Recap: Spring Scrimmage #1

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange have completed six of their 15 allotted spring practice sessions, wrapping up their second week of work with a 90-minute, 148-play scrimmage Saturday morning at the Ensley Athletic Center.

With Syracuse having to replace several key players from 2017, head coach Dino Babers said Saturday was an opportunity to evaluate those with less experience under game-like conditions.

"I thought it was fun to see a lot of guys we haven't seen in games get out here and show us some of the things they can do," Babers said. "I think the underbelly is maturing. I'm looking forward to seeing where we can take this group by the end of spring, then add them to the rest of the freshmen we have coming in to see what it's all going to look like in 2018."

The Orange defense turned in a solid all-around performance. Coordinator Brian Ward's unit did not allow a touchdown pass, recorded 10 sacks and had two takeaways.

Offensively, the Orange scored seven rushing touchdowns.

Tommy DeVito served as the first-team quarterback, while Clayton Welch and Chance Amie alternated running the second unit. Eric Dungey, who had offseason foot surgery, did not play. Babers said holding Dungey out was a precaution and allowed the coaches to take a closer look at younger quarterbacks on the roster.

"We know what Eric can do. He's seen our defense so much, it's not as challenging to him as it is to some other people," Babers said. "We've got some quarterbacks we need to take a look at. This is our best opportunity to take a look at them, so we did that."

One of those quarterbacks is Welch, who led an 80-yard touchdown drive on the first series. The score was set up by a long Trishton Jackson run on a jet sweep. Two plays later, Jackson took another handoff and scampered into the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown.

Moe Neal recorded the offense's second touchdown on a 65-yard run. It was the first of two touchdowns for Neal, who also scored from eight yards out.

In addition to Neal, Luke Erickson also rushed pair of touchdowns. Dontae Strickland and Otto Zaccardo each had one.

Strickland's score may have been the play of the day. On 4th-and-goal from the 14-yard line, the Dayton, N.J. native took an inside handoff and broke multiple tackles before finally bulling his way across the goal line.

Josh Black and Alton Robinson paced the defense with 1.5 sacks apiece. McKinley Williams, Kingsley Jonathan, Nadarius Fagan, Justin Ellis, Chris Slayton and Juan Wallace all had one. Shaq Grosvenor and Andrew Armstrong were each credited with half a sack.

Linebacker Tyrell Richards logged one of the defense's two caused turnovers, recovering a fumbled snap. Cornerback Scoop Bradshaw had the other, intercepting a pass that was deflected high in the air by Christopher Fredrick.

Syracuse will hold four more practices this coming week. The Orange return to the field tomorrow for another workout inside Ensley.

Said Babers: "We still have to work on our individual techniques and fundamentals. We have a lot of young people who are giving us great effort, but we have to make sure they know how to operate every single tool on their tool belt."

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Syracuse University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Chance Amie

Andrew Armstrong

Josh Black

Scoop Bradshaw

Tommy DeVito

Eric Dungey

Luke Erickson

Nadarius Fagan

Christopher Fredrick

Shaq Grosvenor

Trishton Jackson

Kingsley Jonathan

Moe Neal

Tyrell Richards

Alton Robinson

Chris Slayton

Dontae Strickland

Juan Wallace

Clayton Welch

McKinley Williams

Otto Zaccardo

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