Syracuse football had their 11th spring practice Saturday at the Clifford Ensley Athletic Center.

Here are three takeaways with the Orange a week away from their spring game at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Demetres Samuel Jr. is one of the highest rated prospects in SU's 2025 class, and he's stood out so far.

Samuel is listed as a defensive back and wide receiver; today he wore a white jersey (offense) and mainly did defensive back drills but worked on routes alone with a coach.

In defensive drills he showed great fluidity as a natural athlete and he has good height at 6’1”. As a wideout he looked quick and showed natural bend.

He just celebrated his 17th birthday years after he enrolled at SU at 16.

“He’s unorthodox because he’s so young and he’s so talented,” Trebor Pena said on Friday.

Syracuse's two highest recruits in the 2025 cycle were four-star defensive backs Samuel and Kaylib Singleton.

Fran Brown’s ability to recruit DBs shouldn’t come as a surprise as his previous job was defensive backs coach at Georgia.

In practice on Saturday, Brown was heavily involved in cornerback drills where he went over technique at the line of scrimmage.

Brown also was involved in wideout release drills on Friday as he lined up at cornerback and taught his WRs about how corners will try to jam receivers at line and how to get separation from a defender’s perspective.

This year’s DB room lacks experience after losing several starters, but freshman Rayshon Andrews showed promise on Saturday. Andrews measures at 6’4” and is raw, but he could develop into a shut down DB.

Even though SU's current quarterback room hasn't seen a single collegiate start yet, they should have more speed no matter who starts.

Quarterback coach Nunzio Campanile said Michael Johnson Jr. is one of the fastest players on the team, Rickie Collins showed some running ability at LSU, and Jakhari Williams should also provide some speed. In practice the quarterbacks went through simulated read options and RPOs.

Compare that to last year's offense under Kyle McCord, when SU's offense finished 15th in in the ACC in quarterback rushing yards, average gain, and attempts.

Even though the team loses LeQuint Allen, they should be better at running the football with key offensive linemen returning and with a new element of speed at the quarterback position.

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