SU’s youthful secondary packs a punch: ‘We’re going to hit you in your mouth’
Syracuse cornerback Chris Peal lines up across a Colgate receiver. Despite being a redshirt sophomore, Peal has become a veteran presence among SU's defensive backs. Lars Jendruschewitz | Senior Staff Photographer
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For Syracuse’s secondary, missing a tackle in a game means suffering Fran Brown’s wrath in the film room. Since Brown was a defensive backs coach at Power Four programs like Georgia and Rutgers, sophomore safety Braheem Long Jr. said putting a whiffed tackle on tape is the last thing he and his teammates want to do.
The head coach, who’s simultaneously SU’s defensive backs coach, ups the ante on the position group he knows best. If any cornerbacks or safeties don’t meet Brown’s standard — playing physical, knowing your assignments, tackling with good form — they’ll hear about it in front of the team on Monday morning.
“You won’t tackle like that if you don’t practice like that,” Long said, mimicking a critique from Brown.
This Monday, however, Brown beamed when going over the film from the Orange’s 34-21 win over Clemson. Brown showed Long’s fourth-and-2 tackle on Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik to end the third quarter. The safety charged downhill from the box and, as the only person standing between Klubnik and a first down, brought him down for no gain.
It was one of Clemson’s four failed fourth-down conversions. Those types of plays happened early and often in the back end for Syracuse.
“Everybody in the secondary really sets the tone, nobody wants to miss tackles,” Long said. “We’re going to hit you in your mouth. That’s it.”
Syracuse’s (3-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) secondary is Brown’s baby. His defensive backs reflect their head coach’s desire to implement a physical brand of football at SU. In an age where some say defensive backs have become divas relative to their positional counterparts, the Orange are turning back the clock with a hard-hitting, selfless playstyle in their secondary.
Many of them play all over the secondary. Many of them grade extremely high as tacklers, per Pro Football Focus. And many of them are sophomores or younger.
In a year where inexperience was the major red flag for Syracuse’s defensive backs, their physicality and schematic execution show they’re more mature than their ages.
“We’ve got a long way to go from what we wanted to look like, what we all envisioned it looking like, but I think every week they’re getting better and I’m proud of them,” Brown said of SU’s secondary. “The standard is consistently rising. So we’re excited.”
Of Syracuse’s seven defensive backs who’ve logged over 100 snaps through four games, five are sophomores or younger. Despite such a youthful nucleus, PFF currently grades SU’s pass coverage at an 81.6 mark, ranking fourth among ACC teams. It also has three defensive backs who boast tackling grades above 80, helping the Orange hold the third-best tackling grade in the ACC at 80.9.
Seventeen-year-old freshman cornerback Demetres Samuel Jr. and redshirt sophomore corner Chris Peal spearhead the group. Samuel leads the nation with seven pass breakups and is tied for Syracuse’s team-high with 15 solo tackles. Peal, in his first year as a No. 1 cornerback after transferring from Georgia, has only allowed 14 receptions on 27 targets and has recorded an excellent 79.8 rush defense grade, per PFF.
Long said Peal’s physicality helped bring a new energy to SU’s defensive backs; he remembers the cornerback delivering some violent hits in spring ball that put the rest of the secondary on notice. As for Samuel — whose PFF tackling grade sits at 89.5 — safeties like Long feel comfortable leaving the freshman alone on a receiver, Long said.
Despite being 17 years old, Demetres Samuel Jr. leads Syracuse’s defensive backs with seven pass breakups in four games. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor
“When that boy Demetres is in there, I can trust him on an island,” Long said. “It’s great to have him out there, and Chris as well. It makes my job easier being able to stop the run and read the quarterback.”
In the offseason, questions arose about how Syracuse’s secondary would adjust after seeing a mass exodus via the transfer portal. True freshman cornerback Marcellus Barnes Jr. bolted to SMU. Defensive backs Jaeden Gould and Jayden Bellamy both left SU for UCF. Much like their pass rush heading into this year, the Orange didn’t have much time to rebuild.
But under second-year defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson, Syracuse is seeing its future stars in the secondary make plays right now.
Long, a rotational piece last season, has grabbed one of SU’s three picks in 2025 and leads the team with two sacks. Cornerback Davien Kerr, a fellow sophomore, tallied a game-sealing interception late in the fourth quarter versus Clemson. Redshirt sophomore safety Cornell Perry has registered a solid 72.0 pass coverage grade in a career-high 175 snaps. And Samuel, well, he’s done it all.
Robinson’s free-flowing scheme is contributing to the success. While mostly sticking to its typical 4-2-5 defensive formation, Robinson mixes up his defensive backs’ alignments — like Long, who switches between free safety and slot corner, and senior Devin Grant, who plays nickel corner and free safety.
Robinson also stacks the box with his secondary weapons, blitzing on nearly 40% of plays in three of four games, according to PFF. Half of Syracuse’s sacks this season are from defensive backs.
“It just shows how much confidence we have in each other,” Peal said of the versatility of SU’s secondary. “We know somebody knows what they’re doing, so we can go put them somewhere else. To know multiple spots just helps you play better within the scheme.”
Peal, along with Grant and senior safety Duce Chestnut, leads the veteran portion of SU’s secondary. Though Peal is just a redshirt sophomore, his Southeastern Conference experience and vocal command over the Orange’s corners give him the qualities of an elder statesman, while Grant and Chestnut have provided consistency with steady performances each week.
Those three were among the first to hold their teammates accountable for SU’s season-opening 45-26 loss in Atlanta.
Against then-No. 24 Tennessee, Syracuse surrendered 38 offensive points, including a 73-yard touchdown to receiver Braylon Staley, where he beat Samuel on a double move. Peal and Long said the game forced the Orange to look at themselves in the mirror.
“We really emphasized that we can’t let the ball get behind us,” Peal said. “That’s obviously a big momentum thing when a DB gives up super deep touchdowns. We need to keep them in front of us and tackle them if they catch the ball.”
Syracuse’s secondary cruised across the following three weeks. It gave up just 20 points to UConn in an overtime win, suffocated Colgate’s starting offense in a blowout, then held Klubnik to an inefficient 37-of-60 passing while silencing big downfield plays; evidence of the maturation in SU’s secondary.
Before the season began, Brown made his defensive backs write down their goals for 2025 on a piece of paper. Long’s was particularly ambitious. He wrote that he wanted to be on the All-ACC First-Team by season’s end.
With a pick and two sacks after that dreadful Tennessee game, Long is proof that the big dreams of SU’s young defensive backs are attainable.
“Ever since then, we’ve been on full-go,” Long said. “And (we’re) not stopping.”
