Spring Practice Notebook: Week 3
4/1/2018 8:00:00 AM | Football
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Dino Babers said earlier this week that spring is the best time to ready the Orange football team for the physical demands of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Judging by yesterday's practice, the head coach is going to do everything he can to ensure Syracuse is prepared to meet that challenge.
Seven days after holding a 148-play scrimmage, the second half of Saturday's workout at the Ensley Athletic Center featured extended team periods that included field goals and PATs.
"We can bang a lot more in the spring than we'll ever be able to do in the fall," Babers said Tuesday. "When you come up to August, you really have about a 10- to 12-day window where you can be extremely physical and then you have to back off the ones and you have to work the underbelly of the team.
"This is a big part of getting our ones ready."
Babers is preparing the Orange to face a 12-game schedule that includes seven bowl teams and three members of ESPN's Way Too Early Top 25 (Clemson, Florida State, Notre Dame).
"We need to go ones-on-ones because we don't have that depth yet. It's going to be fun. This is a different football team. I can feel it, and it will be exciting to see how they go about the schedule that we have to go through, because although it's not as tough as last year, it's a tough one."
COACHING CRADLE
Speaking of the schedule, the Orange will face three opponents in 2018 whose head coaches either played or coached at Syracuse. Former Orange assistants Tim Lester and Steve Addazio hold the reins at Western Michigan and Boston College, respectively. Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall was an Orange quarterback before serving as an assistant under Dick MacPherson from 1982-90.
Of the 130 current FBS head coaches, nine, including Dino Babers, have either played at Syracuse or spent time on The Hill as a coach. That's more than any other school. Those coaches are: Babers, Lester, Addazio, Edsall, Nick Saban (Alabama), Ed Orgeron (LSU), Major Applewhite (Houston), Dan Mullen (Florida) and Sean Lewis (Kent State).
CULPEPPER STARTS CANCER TREATMENT
Quarterback Rex Culpepper began chemotherapy earlier this week to treat testicular cancer. Culpepper was diagnosed on March 18. The rising redshirt sophomore had surgery the following day and has been home in Tampa, Fla. recuperating. According to Culpepper, the cancer is very treatable. He expects to finish chemotherapy June 1.
Full story: Moffitt.org/Culpepper
ROB LONG, UPLIFTING ATHLETES PRESENTED WITH CAMPUS AWARD
One person Rex Culpepper can draw inspiration from in his cancer fight is former Syracuse punter Rob Long. Long was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer in 2010. Now the director of strategic development for Uplifting Athletes, Long beat the disease and recently celebrated seven years of being cancer-free.
On Thursday, Long returned to campus to receive the University's Orange Circle Award for extraordinary service to others. The Syracuse chapter of Uplifting Athletes, which raised more than $11,000 this year for rare-disease patients, was also honored.
Full story: Cuse.com/OrangeCircle
TICKETS, TICKETS, TICKETS
Season tickets for 2018 Syracuse football are on sale now. Tickets start at $125 and can be purchased online (Cuse.com/tickets), by phone (888-DOME-TIX) or in person at the Carrier Dome Box Office (Gate B).Â
This year's campaign begins Friday, Aug. 31 on the road against Western Michigan. The home opener is set for Sept. 8 against Wagner.
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