Takeaways from Friday's Syracuse Orange football spring practice

Syracuse football held another 2026 spring practice on Friday. Here are three takeaways from the evening proceedings at Ensley Fieldhouse.

Emerging Leadership at Safety

Many positions on defense saw significant turnover this offseason. But one position stood out with how much leadership was lost. Senior leaders Devin Grant and Duce Chestnut both graduated, leaving many question marks in the secondary.

But as many preach, there always has to be a next man up. It seems that this year, Cornell Perry is ready to be a leader. The redshirt senior spoke Friday about he wants to lead his position group this upcoming season.

“I have been called up to lead the team, being a guy that younger guys can look up to,” Perry said after practice.

Perry joins Braheem Long Jr as one of the two veteran players who will lead the safeties. But there is also depth at the position, too. Perry talked positively about Toledo transfer Amare Snowden as impressing early at spring practice.

New coach for the defensive line

While many fans know about the new players who will don the orange next fall either from high school or the portal, some do not realize that there are many new coaches on Fran Brown's staff as well. One of those new coaches is defensive line coach John Scott Jr.

Scott has been coaching football for over 25 years, with experience in college and the NFL. The veteran coach talked about what led him to join the Orange staff.

“One day I was at Clemson in December, and he (Fran Brown) called me out of the blue,” Scott said. “I just got up here, and I just loved the place and saw the potential. To me, it was a no-brainer.”

Scott’s last stop before heading to north to 'Cuse was down in Clemson, where he spent two seasons with the Tigers. Coach Scott is also has the titles as the Assistant Head Coach and co-Defensive Coordinator for the Orange.

Defensive Professor

Simply put, Coach Fran landed one of the best defensive coordinators on the market. Vince Kehres came over from Toledo, where he ran one of the best defenses in the country. In just one week of practice, many of his players can see the impact he brings to the team. Perry was one of the players who noted the impact.

“He’s a teacher,” Perry said. “When he first got here, we had a little individual meeting, and in that meeting, I could just tell that he would've stayed there past midnight talking through the film and plays. A lot of the guys that may have struggled last year in terms of concepts have picked it up and understand it a lot better now. He’s a professor.”

Kehres helped Toledo post the second-best defensive stop rate in college football, according to ESPN. That number is a far cry from Syracuse's 120th-place ranking. The numbers seem to say that Kehres might have been one of Syracuse’s biggest recruiting wins over the winter.

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