Syracuse, N.Y. — Spring football has come and gone with hardly a whisper.
There’s one more practice scheduled this week before the team breaks for the end of the semester, and for a brief period Tuesday morning, a gust of platitudes by players finally broke the silence that made a guarded program even more closed off.
Six players provided some insight into the team’s pressing questions heading into the summer. There was no mention of the quarterbacks competing for the starting position or appraisals given for new additions to the offensive line.
Garrett Williams, the team’s top cornerback, is being counted on to lead a young secondary that has three NFL draft prospects waiting to hear their names called this weekend.
Left tackle Matthew Bergeron said the new offensive line coach “made us a better unit in 14 practices.” Tight end Luke Benson said he and other tight ends “get involved” on offense after a year in which they rarely saw the ball thrown their way.
One player tagged Mikel Jones, the third-year sophomore linebacker who led the team in tackles, interceptions, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries and quarterback hits last season, as a practice standout.
However obvious that is, it’s music to the ears of fans who have been mining players’ social media feeds for injury and roster updates and pausing practice highlights like it’s the Zapruder film to see who made a one-handed catch or which number jersey came down with an interception. They’re still waiting for an updated roster to make sure they got the right guy.
Sean Tucker, the running back seen in those videos breaking off a few long runs, broke out a theme for this offseason: “We can’t forget what happened last year.”
Getting to the finish line of spring ball is already a key difference between this year and the last. Players said losing much-needed practice time contributed to the 1-10 record that has stained the perception of where this program is at and fueled some older players’ return to try to do better.
“A lot of the guys on the team haven’t lost that bad ever,” sixth-year senior defensive lineman Josh Black said. “Even throughout my Boys and Girls Club days playing football, middle school, all that. I’ve never had a 1-10 season. That just doesn’t sit right.
“I feel like it’s my duty to lead, and I feel like it’s my duty to figure things out before I get out of here. I can’t leave the ship if it’s sinking. I need to help patch it up, and we need to keep sailing.”
To reach their goals, SU needs to be better at scrimmage. It imported a new offensive line coach from San Diego State, bolstered depth along the offensive line and swayed veteran defensive linemen to return for one more year in order to get there.
Syracuse cannot be well until it fixes its run game, and the addition of Florida-transfer Chris Bleich and Texas-transfer Willie Tyler later this summer could be a means to help unlock Tucker and the other running backs on roster.
Defensively, the players said there’s a more holistic understanding of how the 3-3-5 scheme installed last season works. Linemen and linebackers know the responsibilities of the players behind them, allowing them to think less and play faster.
“There’s no hesitation. We’re relentless this year. It’s unreal to see,” Black said. “You put on the film‚ these guys are night and day from last year. Looking back at the Notre Dame game film, the steps we took from that game alone to the spring right now is unbelievable. It’s wow, these guys are next level. We’re playing hard. We’re playing fast. We’re playing without thinking.
“We’re running to the ball. We’re hitting. We’re not shy of anything right now, and I feel like that’s what took it up another notch.”
That’s as good a sign as any as the spring comes to a close. A shattered team that resided toward the bottom of college football needed to get back on the field and turn the page.
It at least did that, even if some questions we all still have are without answers.
“As soon as we got our two feet on the ground running the first day in just helmets, I just felt there was something different,” Black said. “There’s a new form of energy, and we just feel really hungry to get back on the field because we can’t have what happened last year happen to us again.”
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