lester over the phone that Mahoney could play at SU’s level. Lester knew he was going to enter spring practice that January with only three quarterbacks, Foster said. He trusted Foster.

On Christmas Eve 2014, Mahoney said, while sitting on his cousin’s couch, he received a call from Syracuse asking him to come for the spring 2015 semester. Days later, he applied to the university. Within three weeks, he had sent over his DuPage transcripts and been accepted to Syracuse, only about two days before he would need to arrive on campus to start football on Jan. 3.

“I truly remember having only about 48 hours to get him cleared on the academic side, accepted to the university, to driving out to Syracuse to join a meeting at noon on a Saturday,” his father, Rick, said.

Mahoney arrived at Syracuse in January 2015 as a walk-on. He was the fifth-string QB. When starter Terrel Hunt went down with a career-ending injury in the first quarter of the first game that fall, Mahoney was added to SU’s travel roster. His path to the Syracuse pocket accelerated from there. Dungey suffered an injury in Week 3 against Central Michigan. Mahoney’s name was called.

The next week, he earned his first career start, against then-No. 8 LSU, keeping the Orange competitive with the Tigers in a 35-25 loss. He started four games that season, including the last three. Against Boston College in the 2015 season finale, Mahoney threw a touchdown pass in SU’s victory to send off then-head coach Scott Shafer. In his 2015 starts against LSU and then-No. 1 Clemson, the Orange lost by only 10 in each game and Mahoney threw for a combined 234 yards and three touchdowns. In August 2016, new head coach Dino Babers awarded him a scholarship.

“From walk-on, look where he’s at right now,” said Syracuse senior offensive lineman Jamar McGloster. “Whenever I see him, when I’m having a bad day, I get on with the day. There’s no excuse to keep on having a bad day, because Zack never quit.”

Last week in a loss to Wake Forest, Mahoney’s first start since a year ago at Pittsburgh, he threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns — in the first half alone. He threw two interceptions and went only 11-of-25 over the final 30 minutes, but he had reaffirmed that he is capable of holding his own for SU. Entering Saturday in Louisville, Mahoney averaged 412 passing yards per game and threw for eight TDs and ran for two others over his past two starts.

Mahoney’s career will end soon. On Saturday, he may have started his last game. Throughout much of his football life, he was overlooked, doubted and unproven, yet he stitched together a career he hopes is an inspiration for junior college players. He grew from walk-on to a temporary starter, and he is the president of Syracuse’s Uplifting Athletes chapter, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading awareness about rare diseases.

“A lot of coaches said I’d never be able to make it, to try a different level or to maybe not even think about football,” Mahoney said. “When you hear that, it pushes you to go reach out and get the goal. A lot of people probably thought I was crazy saying no to FCS schools. Even those who supported me said, ‘You know, you might never play a snap there.’ And I said, ‘That’s fine. I see a goal that I want and I’m going to go take it.’”

Published on November 18, 2017 at 10:10 pm

Contact Matthew: [email protected] | @MatthewGut21