Syracuse football was only waiting on one prospect — Mychale Salahuddin, a four-star running back — to make his decision when it tweeted that National Signing Day 2018 was wrapped up. A few minutes later in Washington D.C., Salahuddin reached for a Syracuse hat in front of him, looked it over, and set it down before standing up, removing his USC sweatshirt and revealing a Pittsburgh shirt underneath, signaling his college destination.

Outside of Salahuddin’s penchant for the flashy, things were pretty dull for SU on the second signing day of the 2018 recruiting cycle. SU inked three more recruits Wednesday, bringing in 18 total signees in the Class of 2018.

Here are five takeaways on SU’s 2018 recruiting class, which head coach Dino Babers called his most talented at SU, and Babers’ press conference.

The sooner, the better

The biggest change from the 2017 recruiting cycle to this one was the introduction of an early signing period.

In December 2017, a roughly three-day long window was created for recruits to sign their National Letters of Intent earlier than in years past, when all recruits sent their letters in early February. During this first-ever early signing period, the Orange capitalized, locking down 15 future players.

“I really believe that eventually this thing’s going to move to where you won’t have the second signing day,” Babers said on Wednesday. “There will be one signing day in December, then it will be like an open market on the backend. But we’ll see.”

What the early period for the 2018 cycle meant for SU and Babers was that Wednesday was a much slower day — only signing three recruits — and the months following the early signing period became a chance to “supplement” the early signees with players still available.

Babers did admit to drawbacks in the new system, namely that it forces coaches to recruit more heavily during the latter half of the football season, something new this year.

“You’ve got to find a way balance those two things,” Babers said, “because you’ve got to coach and you have to recruit. That’s part of the job.”

‘Break’ it down

Babers called the Class of 2018, his second full class at SU, a “break” class, meaning the players in this recruiting class won’t be called upon to contribute unless the coaching staff feels they’re fully prepared. Babers and his staff feel they have enough depth on the roster already.

“We’ve got good players on the team,” Babers said, “and these freshmen have to really come in and show that they’re gonna contribute for them to be able to play.”

One thing Babers cited as most likely to hold a player out of the lineup and potentially put a redshirt on them was mental makeup. The mental challenge of school and practice, he said, is harder to deal with than physically developing.

Even in regards to positions of need — namely linebacker and wide receiver after losing top players to graduation — Babers lauded the class’ athleticism, but still established that the players need to prove they’re up to the task before they’ll be put on the field.

“If they can meet those challenges,” Babers said, “they’ll have an opportunity to play early on. Sometimes it overwhelms them and they need to redshirt a year before they can figure it out.”

Expanding footprint

Three players in Syracuse’s Class of 2018 hail from Washington, D.C.: defensive end Caleb Okechukwu, wide receiver Ed Hendrix and linebacker Juan Wallace. Wallace played his senior season at IMG Academy in Florida with fellow SU commit, defensive back Andre Cisco.

Historically, Babers has recruited the D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) region, he said.

“I think there’s fantastic football players there,” Babers said, “just like there’s fantastic players in the state of New York.”

Recruiting New York state has been a point of emphasis for Babers since getting hired in 2015, and in the 2018 cycle, SU signed five players from New York or New Jersey. Two are defensive backs in Trill Williams and the aforementioned Cisco (who played at IMG Academy) and the others are offensive lineman Qadir White and tight end Gabe Horan. The lone player from New Jersey is wide receiver Taj Harris.

“We think that we’re doing a nice job close to home,” Babers said, “and that’s one of the areas we feel is really close to Syracuse and we should be recruiting there.”

The coaching tree

Syracuse’s co-offensive coordinator for the 2017 season, Mike Lynch, will be assuming full-time duties at the same position this fall, Babers said Wednesday.

This decision follows several changes within Babers’ coaching staff in the offseason, mainly the departure of Lynch’s counterpart, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Sean Lewis, to Kent State to become the head coach.

While Lynch adopts the role of full-time coordinator, SU brought in Kirk Martin as its new quarterbacks coach. Martin’s son, Koda, married Babers’ daughter, Jazzmin, in the offseason. When Babers was asked about this connection, he demurred, instead focusing on Martin’s qualifications at the position.

Syracuse also hired Mike Cavanaugh, Nebraska’s former offensive line coach to fill the same position and Indiana’s Keith Caton as a new assistant strength and conditioning coach.

“The biggest thing is I want to hire a person of high quality,” Babers said, “… I think we’re going to have a higher quality, a sharper sparkling diamond than we had”

Dungey vs. DeVito, for real this time?

When asked about the health of junior quarterback Eric Dungey, who missed the final four games of 2017 and proceeded to have postseason foot surgery, Babers said the signal caller is “a green-light go from the trainers.”

This means Dungey is likely to be a full participant in spring football and will work with the rest of the quarterbacks who will all “get work,” including heralded freshman Tommy DeVito.

As he talked about the quarterback battle and spring reps, Babers joked.

“Between Rex Culpepper and (Chance Amie) and Clayton (Welch)? Yeah, I think all those guys are going to be battling,” Babers said.

Pressed on who else will be at quarterback, Babers kept it brief.

“Two other cats.”

Published on February 7, 2018 at 5:49 pm

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