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ESPN weighs in on the Syracuse quarterback room
We’re under 90 days until Syracuse Orange football takes the gridiron for the first time under head coach Fran Brown. With Ohio State quarterback transfer Kyle McCord now in the Orange backfield, August 30 can’t come soon enough.
But just how excited should SU fans be about its new QB? According to ESPN, McCord is worth all the hype.
In a ranking of all the quarterback rooms in the country, the Worldwide Leader of Sports placed McCord and Syracuse within the top 30. Using a tier system, the Orange made it into “Tier 5B” along with Florida State, NC State and Notre Dame. The author notes that Tier 5B “represents the cream of the crop of the 2024 portal movers.”
McCord took over the starting gig last year for the Buckeyes, posting 3,170 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions in 12 games. On3 ranked him in the top 10 of QB transfers this offseason, and McCord chose SU last December.
The article also notes that while many viewed McCord’s tenure at OSU as a disappointment, his numbers were much better than most people think.
OK, one last comparison:
QB A: 84.1 Total QBR, 65.4% completions, 8.8 yards-per-attempt, 3.3 TD-to-INT rate, played with a first-round draft pick at receiver.
QB B: 83.8 Total QBR, 65.8% completions, 9.1 yards-per-attempt, 4.0 TD-to-INT rate, played with a first-round draft pick at receiver.
Tough call, right? If anything, perhaps a slight edge to QB B, but both were excellent.
And you’d be right to praise QB A. That was Washington’s Penix, who played for a national title and was taken with the eighth pick in the NFL draft. The other guy? That’s McCord, who was largely seen as a disappointment in his lone year as the starter at Ohio State. He transferred this offseason to Syracuse where, it should be noted, he’ll have a solid receiving corps again with Oronde Gadsden II, Jackson Meeks and Zeed Haynes, playing his home games on the turf indoors and doing it without the massive expectations that come with being QB1 in Columbus.
The quarterback’s total QBR, completion percentage, yards-per-attempt and TD-to-INT ratio were eerily similar to those of Washington southpaw Michael Penix Jr., who led the Huskies to the national title game.
A shot at the College Football Playoff with McCord in the backfield isn’t out of the realm of possibility, especially with this Orange receiving room. Oronde Gadsden II returns after missing nearly all of last season, while Jackson Meeks and Zeed Haynes (transfers from Georgia) bring much-needed SEC experience.
Miami, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech were the only ACC teams on the list that ranked higher than Syracuse. The conference saw a flurry of transfer QB activity this offseason, with seven previous Power-5 starters joining the ACC: McCord, Cam Ward (Miami), DJ Uiagalelei (Florida State), Riley Leonard (Notre Dame), Maalik Murphy (Duke), Max Johnson (North Carolina) and Tyler Shough (Louisville).
Where do you think SU’s quarterback room ranks going into the fall?
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