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Football

Dino Babers discusses playing former SU coach, Week 1 depth chart

Kaci Wasilewski | Asst. Copy Editor

Dino Babers spent Monday’s press conference discussing the matchup with former SU offensive coordinator Tim Lester.

By Josh Schafer

On Sept. 9, 2017 Syracuse lost to Middle Tennessee State, 30-23, in the Carrier Dome. While Scott Shafer smoked a celebratory cigar on the stairs of the Carrier Dome, SU players admitted they were distracted by playing their former head coach.

“Thinking about Shafe is just something that people just let get to their head,” former SU linebacker Paris Bennett said.  “I thought about Shafe more than I would like to.”

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In the Orange’s opener against Western Michigan, the players will have a similar challenge as the Broncos head coach Tim Lester coached at Syracuse from 2013-15. Lester served as the offensive coordinator during the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Lester’s offensive system, which featured a 1000-yard rusher in Jarvion Franklin in 2017, isn’t similar to the high-paced Babers spread. Babers noted he doesn’t see any advantage for his team because SU seniors were a part of Lester’s offense in 2015.

“On the flipside, I think it’s a huge advantage for them that they know these players, they recruited them, they watched them on tape,” Babers said. “They should have a good feel for what they can and they can’t do.”



Syracuse released its depth chart prior to Babers’ press conference on Wednesday. SU plans to run a base 4-3 defense Friday night in response to WMU’s emphasis on the ground game, Babers said. Senior linebackers Ryan Guthrie (Mike), Kielan Whitner (Sam) and junior Andrew Armstrong (Will) will fill in the three open spots at the position.

“This is a good test, this is a team that likes to run the football, linebackers need to be right, they need to be gap conscious,” Babers said.  “It’s a heavy zone team which means they’re going to try to stretch that front and try to get inexperienced linebackers out of the gaps.”

Other notes from Monday’s press conference:

  • Redshirt senior Aaron Roberts has officially reclaimed his starting role at left guard after being listed behind Sam Heckel to start training camp
  • Long snapper Matt Keller, who was seen during practices last week wearing a walking boot, is listed as the starter. Babers said the team will know more on his status following a report later today
  • After Babers said a week ago he had a quarterback starter in mind but wouldn’t name the player, he clarified on Monday: “Eric Dungey will start the game.”

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