Syracuse Football Fall Camp STANDOUTS | Syracuse Orange Podcast

Intro let's talk about some of the main Syracuse football fall Camp takeaways with Mike [Music] mallister you are locked on Syracuse your daily podcast on the Syracuse Orange part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and welcome into locked on Syracuse I'm Jackson holer and thank you for making us your first listen of every single day here on the lockdown podcast Network where it's your team every day and we're free and available wherever you get your podcast and on today's show we are joined by Mike McAllister from 247 Sports going over Syracuse football fall Camp takeaways and of course season expectations and mik get ready because I am going to ask you your record prediction but that is later on for the podcast this episode is brought to you by ultimate GM ultimate college football HC is a brand new mobile game that is completely free has no ads and 100% playable offline use the promo code locked on CFB all caps inside the game store to receive a free Bru to your program begin your coaching Legacy today Standouts thank you so much Mike for hopping on the podcast on this Wednesday afternoon let's just cut right to the chase Mike who is standing out at fall Camp well there's a lot of The Usual Suspects right I Kyle McCord is is clearly heads and shoulders above everyone else at quarterback he he just has a level of experience and um just his leadership the way he carries himself and and on top of the physical traits it's it's clear that he's the leader of the offense that everyone gravitates towards him L Quin Allen has looked excellent I I think yine Willis still looks like he's going to be a real contributor uh Zed Haynes I I think is going to end up being the number one wide receiver this year he just he's just looks more explosive than than receivers they've had in in quite some time and defensively Marlo wax looks excellent uh Fidel digs looks like the real deal at at defensive end he just looks like a NFL caliber pass rusher uh and they have a lot of talent in the secondary a lot of talent there's guys that aren't going to play that are really good uh I think Devon Grant's length is is really intriguing at corner U I was surprised when I originally found they were moving him to Corner from the in the spring just because he was you know an All-American safety at Buffalo so I mean he he was he was really good there they moving him the Corner obviously you trust Fran brown with his defensive back um resume but and then you know I look at a guy like marcelus Barnes who's who's a youngster who's just extremely talented you know I don't think he's going to start uh but I think he's going to play and that you know he's was a high school All-American fourstar Prospect really really really talented player so there's a lot of guys that have that have made their way so far in training camp So speaking of marcelis Barnes that you just mentioned because I've talked about him on the podcast and how true freshman you know it's I'm usually very hesitant with true freshman in football which freshmen do you think are GNA have the biggest impact in year one for Syracuse I think he's one that has a chance to simply because of you know the the talent that we've mentioned but yine Willis is is another one that I I really like I know I mentioned him before but he just looks like he he could be a bowling ball as as a running back and just knocking people over and sort of your true power back but he's faster than people think too there's a reason why he was a highly coveted four-star running back out of high school he's he's very talented and even though he's going to be behind L Quin Allen I think he's still going to get a decent amount of touches and then someone else that wonder you know the Syracuse football Twitter account uh or X account I should say now uh posted the speed of Malachi James at remember what it was 23.6 miles per hour whatever he reach I don't know it was something absurd he was insane whatever he reached during practice which by the way for context would be faster than anyone in the NFL last season faster than anyone ran in an individual game um and is faster than Tyreek Hill has ever hit in in an NFL game in his career so a ridiculous speed his 100 meter dash time in high school would have won the ACC Championship this year he's fast so right um I wonder if if you could see him he's he's listed as a running back he's obviously going to be behind Lin Allen and E Willis but could we see him on kick returns or punt returns spelling Trevor Peña here and there do they want to maybe not have Pia do kick returns just punt returns because of his injury history want to keep him healthy to play in the slot so they put Malachi James out there more and more as as a potential home run hitter as a returner I mean that wouldn't surprise me that intrigues me because of that speed U those are three guys that I think I'm I'm looking at right now as as potential true freshman impact guys that was Potential freshmen pretty similar to my list actually I think it's spoton because I've said about Malachi James great mind he yeah great minds because Malachi James like you said he's so fast you know all these guys they're all fast like they're they're all fast human beings because they're playing division one football so a lot of them you'll see on their resumes you know this guy ran track in high school and you're like he has track speed and I'm like well yeah so does everyone else they all run fast 40 yard dash times and then I would say about Malachi James I'm like no no no no like that guy's actually like like world class like he's freaking Usain Bolt out there that's how fast this guy is I actually plugged in his time into like a calculator to see what a 40 yard dash would look like and I think it was like a 4.1 something absurd and I was like that can't be right the calc the math is not no one runs a 4140 yard dash I've never seen that in my life that is insane I also agree with youan Yen Willis because he's got not just college football size he's got NFL size as a true freshman and Barnes is the Shocker to me it's not that Barnes is not a talented kid but because believe they have a lot of players in that secondary and he's a true freshman and I know Duce Chestnut a few years ago was a true freshman All-American but it's not very common for true freshman to break in right away so that is certainly a pleasant surprise you mentioned earlier about Zed Haynes being the wide receiver one for this team what are you hearing regarding who could be the wide receiver two so I think uh you know the assumption is that Justice Ross Simmons would be the other you know starting wide receiver I think with him I know he dealt with some injuries a little bit last year so to me it that depends on his health if he's fully healthy then yeah I think he's going to be out there and he's he's GNA see a lot of snaps if he's not and if he's even a little bit unhealthy um I wouldn't be surprised if you see Amari Hatcher getting a lot of snaps you know he and then the other guy that I really like is is Daryl Gil he played as a true freshman last year I know under a different coaching staff but I didn't really expect to see him much and he was out there last year playing and reports from Spring ball were that he was one of the best wide receivers in the spring and that has continued so far this training camp so he's someone I don't think that gets talked about all that much but I think could see his way onto the field and getting some snaps uh I know Jackson Meek's coming in from from Georgia there's there's talk about him and what he can do it's his last year of Collegiate eligibility so you know the assumption is that he's going to come in and and be one of those guys and I still think he's going to play but you know Omari Hatcher and and darl Gil are certainly right there and I think you're going to see them on the field quite a bit that's encouraging because at this I mean at the end of the day if the young guy is ready to play you'd rather play the young guy than maybe a guy like Jackson Meeks who's been in college for a long time like obviously you want to play the player who's better but if the young guy has the leg up that's certainly good because you figure that a young guy can only get better in college so Ibata sandals sunstream snacks for the kids what do these have in common you're probably buying a ton again this summer but don't stress about the cost use ibata and get cash back on all your purchases when you stock up on all your summer Essentials iata is a free app that lets you earn cash back every time you shop earn on hundreds of items from groceries to Beauty Supplies even toys so you can make sure you're beating inflation no matter what you're purchasing the average ibata user earns $256 per year that could cover the cost of an entire shopping trip that flight you've been eyeing or the fancy dinner you've been craving right now ibata is offering our listeners $5 Just For Trying ibata by using the code locked on College when you register just go to the app store or Google Play Store and download the free ibata app to start earning cash back and use code locked on College that's IBO TTA in the Google play or App Store and use code locked on College college football is back and LockOn it's not too late to catch up before the season kicks off SEC ACC Big 10 Big 12 you can get it all from lockon stable of college experts by subscribing to the lockon college football podcast who has a chance to make the playoff what teams will cause chaos in their new conferences everything you need to know all in one place be sure to follow And subscribe to the lockon college football podcast part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day that's good Insight yeah so Justice Justice Ross Ross Simmons is he dealing with an injury right now at this moment or is he good I don't know that I don't know that either way to be honest with you uh I just you know my my thought is if he's not 100% fully healthy maybe there's something lingering from last year maybe he tweaked something during training Camp I think you know they wouldn't throw him out there just to throw him out there it could be something where they say hey let's let's rest a couple weeks get you really back to fully 100% And then go that's something I could see them doing because I think they like their other options enough it'd be one thing if the guys behind them they said man we better hope that that Justice can stay out there because these other guys just aren't to the same level but because guys like Hatcher and Gil have had strong camps and they've got Meeks there as well with his experience he brings from Georgia I think they feel pretty good that they wouldn't have to throw Justice out there if there was something going on all right fair enough QB Battle so I think that's that's good for the the wide receiver aspect obviously now let's talk a little bit about quarterback because we got a battle going on of course Kyle mcord in danger of losing the starting spot no I'm kidding I'm kidding of course he's clearly the quarterback one quarterback to so I recently heard that it seems like Jakari Williams has dropped out of the race so is it fair to say that it's a two-horse race right now between Michael Johnson Jr and Carlos doel Wilson yeah not too big of a surprise there just because he's a true freshman and not just a true freshman but wasn't here during the Spring right so you know with marcelis Barnes that we mentioned earlier yeah they've got a lot of talent in the secondary the advantage he has is that he was here in the spring so he got to go through that get coached learn the system learn the Playbook and all that which helps him when he gets to training camp and and can get back to just letting his natural talent show itself with um I completely lost my train of thought I'm sorry Jakari Williams Jakari Williams yes um Jakari Williams with him he didn't have the spring so that puts him at a disadvantage in terms of you know a guy like Carlos doio Wilson whatever fans think of him he he's been here he's been in college he was at Florida he's he's been in multiple system so it's a little easier he's got that experience he's he he has you know the ability to learn the Playbook a little bit quicker the transition from high school to to college is tough for anybody it's most difficult for a quarterback in my opinion quarterback and offense fly I think are the two biggest ones so yeah him dropping out is not a huge surprise and you got Michael Johnson Jr who's come in as a transfer and then you've got Carlos dor Ral Wilson um I think fans have have pretty much cooled on Carlos D Rio Wilson I think there was a lot of excitement when he first got here but they've seen him for a couple of years he's had opportunities to start hasn't blown them away and a lot of fans are like ah pretty much done with it but the thing is you've got different coaching you got a different system different style and so sometimes it just takes that right combination for things to click you can watch him throw the ball and he's got a very strong arm he throws a beautiful ball there's no question about that so can he put everything together Michael Johnson Jr is a little bit different type of a player he can flat out run he is a true dual threat coming out of high school he was a four-star Prospect who a lot of people thought you know had that potential to be a really Dynamic quarterback that could run for 800 to a th000 yards and then also throw for two to three thousand yards um he had a lot of injuries at Penn State and Florida Atlantic that he dealt with now he's healthy played a little bit at FAU last year primarily as a running back but he's taking command of the offense he's looked good during camp and and I think the Syracuse coaches feel confident with him should they have to put him in and because of his playmaking ability his speed his his ability to run the ball I don't think it would be too big of a shocker if they got in a certain situations and threw him out there as kind of like a wildcat quarterback type thing interesting that's very interesting I've never I never really thought about it from that perspective that he could be used think about announced him coming is when they put out the graphic that he was a weapon that offensive weapon yeah and so that has stuck with me that yeah I know he's a quarterback by trade right and and I know Syracuse needs a quarterback so him being in the backup quarterback b battle makes sense but the offensive weapon thing has just stuck in my mind I'm like are they gonna like line him up in the slot and do a a a reverse pitch to him where he can then turn around and throw the ball are they gonna line him up in the back field next to Kyle McCord and then you could do all sorts of things there and I mean nothing would really surprise me and and we don't know how um creative how risk averse or not risk averse these coaches are because it's all new we don't know how they're going to you know call plays and attack game plans Etc but I think he's a weapon that they could find ways to utilize this season okay so because my thought has always been if they're goingon to go wild cat you would use Dan valari yeah Dani would make perfect sense you would have I guess you could have valari and Michael Johnson back there that would be very very interesting to see what happens options you've got options k dare I say they do the you don't know who's getting the ball off the snap like you just put valari and and Johnson in the shotgun next to each other and you just don't know who's getting the ball or split them next to Kyle McCord and then you could do a direct snap to either any of the three I mean it the the possibilities are endless so let's let all of the teams that have to play Syracuse try to figure out if any of that's going to happen because the more time that you have to spend thinking about that the better it is for Syracuse in the coaching Strengths I I'm gonna have trouble figuring it out too and I'm just going to be watching good thing I'm not an opposing defense who has to worry about it right so Mike when you take a look at the roster what do you think are some of the strengths of the team well I think wide receivers really deep I think their offensive skill position Talent is excellent uh tight end might be the best most deepest position might be the best tight end group in the ACC one of the best tight end groups in the country you know you've got Dan valari we saw what he did last year when he was thrown in to be quarterback and but before that you know he was playing pretty well at tight end before you know they they lost the only quarter quarterback on the roster that could throw the ball seemingly so and and the way that he took over that role as the the Wildcat quarterback and running the ball and all that um I think it says a lot about him his competitiveness who he is as a football player and he's your backup and then you've the guy you've got starting in front of him was an all Amer a couple years ago all ACC first team guy and so yeah I I think that tight end group is incredibly deep they've got a lot of skill position Talent linebackers I think are really good you know if they're going to be playing a lot of 425 that means you're going to have two linebackers out there on the field most of the time which you would expect would be Marlo wax and I think your other guy depends on certain situations but Derek McDonald's going to be out there a lot enir Sparrow is going to be out there a lot guys like Zion mtry Goddard we've seen some good things in the spring and I think he's got an opportunity to play they've got some talented freshmen that have come in so you know that I like the linebacker group as well the secondary is you mentioned when I mentioned marcelus Barnes how much talent there is in the secondary so you know does he really have a chance to get in there because of how much talent I think you know a couple injuries and things like that that have happened help help his case but they've got a lot of options and they're going to be playing Five defensive backs most of the time so I think basically everywhere of other than the lines of scrimmage you feel really good about the talent and the depth that Syracuse has hey locked on Syracuse fans I want Sponsor to take a moment to give you a heads up on a new brand new mobile game that I think you are going to love as much as I do ultimate college football HC in this amazing game and simulation you get to step into the shoes of a head coach and lead your college football program to Glory can you imagine actually being the head coach of Syracuse from recruiting players and hiring coaching staff to overseeing training camps and handling school scholarships you control every crucial detail of your program it's all in your hands will you be able to handle the pressure and here's what I really love about the game you are responsible for calling offensive plays during the games your strategy will not only determine the success of your college football season but will shape the future and Legacy of your program ultimate college football HC is completely free and has no ads and is 100% playable offline you can play on the goo as you want and when you want to and of course we have a special offer for locked on Syracuse fans use the promo code locked on CFB all caps inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program make sure to take advantage of this perk as it will get your team off to a strong start to download the game just visit ultimate. cfb.isd Defensive Line two weeks ago you know at the end of the day with the offensive line if the quarterback can get rid of the ball quickly you can kind of mask any sort of issue or problem that an offensive line could have I'm not saying that the the line is weak or anything but if your quarterback can get rid of the ball in two seconds there's nothing you can do I watched Tom Brady for 20 years do the same thing I mean you couldn't touch him because and he's not fast you couldn't touch him right so if mccy can get rid of the ball quickly we're all good right we're all good yes defensive line though what's going on with the defensive line we know Fidel Diggs you're not underrating Fidel Diggs because you called him an NFL caliber Talent so finally someone else is putting respect actually I'm not surprised the Syracuse people are putting respect on Fidel digs everyone else is underrating him for some reason even though he's a four-star transfer what else is going on besides Fidel dicks well so you know I'll go back to offensive line I think there's more quality players offensive line wise than what we've seen in the past and so there's the potential for it to be a lot better there's just a lot of questions that we don't know as with a lot of the new guys that have come in we just don't know how it's all going to gel together so there's more questions there defensive line I think I feel pretty good about the ends led by Diggs but Dennis chz last year before he got hurt looked really good uh they got some young upand comers I know Isaiah Hastings the transfer from Alabama has spent time both at tackle and end uh but you know they they had the injury to brillan Ingraham which I think hurts what the expected rotation was going to be but again after that there's there's just questions there's guys like Elijah Fuentes Cundiff who played a little bit last year uh but didn't play a ton and partially because of the system with the 335 they weren't playing two tackles and and you know we know that Darton got a bulk of the of snaps uh but then they've got guys like Deion Wilson who's a transfer uh we've got Michael NOOA who's a junior college guy that's coming in there's there's just a lot of guys who are transfers who haven't played a ton transfers who played at a lower level or guys who haven't played a ton um here and so because you don't have like look in the second ER you've got the established Elijah Clark Justin Baron guys that are returning that have played and played well Marlo wax at linebacker darrk McDonald the linebacker running back you've got Lin Allen who's played we saw how good he was last year every position essentially you can look at a few guys and say I know what they are and if they get even better that puts them at potentially all ACC caliber player you don't really have that on the in interior of the defensive line and so that's really where the question comes from but um you know we we'll see how it all plays out I think if they can get two of those guys to really separate themselves as these are the clear starters and then you get one or two guys behind them that can come rotate in spell those guys and will give you something that with what they have through throughout the rest of the defense you feel pretty good about the the whole group all right I think it Schedule also helps I mean with the with the schedule the way it broke for Syracuse this year aside from Miami I I Miami is a team that you know has a lot of bulk up front that can give Syracuse a lot of problems there because that's often the separator between these Elite programs and the program striving to be better is is the lines and the the bulk that they have on the lines and the talent that they have on them Miami I think could give Syracuse some problems there on the lines but other than that I look at the schedule and I'm like I don't know who else is really sticking out like I know people say NC State's going to be good I kind of want to see it to believe it but other than that like with the lines that's kind of the all right we're not playing Florida State defensive lineman or or Clemson defensive lineman guy teams that have you know two to three even four NFL caliber players on there so maybe that eases my concern a little bit Mike overall what is your expectation for this season so I I think you expect Syracuse to take a step forward from what they have been and what they have been the last basically three years under Dino babers is a team that is right around 500 and is you know scratching and clawing to get to a bll game uh by the end of the season now we've seen flashes where they'd start 3 and 0 4 and0 5 and0 whatever it is and you start setting your sight a little bit higher and it doesn't pan out um but you're hoping that that's not really a question the question isn't can we figure out a way to get to a bowl game but rather how good of a bow game can we get to because of what you mentioned with the schedule where you don't have Florida State or Clemson and a lot of the the better teams that you're playing Virginia Tech Georgia Tech Miami you're getting at home really NC State's the big road game most of the rest of your top the top teams you're playing are are at home although I do think playing at Cal is going to be more challenging than what people think um so you know you you hope that with the talent they brought in they have a legit quarterback all of the transfers that have come in the fourstar recruits all of the hype the schedule that this is a year for Syracuse to win eight n plus games and sort of say hey look we're not just that six and six team anymore that all of the stuff that Fran Brown has been talking about is realistic it's what the actual goals are now the goal isn't just hope to be six and six have the your your Stadium three quarters filled some of the time and sort of you know stay in mediocrity if you take that giant step forward with everything that we've had happen this off season I I think that's that's a good sign for what's to come for Syracuse football and uh finally it's time to put you on the spot like I teased at the very beginning Mike what is your record prediction for Syracuse football undefeated national champs no all right I I'll I'll I won't go that same here same here won't go that crazy we're not losing so I when I do a record prediction I try to sort of find a happy medium between what I'm reading a lot of people say what is the potential for the highend if everything breaks right and what is realistic in that it's something Syracuse could get to would be considered a good season but also doesn't put unfair expectations on the team and the players because I think if everyone comes out here and says they're going to go 10- two well now if you go 10 and two or go nine and three does someone view that and say that's a disappointment yeah I don't think a nine and three season at Syracuse should be viewed as a disappoint I think a 9 and3 season if they go 9 and3 this year everyone should say that was a really good first year for Fran Brown really good and some people will then worry about someone trying to poach him um that's me I'm I already planted that seed I was like if they make the college football playoff get ready oh yeah I mean if they make the playoff then yes but again a good problem that you want to have that's also what I said let's get to the let's get to the playoff and then we'll figure everything outse else out from there but so I've got them an 8 and four because I think eight and four is very realistic it gives you the opportunity to have a couple of of slip UPS here in there in the schedule and get Syracuse off to a good start has them the potential to be ranked at some point during the season or by the end of the season and gets you to a good bowl game and I think keeps the recruits that are committed shows the recruits in the future classes that hey yeah Syracuse is for Real in turning a corner but also doesn't put unrealistic unfair expectations on the players and gives them room to realistically exceed that prediction so I'm going with eight is my official prediction and I do think that is it is realistic that they could exceed that I'm pretty much in the same boat as you we gry minds think alike because I'm also at eight and four and the way I described it is like almost like a box and Whisper chart like if you ever took a stats class before where I have this there's two ends there's obviously the the national championship on one end and zero wins on the other and then there's this box and the box in the middle for me is any where between six and 10 wins in the regular season so I split the difference and I call them eight like six wins is a disappointment but is feasibly realistic if something were to go wrong and 10 wins is also realistic if if pretty much everything breaks their way and then if you get out of that range of six and 10 then it's real extremes like did Kyle McCord to knock on wood you know Aaron Rogers suffered a season ending injury in four plays so you know I'm starred for life but you get the a something extreme happens on one end or extreme happens on the other end like Kyle mccor plays like a Heisman candidate then they can really exceed 10 so overall I'm with you eight and four is my prediction Mike thank you so much for hopping on thank you for making lockon Syracuse your first listen today now go check out the lockon college football podcast from nil deals to never- ending conference realignment rumors sensor mcclin gets you ready for an exciting season on the grid iron you can find the link to lockon college football in the description so you don't need to search part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day