Syracuse football had their 10th spring practice on Friday at the Clifford Ensley Athletic Center. Here are three takeaways with the Orange only three practices away from their spring game next Saturday.

Quarterback coach Nunzio Campanile was quick to point out this spring is a lot different than last year as Syracuse doesn’t have a confirmed starting quarterback.

Campanile said the name of the game last year was taking an experience Kyle McCord and catching him up on Syracuse's offense. This year, the mission is teaching the new players while also developing the younger quarterbacks.

Syracuse has eight quarterbacks on the roster and none of them have started a game.

“There’s a huge difference between a guy who started 14-15 games to someone who has played maybe 30 snaps,” Campanile said. “Now we’re in a different spot where we have to get all these guys up to speed and figure out who’s the right guy to lead our team.”

Campanile spoke highly of all the quarterbacks and the room as a whole.

Freshman Rich Belin was particularly impressive during the drills on the field media observed. Belin was a three-star prospect, New York’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2023 and a two-time All-State quarterback.

Belin is a dual threat quarterback, and is on the smaller end listed at 6’0” 187 pounds but looked accurate and showed a quick release.

Trebor Pena, in a move that even surprised him, was named a captain by Fran Brown. Pena is one of two redshirt senior wide receivers along with Umari Hatcher.

“I didn’t know, [Brown] just said that,” Pena said. “I lead by my actions… I got to grow more to talk more and hold guys accountable.”

No matter who starts at QB come August, Pena should be able to make their life easier. Last year he totaled 941 receiving yards, 81 catches and nine touches. With Oronde Gadsden and Jackson Meeks departing for the NFL, Pena should be the No. 1 pass catcher defenses circle.

“In the receiver [Pena is] their quarterback,” quarterback Rickie Collins said. “He’s a great leader… he works hard, I work hard. When you get two people like that you can’t go wrong.”

Behind Pena there are some exciting options like South Carolina transfer Tyshawn Rusell and returning contributors Darrell Gill Jr. and Justus Ross-Simmons, who both had big games last season.

There is also buzz around four-star freshman Demetres Samuel Jr. who is listed at both defensive back and wide receiver. Samuel has lined up against Pena and learned from Pena in his short time in Syracuse.

“To be able to learn both sides and learn the playbook on defense, I’ve got to give props to him; that’s tough.” Pena said.

Brown said wants to have a starting quarterback named soon and Collins, a redshirt sophomore, just might be the man for the job. Collins was a four-star prospect and played in the four games for LSU, mostly in mop up duty.

In practice he and Michael Johnson Jr. were taking first-team reps. Brown came down to Collin’s native Baton Rouge to recruit him, using a pitch that sounds similar to McCord as Brown went out of his way to actively call him “the guy.”

“He’s very talented but I think more importantly, he loves football,” Campanile said. “He’s fit into the team really quickly and all the players have a lot of respect for him. The amount of growth he’s made since he got here has been really impressive.”

Collins said he’s comfortable but not yet where he wants to be within Jeff Nixon’s offense. He threw extra passes after practice and has formed relationships with Dan Vallari and Pena.

“I think my transition has been good,” Collins said. “When I first got here it was uncomfortable…Learning the verbiage and the plays and how they do things here is a different way of life so you have to learn.”

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