A lot of roster turnover is in progress
The 2025 Syracuse Orange football squad will look a lot different than it did this past fall – especially on the offensive side of the ball.
SU returns just half of its total production from the 2024 campaign, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. That ranks 90th out of all 136 FBS teams, and dead last out of the 17 ACC programs.
Conference rival Clemson – who the Orange will face on the road in Week 4 – return the most production in the country, a whopping 81% from their ACC Championship team. Stanford is next at 13th nationally, with the sixth-most returning defense.
Three other future opponents are ranked much closer to SU – Miami (75), SMU (78), and UNC (81).
Most of SU’s departing production came on the offensive side of the ball, with the likes of Kyle McCord (4,779 passing yards, 37 TDs), LeQuint Allen (1,542 total yards, 20 TDs), Jackson Meeks (1,021 receiving yards, 7 TDs) and Oronde Gadsden (934 receiving yards, 7 TDs) all gone. That leaves ‘Cuse with just 37% returning, which ranks 115/136.
Of those that are sticking around, the two big names are Trebor Pena (1,013 total yards, 10 TDs) and Darrell Gill (570 receiving yards, 2 TDs).
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The Orange should also get more out of Zeed Haynes, who had four catches in each of the first two games before missing significant time due to a personal issue. The question marks mainly come at QB, where there is an open competition happening this spring.
SU is in much better shape on defense with 62% returning production – good for 34th nationally. Despite four of the top seven tacklers all leaving, a large chunk of the depth remains intact, with guys such as Duce Chestnut (61 tackles, five pass breakups, two turnovers) and Devin Grant (51 tackles, three pass breakups, four turnovers) expected to play big roles once more.