How are Syracuse football's transfers doing this year?
In the modern era of the transfer portal, more players are on the move around the country than ever before. Some players that felt underutilized look ahead to greener pastures, while some teams that need an upgrade at a position look to pry away talent from each other.
With the season over the halfway mark, it’s as good a time as any to check in on how Syracuse football's athletes that transferred out this past year have fared.
For simplicity sake we’ll go alphabetically by last name.
Carter was one of the bigger losses through the portal for SU, but he hasn’t paid off his $107k NIL value for OSU either, as he had just two solo tackles through six games before injuring his leg against Penn State.
Easily the biggest loss for Babers’ squad, “Duce” Chestnut was one of the most talented cornerbacks in years for SU and left the same year they lost Garrett Williams to the NFL draft, essentially resetting SU’s cornerback room to square one.
Chestnut has faded into the background of a very talented LSU roster, playing in four games and compiling four solo tackles, one tackle-for-loss, one pass defensed and one interception.
Geer was an ascending player for SU before his transfer and locked down a starting spot right away for the Gamecocks. He’s been a solid big body for his position, with five games played and three solo tackles made, a half tackle-for-loss and a pass defensed.
Jackson is probably having the best year of any transfer out of SU to date, making an immediate impact for the Red Wolves and compiling 23 catches for 433 yards and six touchdowns, one rush for five yards, and nine punt returns for 59 yards.
Lamson is next up in terms of transfer success after Jackson, albeit in a part-time role as more of a rushing-threat QB. On the year for the Cardinals, he’s 31 of 65 for 416 yards and one interception as a passer, and has 71 attempts for 171 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
My personal vote for biggest loss to transfer this year, Linton is an edge rusher that got better and better for SU but inexplicably did not see the field as a full-time starter.
The Red Raiders nabbed him, and its paid off as in eight games Linton has 13 solo tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles to go with one recovery, and one pass defensed.
You have to imagine he would be a welcome contributor for the Orange with how they’ve struggled to get pressure this year.
Queeley is having about the same type of year he’d had for Syracuse since arriving on the Eagles, with 22 catches for 222 yards and three touchdowns in eight games.
His departure hurt SU’s depth a bit especially after losing Oronde Gadsden for the year, but overall it hasn’t been much of a negative.
That’s it for the biggest transfers, but I wanted to mention two players who entered the portal but decided to withdraw and stay at Syracuse.
• Damien Alford has been a big play threat for the Orange this year with 24 catches for 389 yards and one touchdown.
• Jeremiah Wilson has been a steady presence at corner with 13 solo tackles, one tackle-for-loss, one interception and four passes defensed.
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