Syracuse football: Kyle McCord speaks about his off-season work as he prepares to lead the Orange

Some words from the new Orange leader

Syracuse Orange quarterback Kyle McCord joined a number of his peers at last month’s Manning Passing Academy.

During the camp, The Athletic’s Larry Holder had a chance to speak with the college quarterbacks about a number of topics as they prepare for the season. First up, was asking them about the decision of many of the top quarterbacks to transfer schools.

It’s nuts. I think you look across the NFL, there’s a lot of guys who started out at one school and it wasn’t a great situation. And they went to another school (to) ball out, and then went on to the league. So I think it just goes to show there’s a million different ways to get there, but it definitely is nuts. It’s like free agency almost. You put your name in the portal, and it’s like a second dose of recruiting all over again.”

McCord talked about his adjustment to his new squad in Syracuse and what it was like joining the program at a time of massive change

“I mean, I think at the end of the day, speaking for myself, it was definitely tough at first. It’s obviously a change of scenery and completely new staff, completely new teammates. But at the end of the day, it’s just football. So I think that that’s the one common denominator is that you get to go out and play the game that you love. It was definitely tough at first, but then once we started playing, (I) felt right at home and bonded with the guys right away. So it’s been a smooth transition.”

Holder also got to chat with McCord about his off-season work as he prepares for his final college season leading a new Syracuse offense. McCord shared that’s focused on being at his best when camp begins.

I think just throwing off balance, just trying to get myself in a position to make off-schedule throws. (I) played last year, obviously, a little banged up, but I feel really good right now. I feel like I’m at 100 percent. And so now it’s just getting in tip-top shape and putting the finishing touches on it before we go out and play.

Finally, McCord told Holder about being viewed as a leader, even as a new player.

I think for a quarterback, obviously, regardless of what your personality is, you’re going to be looked at as a leader. And I think the biggest thing is they have to see you do the work. I think it’s tough to come into a new locker room and have no shared experiences under your belt and try to lead the guys. I feel like the offseason was really good, because we had tough workouts. And then getting into spring practice, I felt like I really started to settle into that role where, you know, I was comfortable being vocal.

So I think it was important just to get out and show my teammates (that I’m) a hard worker. I put in extra hours and all that, and I think they’ve really started to buy in, and I feel like that’s where the team chemistry has grown the most.

We won’t have too much longer to wait and see that chemistry in action, but I think Syracuse fans should be excited about having an experienced signal-caller under center this fall.

Oh and Mike Groh, why don’t you worry about the QB situation in NY there buddy. Only success you guys had last year was thanks to Tommy Cutlets