Sunday Sidebar: Youth Served, Same Faces in New Places

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse football's 38-point victory over Holy Cross yesterday allowed for veterans to experiment with different roles and for underclassmen who are just getting their feet wet in college football to make contributions. Throughout the game, head coach Dino Babers and his staff tried players in new spots, while true freshmen received valuable snaps in game situations that should benefit them down the road.

Among the newcomers who made an impact was freshman tight end Luke Benson, who caught his first career touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The 70-yard, catch-and-run on a pass from Tommy DeVito represented the longest passing play for the Orange this season. Benson has been a contributor on special teams all season and now has three catches for 96 yards (32.0 avg.) to his credit.

Defensively, rookie Mikel Jones has been a key piece of Syracuse's rotation at linebacker from the outset. Jones tallied four tackles and half a sack versus Holy Cross to raise his season tackle total to 15 in five games.

While Benson and Jones have been mixing in with the regulars all along, their classmates Courtney Jackson, Jawhar Jordan, Drew Tuazama, Aman Greenwood and Adrian Cole each made their Syracuse debut against the Crusaders. Jackson caught his first pass for a 3-yard gain in the fourth quarter. Jordan carried twice for 18 yards and Tuazama collected two tackles.

"It's very important," Babers said. "To get those guys in the game, with some live action, and see what they're going to do is really good."

As with anyone experiencing something for the first time, there were learning moments. After a nice run, Jordan lost a fumble when he was stood up by a host of Holy Cross tacklers and ball was pulled out. Tuazama left the game late in the fourth quarter after he was called for targeting for his hit on Holy Cross backup quarterback Matt Considine.

"Hopefully two, three and four years down the road, we'll be able to pay the dividends from the lessons they learned today."

Among the varying personnel decisions was sending out All-America-caliber punter Sterling Hofrichter in the first half to kick a 52-yard field goal in place of 2018 Lou Groza Award winner Andre Szmyt. Hofrichter made the kick with plenty of room to spare. The field goal surpassed Hofrichter's previous long of 38 yards and he is now 3-for-4 on field goals in his career.

"Sterling has the strongest leg on the team. Andre has the most accurate leg I've ever seen," Babers said. "It was one of those kicks where we thought 'Sterling can get it there,' so we just went with Sterling. He practices that all the time and he has a really, really strong leg."

Another special teams twist occurred in the fourth quarter when redshirt junior Nolan Cooney trotted out to kick off after Benson's touchdown instead of Hofrichter. One of the most reliable holders in college football, Cooney is Szmyt's right-hand man for Syracuse's normal kicking operation. This time, Cooney did the kicking himself and he drove the ball into the end zone for a touchback.

Perhaps Saturday's biggest surprise was junior tight end/fullback Chris Elmore playing both ways. In addition to starting the game at tight end, the 295-pound Elmore played multiple series at defensive tackle and had one stop. The idea of allowing Elmore, who has played in every game the last three years, to try his hand on defense has been percolating among the Syracuse coaching staff for a while. Prior to last season, Elmore spent most of spring practice training at nose tackle and he logged three tackles as a down lineman in the 2018 Spring Preview.

"He's the type of guy, whether he's on offense or defense, if we can find a way to play him 50 to 70 plays, it's normally in our favor," Babers said. "It's normally not in the opponent's favor with Chris Elmore on the football field."

A standout defensive lineman at Chicago's Phillips Academy, Elmore set the Illinois state record with 44 career sacks.

"I've seen an animal, in the wild, doing what he does. They call him 'Rhino' for a reason," defensive end Kendall Coleman said. "Go in there and be destructive and let the rest of us clean up behind him."

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Syracuse University Athletics

Sunday Sidebar: Youth Served, Same Faces in New Places

Players Mentioned

Luke Benson

Adrian Cole

Kendall Coleman

Nolan Cooney

Tommy DeVito

Chris Elmore

Aman Greenwood

Sterling Hofrichter

Courtney Jackson

Mikel Jones

Jawhar Jordan

Andre Szmyt

Drew Tuazama

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