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Syracuse returned to competition Friday night inside the Carrier Dome for its annual spring exhibition game, with two squads — Team Blue and Team Orange — competing against each other. Quarterback Justin Lamson threw two deep touchdown passes, and the Orange’s main defensive unit didn’t allow any points in Team Blue’s 28-7 win.

Head coach Dino Babers opted to keep several important offensive pieces — Sean Tucker, Garrett Shrader, Matthew Bergeron and Chris Elmore — out of the game for precautionary reasons. Tucker, Bergeron and Elmore are all healthy, and Babers said postgame that Shrader suffered a mild hamstring injury during a 60-yard run in a scrimmage last Saturday. Tucker was seen wearing a navy blue T-shirt on the sidelines while Shrader, Bergeron and Elmore all dressed and participated in pregame drills but didn’t see any game action.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s intrasquad spring game:

Backup quarterbacks see time

Without Shrader at quarterback, Syracuse started with Lamson and Dan Villari on the two sides. Lamson went against the second-string defense while Villari went against the first. The Orange relied heavily on a passing game for the two offenses as Lamson threw the ball on nearly every play of the first series, connecting with Anthony Queeley, Courtney Jackson and Umari Hatcher.

SU called designed quarterback runs for Lamson and Villari, with the former using a draw play and straight quarterback run play to the right side to pick up chunks of yardage. Lamson later scrambled and fought for extra yardage inside the 10-yard line. Villari ran a QB draw out of the end zone on 3rd down and showcased his running ability in space with a spin move that made a defender miss.

Lamson got Team Blue on the scoreboard with a touchdown toss from 35 yards out on the side’s second drive of the night. With a clean pocket, Lamson found Hatcher — who had run a double move against freshman defensive back Dom Foster — wide-open in the end zone. Shrader had pointed to Hatcher earlier this week as a receiver who had made a big jump during the offseason. Lamson later hit Damien Alford on a 75-yard touchdown pass, too. The redshirt freshman from California finished with 151 yards on 7-of-10 passing.

Villari didn’t perform as well in the passing game, throwing one interception to Ja’Had Carter after nearly throwing one to Stefon Thompson earlier. Both mishaps came from balls over the middle, and while Thompson wasn’t able to bring in the catch, Carter laid out in front of Oronde Gadsden II to bring in the pick with Villari’s squad, Team Orange, already trailing by two touchdowns.

The Michigan transfer appeared in four games last season, throwing just three passes, and has spent time this offseason trying to adjust to Syracuse’s offense, according to his high school coach Rob Shaver.

Lamson has been taking more of the second-team offense’s reps in practices available to the media. And while Villari and JaCobian Morgan split time under center on one side, Lamson played the entire first half.

“All those guys need to get better,” Babers said. “But it’s obvious that Justin’s doing some positive things.”

New offense leads to big plays

Out of the several coaching adjustments Babers made after last season, the most notable came in replacing offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert with Robert Anae. At his previous spots with BYU and UVA, Anae incorporated different elements into his offense, including pro-style concepts. Throughout spring practices, SU’s offense described the new offense as “wide-open” and much more balanced between the running and passing games.

In the early stages of Friday’s scrimmage, Anae and Syracuse leaned heavily on the passing game, and albeit without Tucker, it was rare for Lamson or Villari to hand off to a running back. In addition to the incorporation of designed quarterback runs and deep passes down the sideline, Syracuse mixed in a few trick plays.

On one, wide receiver Devaughn Cooper was sent in motion and received a handoff from Morgan but quickly pitched it back to LeQuint Allen, who was coming from the other side. Morgan snuck out of the backfield, left wide-open in the flat, and Allen was able to connect with him for a first down.

Running back depth tested

Without Tucker, an All-American who broke Syracuse’s single-season rushing yards record last season, Babers and Anae turned mostly to Allen and New Mexico State transfer Juwaun Price in the backfield. Allen was one of SU’s top recruits in the Class of 2022 out of Millville, New Jersey, and Price, who ran for almost 700 yards last season, is the second-most experienced running back, behind Tucker, on the depth chart.

Both running backs broke for big plays, with Allen scoring the game’s third touchdown after a sweep handoff from Lamson that the freshman took right before making a couple defenders miss to score from 41 yards out. Later, Lamson faked a handoff to one running back before giving it to Price, who ran down the left sideline for over 50 yards. Price finished with 64 yards on six carries.

“They did some things, both of them. All those guys made some plays back there,” Babers said. “Ball security was good. They did a nice job.”

Postgame notes from Babers

Outside of just the four offensive players who were ruled out, Babers said sophomore defensive back Justin Barron, who played in every game last season and finished with 42 tackles but hasn’t appeared this spring, had offseason back surgery but is currently “pain-free” and will be ready for summer practices.

Rutgers transfer defensive back Alijah Clark didn’t play, either, and has been recovering from an ankle injury suffered last season. Offensive linemen Kalan Ellis and Chris Bleich, both of whom will likely start in the fall, also didn’t suit up as they recover from injuries.

When asked if he was surprised by anything from the game, Babers pointed to the fact that Andre Szmyt didn’t kick the ball through the end zone on any of his kickoffs. Syracuse’s in-game special teams work only included 2-3 players, with punts featuring a snapper, punter and returner, and kickoffs just a kicker and returner. “We should be able to do that in here. We need to work on that,” Babers said.

The 7th-year head coach also touched on Tucker, who he said is significantly faster than last season, something Babers attributed to Tucker’s time on SU’s track and field team this offseason. Babers said the running back looked “like a track guy” in practices, and in 100-yard runs, Tucker would relax after 67 yards or so, but his speed persisted. Over Christmas break, Tucker stayed to train at Syracuse, Babers said, and the coach came into work and saw his running back lifting in the weight room.

“He’s a lot faster than he was last year, unfortunately for everybody else,” Babers said.

Published on April 1, 2022 at 11:11 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_