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Saturday Scott Shafer and the Syracuse Orange started their first day of summer training camp. With a target of eight wins, Shafer and the rest of his staff must figure out which players will be on the field to give the Orange the best chance of reaching its goal. Some positions are truly wide open. 
Wide receiver: There is no doubt that Jarrod West, Ashton Broyld and Brisley Estime will be Terrel Hunt’smain targets this fall. Behind them however offensive coordinator George McDonald has some decisions to make. Either upperclassmen Quinta Funderburck and Jeremiah Kobena will step up, or McDonald will be forced to rely on the freshman trio of Steve Ishmael, Adly Enoicy and Jamaal Custis as downfield options. Senior Adrian Flemming and junior Alvin Cornelius may also feature.
Offensive Guard: According to Sean Hickey at ACC media day, senior Nick Robinson, redshirt junior Omari Palmer and senior Rob Trudo will be fighting for the two offensive guard positions. Robinson missed all of spring practice with a lower-body injury but says he should be ready for the season. Redshirt sophomore Palmer was listed ahead of Trudo on the spring depth chart at left guard, but that may be because Trudo took reps at center this spring in an unsuccessful attempt to replace Macky MacPherson.
Cornerback: Senior Brandon Reddish and junior Julian Whigham will definitely be the starters if they can stay healthy, but that is a big if. Reddish missed SU’s game against Clemson last season due to injury and Whigham’s season ended after he took a massive hit against Florida State. Defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough will need other players to show that they are capable of filling in for this injury plagued pair. Junior Wayne Morgan is the only upper classmen back up option. Freshmen Juwan Dowells, Antwan Cordy and Cordell Hudson all could make major statements in camp this summer.
Posted by: Connor Morrissette
9 responses to “3 Key Position Battles to Watch for in Orange Football Camp”
WRs – Wish the final depth chart went something along the lines of …
Broyld/Funderburke/Cornelius when you want three WRs.
Think the three freshmen, based on their HS videos (I know, I know), would make a great group themselves.
I believe that Flemming/West/Kobena are lacking in talent/ability compared to the rest, and their past stats, although no guarantee of future performance, have not been all that great.
Estime will get his touches either as a WR or RB, not concerned about that.
Just please do something other than “Hunt completes it short to N”, and hope that N can break off a big play.
Kev
Here are the lateast team rankings for Syracuse by the major recruiting websites.
Scout.com has them at 28th
247 sports has them at 34th
rivals.com has them at 30th
If you averaged them out,Syracuse would be ranked 31st in the country. Something has to be going right for the football program to get such a lofty position.
GO CUSE;
My concerns right now are back up center//back up QB//and MLB. Is Hodge ready- experienced, knows the signals, calls, playbook–READY!!?? Or is Arciniega bigger and better?
Ron its getting better by far, but still early. If by the first Wednesday in in Feb. the SU programs is in the 30’s then we will be grateful!! That’s a step in the right direction. If some of this talent plays up to its so called rating SU might get some bump up to 4 star talent next year!!
DO NOT FORGET THE KIDS OF PSABUSEDU!! THE NCAA DID!!
Ron and Terry…
You guys are right in that recruiting HAS improved. At least what the “rating folks” think of our recruits.
I doubt the 30-ish ranking will hold. I think will finish 37-41..which is still considerable improvement.
I couldn’t agree with you guys more. it would be an early Christmas present for me if Syracuse were to get a 30 something rating at the end of the year.
Just remember that a year ago we finished in the 50’s and two years ago we finished in the 70’s,so it does appear that recruiting is getting better.
I’ve picked Syracuse to go 4-0 to start the year. After reading some articles about Villanova and Central Michigan,man I just don’t know. I think were going to be a battle with both teams,and willbe a lot closer than what people think.
I just got home from a trip into Syracuse to check out the progress that’s being made on the IPF construction.
It looks like the foundation of the building is approximately 96% finished and they were cleaning up the work site. I would guess by the end of August were going to see them putting the steel work up. It looks like they’ve run a water line from Manley Field House that extends around the perimeter of the building and have installed some fire hydrants along the way.
I posted earlier that I thought they run all of that 5′ diameter piping for the Meadow Brook stream. They now have 300-500’stock piled to the right of the worksite along with concrete distribution boxes and collars to be installed later. I also said that they removed the bleachers on the soccer field and I’m guessing that they’re going to stay.
I like the logjam of talent at the wr spot(behind the Broyld, Estime and West), it will force guys to step up to get noticed. I do feel like a couple of guys might end up becoming late bloomer types because of the logjam and how the dispersal of ages falls.
The physical sizes of the wr is the thing I like the best. A wide range of targets from the tall to the small. And while I want all the fr wr to redshirt, I’m happy that they have a legit chance to gain minutes if they prove to be better than the upperclassmen.
Now to the specific receivers:
I like Kobena(he’s a local NYC kid), but he has not lived up to the promise he had. If he didn’t break out when the Orange had some level of downfield passing under Nassib or when Drew Allen’s arm came to SU, then I am not sure where he makes his mark in his last stand. He’s been hurt and relatively unproductive despite having good speed and with the short passing game featured, I don’t think he has the lateral moves to thrive with this game plan. I haven’t heard his name connected to the return game where he had success early at SU. I think Kobena’s time will ultimately seen as a wash out on the field. Not a joke or a knock, but perhaps a guy like him to go to an indoor pro league and be successful.
Adrian Flemming. I used to read about this dude “Mossing” dbs in practices…and no not Rice Moss. But he has never been able to really breakthrough and get on the field. He is like the walking mash unit. I think Flemming(IF healthy) has a legit chance to help the team as a possession guy. He got hurt early last yr but seemed to be a guy who was going to figure into the attack. It looked like Allen wanted to go to him and his 6’2″ lanky frame. Depending on how the playing time falls, I can see him getting a couple of redzone tds.
Quinta has the physical gifts to be a contributor but needs to stand out. This is the time to do it setting up for a sr year where he will definitely have more guys nipping at his heels. Live up to the 4 star hs rating and the Orange will have a legit passing target.
Cornelius. I really think a guy like ACIII has a chance to surprise folks. With more of an opportunity to play, I think he will be productive. He had some shining moments but with more experience, and what I think might be some underrated speed(not calling him a blazer) he can help the team. Don’t sleep on him.
Now the way I see it shaking out early on is that Ashton Broyld, Brisly Estime and Jarod West are the top guys. West is in dire need of a bounceback year. He didn’t become what we all expected but the talent is there. I don’t see him as an NFL prospect, but he is a solid college wr. Broyld is growing into the position. He needs to become a consistent catcher of the football because he has good enough speed and agility to make plays after the catch. But with his height, I’d love to see him on some of those jump balls downfield. And Brisly….well I’ll comment on him in the other topic as I just re-watched the Texas Bowl.
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