Syracuse Football Slammed by Injuries
SYRACUSE, NY — Syracuse Orange head football coach Dino Babers has not yet confirmed the status of starting quarterback Tommy DeVito. DeVito was helped off the field during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against Duke after succumbing to his fifth sack of the afternoon. The redshirt junior was later seen on crutches.
“So basically, there's no update,” Babers said Monday during his weekly press availability. “I’ve got to get back to the medical people, OK, and see where we're at. But I would leave that exactly the way I left it after the game.”
Following Saturday’s 38-24 loss to the Blue Devils, Babers said in reference to DeVito’s injury “it's not good.”
“We're all pulling for him and we wish him the best, but, like I said, right now, it's not good.”
All Syracuse on Sports Illustrated publisher Michael McAllister reported Saturday evening that “according to two sources, DeVito is out for the season with a leg injury.”
When asked about these reports, Babers said he was not aware of them. What he did hint at, however, was some more definitive rulings for other injured players.
“I have not seen the reports. I haven't been on the internet and all that other kind of stuff,” Babers said. “But we've had other guys have been out for the season. I just haven't had the official report from the medical people. I saw him (DeVito) yesterday in the team meetings and I'm waiting for the official report from the medical people.”
Babers later clarified that by “other guys,” he was talking about All-American Orange safety Andre Cisco.
McAllister provided this insight into Cisco's injury in his Monday article:
“Cisco collided with wide receiver Ed Hendrix during pregame warmups prior to the Orange’s 37-20 win over Georgia Tech. Cisco limped to the locker room and did not come back out until the team ran out of the tunnel for kickoff. Cisco was dressed in sweats and did not play. The injury is reportedly a torn ACL.”
The Orange now have gigantic question marks at two premium positions, and the hits keep on coming as freshman running back Sean Tucker is banged-up as well. His future, though, seems brighter than others.
“Still waiting to see what's going on with Sean,” Babers said about his starting tailback. “I think he's going to be okay. I think he's in better shape than Tommy, but I'm not a doctor. I'll get that report later on.”
With DeVito’s official outcome expected to be season-ending, the reigns will presumably be handed over to redshirt senior back-up Rex Culpepper. Culpepper is best remembered for this 69-yard bomb to Taj Harris in week two against Pitt.
The scoring sling marked his first touchdown pass since his battle with cancer. Apart from that magical throw, however, Culpepper is 7-18 for 44 yards and one interception. While Culpepper and DeVito each have their own unique style of quarterbacking, Babers says the offense should to continue operate the same way regardless of who is taking snaps.
“We can run our offense with him and we will continue to run our offense,” Babers said about the anticipated transition. “Now, we're always gonna have wrinkles. You're going to have wrinkles to try to move the football. But as far as changing what we do, we shouldn't be drastically changing what we do with Rex behind center.”
Those hoping for an early look at untested arms like David Summers and true freshmen Jacobian Morgan and Dillon Markiewicz shouldn’t get their hopes up. Babers says they aren’t quite ready for game action just yet.
“You don't rep your number three quarterback,” Babers began saying about his depth behind center. “You don't rep your number four quarterback. You barely have time to rep your number two quarterback. So those guys we've seen a little bit, but we haven't had the normal scrimmages that we normally have because we don't have the depth at the offensive line and at a bunch of other positions. We haven't been able to bang those guys the way they really need to be banged.”
Babers’ expectation for a near-seamless transition at quarterback seems to apply to the void at running back as well.
“We're going to adjust to whatever happens back there and that's the way we're going to do it. Somebody will line up there and we're going to turn around and hand him the ball. Either we've seen him do some good things before or we're going to be all sitting there waiting to see if he's going to do something that we've never seen before because it's a new guy.”
The only other back to be handed the ball against Duke was redshirt junior Markenzy Pierre, who got one touch for three yards.
A 1-3 start and a sudden disappearance of star power has sunk any promise surrounding the 2020 season to a new low. When asked how he would respond to fans questioning whether the season was over, Babers passed along these words:
“I would say think about Duke, what they did to us.”
