Takeaways from SU's Week 1 depth chart + Final reactions to ACC All-Access

hello everyone and welcome back to the Syracuse Sports podcast uh once again for another time in the past few weeks not with Brent ax but with Emily ler and Chris Carlson school is back in session so Brent is is teaching the Younglings and um is teaching his class up at suu tonight so Chris and I wanted to hop on and talk a little bit about the depth chart which we got officially this morning um right ahead of our first inseason press conference with Fran Brown and then recap the final episode of ACC all access with Syracuse football and and really I think kind of like the entire show and talk a little bit about what Syracuse gained from that and kind of the exposure of of that but Chris let's let's start with the depth chart um I'm G to pop it up on screen here for a second as we get started but what was kind of your immediate impression of the names we saw in here um this morning I think we did a great job people keeping people informed about the position battles was like my first uh reaction like yeah we did did pretty good um you know I thought uh Amari Hatcher as at as one of those starting wide receivers um which which we sort of have been um you know leaning that way a little bit more over the past week we initially we sort of thought it was going to be Jackson Meeks but we've noticed that Amari has been playing you know with the with the first string guys a little bit more um you know that was certainly a surprise I think from where we were at the start of Camp uh same with probably the tackle you know Savon and Demetrius being on Switched sides I think we both we thought they'd start but but you know uh the fact that uh weather spoon is on the left was probably a surprise from the start of camp but again we've seen that coming um and the other reaction that that I don't know if people are going to love to hear was like I looked at the defensive tackle depth and I was sort of like huh like like they can't lose like a guy there and you know Fran talked about a little bit they're just going to try to rotate bodies they're going to hope that like fresh bodies really help at at that position like they're playing some young guys some young guys are going to have to play snaps and that's like a grown man you know man strength three years in the weight room uh position and there's not a lot of depth there so I think that's just something it'll be interesting to monitor you know throughout the year yeah the The Tackle Spot was definitely something that caught my eye too just because there were so many names there right and we if there had been one spot that we were a little hesitant on it was that backup D line um I will say I did end up getting all of those names on there um you in my depth chart Pro projection last week but um I think the other thing I mean you kind of hit it with Hatcher but um over in the secondary I was a little intrigued you know Clarence Lewis won one of the starting cornerback roles over Jaden Bellamy who's listed with an ore next to iban McDaniels um and I will note here in case fans missed it kind of at the bottom of the depth chart um that the the positions with an ore listed next to them um or the names listed with an or next to them those are in numerical order just based on like jersey number they're they don't have anything to do with like oh bellam is necessarily gonna play more than McDaniels or like Morad Watson is gonna play more than Kevin jby Jr like and that is a great point with the tackles right that is like that is maybe why the Freshman were listed second rather than third potentially right yeah and so like it it it there is like a little bit of a difference between like so like I'm trying to think of a good position that we can pull this up I guess I should pull it up on the screen but like so like if you look at that top Edge rusher spot like Fidel is is the number one guy there and then David and King Joseph have an ore for that number two spot right y now down at both of the defensive tackle spots Hastings Watson and Joby all of them are kind of competing and staying in the loop for that number one role because there's two ores listed there so I know that can get a little tricky a little confusing um but that's just a little clarification I wanted to provide but yeah the secondary was where I think I had some of my other kind of surprises like I said Clarence Lewis won that starting spot Barnes and grants are are still comp still competing for that other secondary spot and then you have Cornell Perry and Brahim long um in at strong safety behind Elijah Clark and you know bringing up long and and marcelus Barnes Chris there were a lot of freshmen on on this step chart were you surprised I think there was nine total freshmen that we had on the step chart did that did that shock you I was a little surprised but a lot of them are ores right so I I I think it's a lot of maybe TBD in in terms of like all right is that spot evenly split like is that person really the number two or or is that person the number three uh when it sort of comes game time um but yes if we were looking at it like pure to deep like I am surprised at the number of freshmen that I see listed you know on the form um but I do think it's a little bit maybe TBD in terms of how much of a number two they are versus how much of a number three yeah you know the other notable thing obviously is like pretty much all of the transfers ended up on the depth chart um the only ones left off are Marcus Washington Jr who just had surgery on his left Bice to repair a tear there we found out I think I think that was last week that we found that out from Fran and then Justice Ross Simmons who we can talk about for a minute I know um Michel Michael NOOA I don't know if iing that name but also him him too and then uh justice Ross Simmons who there's a lot of people I think confused on Twitter I think we've been pretty good about talking about this but if you did miss it um he was dealing with a hamstring poll throughout Camp you know I did listen back and was August 12th that Fran first addressed it and at that time he seemed pretty optim optimistic Ross Simmons was going to be back that week so it's like maybe a little concerning that he still isn't back to full health um but he's missed a lot I mean he's missed a lot of time too like like we we'll talk about the all ACC all access but I thought one of the telling moments was maybe Kyle and Omari working through a situation where he didn't love how Omari maybe ran the rout ran the route and Ed him and he hasn't had those same opportunities with Justice um at this point so um you know that's a little concerning I would think yeah so he was he was left off mainly for that reason it's not that they like didn't think he was talented enough right obviously that's why they brought him in they think he's talented um so that was kind of I think the one big exclusion that a lot of people were concerned about or or confused about um other than that like again like this depth chart pretty standard and I will say um Syracuse fans you you are lucky to see a depth chart at all an official depth chart because we did see quite a few programs today um not release them I know Clemson isn't releasing one because they're playing Georgia and like Georgia doesn't often release one um I saw a tweet from ESPN's David hail um that there are seven ACC teams who haven't announced starting quarterbacks yet so haven't guy on the cord locked in and you know that that's your guy like that's good for Syracuse it's fascinating like it just seems like such an important I I know that I know there's game planning stuff but it it it also seems like I guess if the competition is that close maybe you don't name it but it just seems there's like we've seen the way that being named the starter has allowed Kyle to like sort of take the Reign from a leadership perspective and I do think there has to be Val and like everybody knowing like that's our leader like that's our guy um you know Syracuse despite the fact that he's brand new like that's the vibe Kyle's obviously would come up in this conversation but I'm I'm gonna take him out of this prompt and ask you Chris looking at the depth chart who are maybe like one to two to three names that you're like okay seeing where they are on the depth chart and who else is below them like these are guys that Syracuse cannot lose this season uh like I think number one for me outside of Kyle um is is fidil um like like we just like he's the one guy on the defensive line who it feels like we know like can do it at a pretty high level at Syracuse you know Dion Wilson was was pretty successful but it was at New Mexico um you know they've got transfers that come from Big programs but like didn't see the field so like fidil is like sort of the only guy that has that combination of like pedigree and production at the power five level um that like I know that he's going to be a good at minimum defensive lineman and I I I don't know about anybody else um and I think Deon Wilson like I think Deon Wilson like he's older he's done it um at New Mexico they played Auburn and he had pretty good game against Auburn last year like physically he looks the part like he looks like a power five defensive tackle um like those two guys for me are big because I I seen all those freshman on that Tod might have just scared me yeah I just I don't like the idea of like true freshman or red shirt freshman playing those big boy positions yeah I think my mine is probably also on the line but over on the offensive line I think it's it's really really both of the tackle spots but especially left tackle um behind Weatherspoon you have Josh Miller and then trivon Mack and uh Miller obviously came from Georgia and Mac has been here but those are both younger guys I mean they're both 15 plus pounds lighter than Weatherspoon and you know with the o line it is interesting because really it's it's less of like like those two might not end up being the guys that would go in if Weatherspoon was hurt it could be right it could be Enrique it could be that they move Savon over to left tackle and then put Enrique in at right tackle but like you really just don't want your o line to have to move around at all um if possible like you want those guys to stay in the positions they've been practicing stay next to the guy that they're used to to pulling blocks with and stuff like that so I think both of those um and then I know we heard we heard some good things about him in Camp and I would love to see him him prove me wrong or or show out a little bit but behind behind Deuce like Barry buckton we just haven't really seen much of him yet right like we heard about him in Camp but I didn't necessarily see a lot to be like okay like this is a guy who can back up Do's Chestnut and fit in well with those um those two other safeties there in in Justin and um Elijah Clark so I think those are probably my twoo um yeah we didn't just talk about the depth chart with Fran this morning though obviously other things came up um it was a lot of um like very pH philosophical like kind of broad topics um the Syracuse Sports insiders know Brent kind of texted and was like I think all of us are ready for football because today was a lot of rehashing some things we've already heard but Chris was there one thing um that you heard maybe you asked about that you did think was insightful or or want to share with the group it was interesting I was just struck by like I'm sure it's like this for football teams if it's like this for us like the coach speak just like sounded better cuz like I haven't heard it 20 times so like when Fran was talking about you know uh 10 win Ohio and he's just like well I consider them better than us because like they won 10 games and correct me if I'm wrong but we haven't won 10 games um Y and it's like okay like that's just C speak right that is just complimenting the opponent and flattering uh but it was just hearing it in a different voice in a different way like was like less old like I didn't like I wasn't as inclined to just like dismiss it I was like a little bit more engaged with it and like it must be the same for players you know like where they they hear not not not to dwell on the past but like you hear hippos and elephants whatever for like the 100th time and it just has to mean less right like um I so that and like it did like even the coach speak felt more genuine right like the genuine vibe that Fran gets credit for like even in the coache moments like that sort of like felt true to me yeah well I was going to say like one thing that Fran has said a couple times now in as we've gotten closer to the season is like that's my secret I can't tell you my secret and that is very much like like kind of like a coacheak thing but it's at least like just straight to the point of like no I consider that valuable information I'm not going to tell you that right now whereas other coaches previous coach like would have just kind of talked you in circles for a couple minutes and you would have been like um that didn't answer my question or like I can't tell if like he was trying to answer it and just didn't understand like France is like no I'm I'm not going to tell you that um which is a lot easier to then okay like well I'm just going to move on with from that or or I'm going to ask about something different instead so um that I yes it it does sound different the coach speak now and also I I think I don't know right this is a me thing more than more than probably anybody who's watching this cares about but like you know there also wasn't like why are you asking me that or like I expect you to understand that that secret information it was just like all right you can ask whatever you want but like that that's one of my secrets um and you know I think he handles that very deafly he's talked a lot about um this the other thing the other funny thing he said which is true um right we're all in the honeymoon phase like we love Fran Fran loves us like everybody's saying nice things um you know when the losses start hitting and the questions get a little bit tougher it'll it'll maybe be uh a little bit different um but I it was fun and cool I think to see that he recognizes that right like he knows he knows how it works he knows what's going on right now and we're in the the Era of Good Times and those don't last forever right well I mean last week when we went up and and did our scrum with him like he opened his scrum and he was kind of telling us about something like he'd prefer us like doing something a certain way in terms of how we were covering Camp right which is which is stuff you listen out and obviously as journalists we decide okay are we gonna adhere to that are we gonna keep moving throughout it but what really stru me is he him just saying like I understand that you guys have a job and like I do my job you guys do your job and like you have a job and just like that simple understanding where it felt like sometimes in the past couple years it would be like Dina would be like well why are you asking a question it's like well it's my job to ask the question about that um and so I thought that was really telling and then yeah he had the the quote this morning that was like well you guys are tough and I know you're only going to get tougher after game one so he knows he knows what's coming down the line um in postgame and stuff like that um I think that's that I mean that's like I said a lot of the the press conference stuff was very um overarching you know there's some some good quips about like the Dome atmosphere and getting excited to go in there and and stuff like that we are we do have a couple more pods coming down the shoot this week and I think we'll be using some of this in in there as well so let's go ahead and and turn it over and talk about all the final episode of ACC all access with Syracuse football which aired tonight um you know one of the segments was all about Fran Brown and Elijah Robinson's relationship and they had some nice vintage photographs of Elija Robinson I got this one of my own that I snapped from uh Mark Pie's binder of newspaper click clippings Mark piece was Fran and then also Robinson's coach um for a brief amount of time back in when they were both in high school and it's hard to see him in this because of the photo but he's that one all the way back on the far right over there so wanted to throw that in there but Chris what was what was your instant reactions to this final episode um you know I I enjoyed the moments and I really wish they could have been like um I understand why they won't why they weren't right but like when Kyle was explaining to umari maybe like what he didn't like about the route like I would have have I would have loved to have seen it right like to know like what he is talking about like I would just love to learn I would love that opportunity to like learn what stood out to Kyle in that moment um but it was still like sort of cool to see like the communication process and and how that works um between two teammates um you know I think that was my favorite part and like uh that and and just uh Kyle's sort of earnest reaction to like aande making like plays right where he's just like oh man he's disgusting like all right like that that's good like like that that is a good sign and know you know Baron had the same reaction uh Justin Baron had a similar reaction like when they put the all ACC teams out and like Kyle wasn't on it and he was just like so offended because he sees Kyle every day and he believes in him to that degree um so certainly his fans like that is we are in talking season and everything's great until it's not but like you know those honest reactions would make me feel optimistic yeah you know this episode felt like a little bit of rehash on on some things to me like there was a couple segments where we did kind of go over things that I felt like we had seen previously but there was definitely some fun stuff in it I thought obviously like the SE the college football 25 game is something we've players have gotten some questions of throughout camp and stuff but it was fun to see them playing it and really talking and smiling about themselves and um everyone complaining about their speed ranking which was the the the number one Chief complaint about everyone's player profiles um and Zed Haynes Takes the Cake there though I guess Malachi James will probably um be the highest speed rating next year whenever that game comes out 100 100 whenever whenever that update comes out another that's another true freshman who made the depth ch he's going to be on kick return with Trevor Peña and a couple others um you mentioned obviously some of the gadston stuff but Gadson is primarily who we saw in those final scrimmage highlights um particularly impressive was that kind of one-handed falling grab he had near the back of the end zone that I think it was then right after that that then they flashed to Justin on the sideline being like all right I need a pick now I need a pick and like really wanting to go for it and then we got some defensive highlights um I was kind of hoping like they would play that segment more like it was an actual game and give us like a little score bug at the bottom and let us know like I guess like maybe that's that's something that they wanted to keep a little under wraps like if like who won that game or which side of the ball might be better but it was nice to get a little bit into that um one things scage one other thing that I did find interesting and I wish uh it had explored a little more was around R Gaston sort of had this offhand comment about like you know uh we're not afraid to hit or we're not afraid of physicality anymore and like it was like oh like you were or like like that was that was the impression sort of you had of like the team as a whole um and right maybe that's not how he meant it but that's like sort of how it struck me that he was discussing it as a change yeah that's how they framed it and I mean like context wise like it could have been like oh we've previously been afraid to like hit in scrimmages because people get injured and we have an injury problem and like because depth is a problem which has very much been a problem yeah those would have been very different kind of contextes to lay that out in so that that was a very interesting answer and you know we thought we got to see a little bit of the the physicality and not being afraid to hit anymore right when they were doing the the one-on-one and I thought I thought the matchups were um engaging and fun I think it was it was what it was tank and genre Reed and then JB and Quin and I think OG and King Joseph Edwards I think were the three that we saw that that that sounds correct and all and all were pretty like well fought like none of those guys got beat they were all they was pretty aggressive um we we like were there for one of those but because of how they all stand around each other we could see we some yelling just heard a lot of yell yeah we just we just had to like I I was like trying to get on my tip toes but could not see anything um yeah you know I think I think it was a fun three episodes I think if I had to pick a favorite I think two was maybe the strongest like in terms of just like kind of moments we hadn't seen um I did have to remember I was I was watching with our co-worker and breaking news reporter Ann HS who obviously is not around the team to the same capacity she was and she was like I get why you feel like some of this is just like kind of basic stuff but this is really fun because I don't know any of these guys so like that was something I was having to keep in mind as as we went through it's like okay we're we're talking to laquin on the daily or or Justin on The Daily and kind of know these guys' personalities and know that Justin and Kyle like to golf and all of these things but it's a different it's a different insight for for the fans and I think from what we saw a lot of the fans really enjoyed it yeah and it is right I'm sure the goal is to broaden it to the whole ACC the hope is that you'll pick up casual fans so certainly everybody that tun that listens to you all the time you know probably you know didn't learn a ton that was new but but saw it uh right which there is something with seeing it with your own eyes that you know it's true when you see it um but yeah you know that it has to be sort of tailored to a a much more broad audience than like the hardcore diard football fan who's waiting for you to go live on your podcast three times a week yeah um Chris was there any question or question that you wanted them to answer in the show or like moment you wish you saw whether it was something that we actually saw or it was a hypothetical um that that you were like oh dang I I wish we had seen this because they were there for like that crew was there for a month and had some very long filming days from what we heard and pretty much all we saw was like exclusively practice and interviews and then a few locker room shots the the clip of Fran at practice but was there anything like that that comes to mind for you just as just as somebody who uh would love to learn and know more about the sport like maybe some like ex like I would have loved like a little bit of ex's and no where where we could see exactly um what they were talking about and um I know that's probably tricky in ter because like you don't want to give away too much scheme but like I there had to be some sort of uh moment where May where they were just discussing like routes and how they work together um or how they play off one another that maybe they could have shown us and it like we all could have learned a little bit more about football um but again that is maybe not tailoring it to the broad audience that I just talked about I mean we know that they watched I I forget which side of the ball I'm assuming it was both sides of the ball just based on what little we know about the scheme but I we know they did watch like some like Pro footage to like and pro film and kind of dissected that to help learn these new schemes so like that that could have been a way into that without obviously giving Trade Secrets out to um Ohio or Georgia Tech or whoever wanted to to go and watch and see what they were doing in the film room I agree I think I think what I would have maybe wanted a little bit more was just like in the building stuff like the meetings the planning the um the late nights doing whatever and obviously like some of that gets a little too proprietary or like you said maybe gets a little bit too um too in-depth for the common viewer but I like just knowing how long and like you know we heard I said I've said this before but we heard one night they were there until 3:00 a.m. and we never found out like I guess unless it was the shoe burning but I don't think that was taking place at 3:00 a.m. right it was like what were they doing there until 3:00 a.m. who was at the facility so um that was maybe my one thing one of the other I mean and this is just this is my fault because I asked a bad qu I I asked a poorly worded question today uh um and didn't get a great answer um but like they brought in like 40 plus new guys um because they can now right that there's no set sizes on freshman classes the transfer portal exists like so this is literally one of the largest one-year overhauls of personnel that a college football team has ever had um you know not the most because Deion Sanders is crazy uh and and Lou has done a lot of it too but like it's up there it is a huge huge one-year switch um and I want I would love to know a little bit like like how much did that shape their offseason like how how many things did they do to build chemistry that they wouldn't do in a normal year or wish they didn't have to do in a normal year but it was like something they had to do this year um and maybe I'll eventually get that question out in a way that uh Fran answers it in the way that I want him to but like but like I'm I'm fascinated by that whole idea I guess he did have he did have a a good quote at least I wrote down I wrote down break it better he's he's of the mentality that it's not just if it's broke fix it it's if it's okay fix it and make it better if it's good fix it and make it better and keep keep breaking it and making better which tells you a little bit I think that's not everyone subscribes to that mentality but um yet knowing what you're going for what you're trying to turn I understand um and and all of our syracuse.com readers should get to um understand that later in the week um Chris it's game week what are you most looking forward to about Saturday getting to see I getting to see football again I think it's number one at the top of everyone's list but anything else I think I just want to see the offense you know like like like um and maybe that's just some a BAS football fan and I don't pay enough attention to defense and and and appreciate the nuances that are involved in defense but like you know we've heard Pro style Pro style Pro style uh but like what does that look like in real life um we might not see much of it against Ohio we'll find out like you know they might be able to get through a play pretty vanilla um but you know is that motions is that like Personnel groupings like what exactly is that is sort of that uh Pro style approach G to look like yeah I I'm definitely intrigued by the offense to Kyle McCord you know everyone's been talking about they're trying to get him to run more they're trying to get him to be little league Kyle we'll see if he actually does run more we'll see if he's more mobile I I really think so like long term I really want to like I want to see that like like yeah like like he knows that's where he needs to get better like the Pro Football Focus numbers say he was terrible Under Pressure like he clearly has been working to improve prove it but like where does it end up this season like how how how much better can he be like I'm fascinated by that whole sort of uh experiment that he's goingon to go through as we get closer to Saturday and game one if you have opinions on what you're most looking forward to or questions about the game or if you're at the game and have thoughts about it um you can text us on the Syracuse Sports Insider line and you can join that by texting orange to 315 847 3895 um it's a twoe free trial and then 399 a month after that and that gets you pretty much direct access to at least Brent and I Chris will um get passed on info that we find out on the text line or contribute things that come um that go out to the texter so certainly if you're looking for the inside look at at Syracuse football um you will want to be a Syracuse Sports Insider but I think that's all we have for tonight Chris thank you for hopping on it's our last probably mon this late Monday night pod for a while though Brent and I will be doing postgame pods again this year and um so we have some have we might not have we might not have the Pack 12 after dark anymore but we have the Syracuse Sports podcast after dark so um luckily these first few games are early for us and and will be a little bit easier but we will get to that point when it's about a 1:00 am 2 am podcast so for Chris Carlson I'm Emily lier and this was the Syracuse Sports podcast thanks for joining us you guys