next up in our ACC preview is one very special to my heart as an as an Alum of this school to on the Syracuse Orange who we're doing right now brand new head coach and Fran Brown they hired from Georgia uh Ace recruiter uh he is a defensive backs coach coming in from uh Georgia as well and Syracuse last year D made their second straight bowl game but still finished with only a six- seven record overall it was their fourth losing season in The Last 5 Years which led them to fire Dino babers after eight years on the job uh and Fran Brown like I said came in really good recruiter and that showed immediately in fact all in Syracuse brought in a top 40 recruiting class that's the first time they've done that since 2001 over 20 years since Syracuse has had a recruiting class that good and not only recruiting in high school they brought in a really good transfer class as well headlined by Kyle McCord the former Ohio State quarterback we'll talk about in just a second but now of course Fran Brown must prove that he's more than a great recruiter and he can actually be a really good coach to despite not being a coordinator at Georgia or a head coach ever in his uh previous stint but what is the biggest strength though of my Syracuse Orange right now well honestly their defense was pretty good last year and carried them most of the way Max as they dealt with some injuries especially at quarterback and he's going to really like this group they have in this secondary when you talk about Justin Baron and Elijah Clark both coming back at safety guys like Jaden Bellamy and Greg delaye coming back at corner this is a really experienced secondary and one that was really really good darn near a top 30 unit in the country last season so you talk about just trying to keep yourself in games while you're trying to figure out your offensive situation and get back from some injuries and you have a new quarterback and everything like that as long as everything's in front of you you don't have to score 40 45 points a night with this secondary they shouldn't have to do that not only that dlan dece Chestnut coming back to Syracuse as well after transferring to LSU uh didn't really play much at LC only played in four games but the years before while he was at Syracuse H an 81.4 grade across 2021 and 2022 which was fourth among ACC Corners you get him back from LSU after a one-year stint there the biggest weakness Dolan we'll talk about this in just a second with Kyle McCord his breakdown can he survive behind this offensive line they do return four starters from last year's offensive line but none of them earned a 60 PFF grade last year and as a unit they were the 110th highest graded offensive line in the country that could be a big issue D considering how Kyle McCord is under pressure his lack of Mobility as well I'm a little bit worried about mcord I think he's a great quarterback for Syracuse but I'm a little bit worried about his fit on this offense because that offensive line for sure and he doesn't necessarily have to be the best quarterback in the conference but he may be more than any other quarterback in the country is ryant on his pass protection in front of him last year he's a top 20 passer in the power five when he was in a clean pocket and he was one of the 10 worst when he was under pressure so it's really like you mentioned true strong armed pocket quarterback that isn't going anywhere he is not moving off of his spot he's either going to make his throw or he's going to take a sack right that's pretty much where we're at with mcord and again he's better than most people think he is the perception is that you know oh he was the One Singular thing that held back Ohio State last year but he only lost one game and that was to the best defense in the country and the national champions and honestly didn't play that bad in that game and had him about 3540 yards from winning it who knows where it might go from there so look McCord's a really good guy for Syracuse to get cuse hasn't had a 3,000 yard passer since 2012 Max so the standard the standard isn't all that high it's been since the days of Ryan Nassib all right so look they have to keep mcord clean and he can make the throws to these weapons and he should be supported by a good running game as well absolutely yeah Quint Allen's a really good running back but one of the weapons They're bringing back from injury is a Ronda gadon who actually D in EA colable 25 is the second highest rated tight end in the game now I don't know if either of us will agree with that even to me as a Syracuse alum but uh he's a really good player man kind of a hybrid between a wide receiver and a tight end He's listed by Syracuse as a tight end but I'm pretty sure that's because his numbers look a lot better when he list him as a tight end than as a wide receiver but he actually played uh 273 career snaps out wide as a receiver only 85 career snaps in line as a tight end so um and mostly he's a slot receiver for Syracuse as well played 553 snaps in his career in the slot played only two games last year before suffering a season ending LEF Frank injury but over the last two years even because even with that he has 1,033 receiving yards since over the last two years which is third among returning tight ends in the country so even though he's only played two games this past season he's still been incredibly productive for Syracuse over the last two years 2.35 yards per route run over the last two years the only ones with more D are Brock Bowers Michael Mayer and Dalton concade man all three of those guys are could be star tight ends right in the NFL so I'm really excited to see what he can do with Kyle mccor now uh and I think that this is probably the best quarterback he's ever had in his career Gaston could put up big numbers next year absolutely and he's going to be on NFL Scouts radar and one guy on their defense that's going to be on the NFL Scouts radar as well as as their top safety Justin Baron the highest graded safety in the ACC last year and one of just eight with 75 plus grades in rund D coverage and pass rush 64 225 pound Swiss army knife that can just do everything on the field he's the captain of their defense he's their best player on defense and he's the glue that holds this secondary together Justin Baron especially at that size moving the way he does he's going to be on a lot of Scouts radar heading into the 2025 draft he absolutely will man so with all this influx of talent D what are we expecting for the orange this upcoming season in their first year under Fran Brown they will be for me at least they will be as good as their offensive line um if this offensive line craters or they struggle in Brown's first year then mcord is just not going to have the success that that he could right and we saw it last year we saw throughout the year last year even in Ohio State's wins you get pressure on him and he really doesn't have much of an answer but with a relatively easy schedule although I think there's a sneaky kind of upset game that could Brew when they go to UNLV you know for as much but you can't take any of these games for granted right and especially if you do have a subpar offensive line you can't take it for granted but you've got mcord you've got Lin Allen we haven't mentioned yet at running back you've got gadon you've got a good defense this is a talented team this is a talented enough team to make a bow game if they block well enough and honestly with mcord as their quarterback it's the biggest X Factor for them so don I would give my bottom line for this team right now but in fact I'm going to bring in my brother Rising sophomore at Syracuse University for his bottom line instead so welcome on to the show for the first time is Ben shadwick how's it going folks I'm happy to be here I can't wait to give my input dton it's a pleasure to be on the show with you and I'm just really excited guys what do you think D we we talking about like a playoff team this year ACC Contender what do we think for the orange this year Well D I think you saying this team can make a bowl game is honestly pretty disappointing I'll be I'll be honest with you it's a seven and a half win total for the team I think at the very least I'm expecting eight wins if you look at their schedule I mean they're two hardest games minimum eight minimum thank you sir I think their two hardest games are at NC State and home against Miami at the end of the season so the ceiling honestly is 10- two dare I say 11 and one 12 and0 maybe even too 13 and0 maybe no I don't want to get ahead of myself here I want there's no there's zero bias here on your end at all there's zero bias in that studio right now there's no bias look no no bias whatsoever look honestly if if they find if they piece if they find this offensive line then I'm with you but when that's your biggest question I always worry but zero bias in that studio right now the offensive line is worrying I will be honest but as you guys were talking about Kyle McCord arguably one of the best back Syracuse had in a very long time was top two in all in like every major passing category in the Big 10 touchdowns uh yardage completions all that he was top two in the entire Big 10 this is the ACC it's a lot worse conference a lot worse opponents you look at their schedule who we talked about before so bowl game is bare bare minimum and a good balll game at that 10- two 11- one possibly I mean this is a playoff team at at the highest of the highest it really is you here it first man s playoff I'm all in I'm in with Ben I I think the big problem with the dino baber's era was Town acquisition he didn't recruit well Fran Brown's recruiting well right now now of course the coaching is the question mark But on with Ben I think uh at minimum this should be a final four team in college football next year minimum if not National Championship Contender 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