Takeaways from Fran Brown’s availability: Award system, upcoming scrimmage
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Syracuse football began its second week of fall camp Monday, and head coach Fran Brown provided an update on his team 26 days before its season-opener against New Hampshire during his weekly media availability.
Brown also kept his cards close to his chest. He refused to discuss some of the Orange’s injuries and the planned defensive scheme for 2026 under new defensive coordinator Vince Kehres.
For SU, which finished with an Atlantic Coast Conference-worst 34.9 points allowed per game in 2025, Brown was content with how his team practiced Monday.
“I was happy with the way they finished,” Brown said. “They did a good job. It was up, down and up. The offense probably won the day, but I can’t really say that. I got to go watch the film.”
Here are some other quick takeaways from what Brown shared — and didn’t — Monday:
New colored jersey award system
With the new week at SU practice, some players were wearing black jerseys, while others sported orange ones.
It’s a new award system Brown came up with, where the top 11 to 15 players, he said, are bestowed a black jersey on defense and an orange jersey on offense.
“They got the opportunity to be a player here, a starter here, just compete for it,” Brown said. So those guys are really competing that have those jerseys on.”
One player in a black jersey was sophomore Nissi Ogbebor, a defensive lineman.
“He’s just consistent,” Brown said of Ogbebor. “I think he’s a really good kid. He’s a faith-driven kid, and he does the right thing every day. He lives the way that we kind of talk about, ‘How you do anything is how you do everything,’ and that’s what he’s about.”
However, Brown downplayed the significance of the jersey colors and who wore what color.
“I think that jersey thing is really not important, to be honest, right now with us,” he said. “We’re just trying to keep that with us, and we’re just playing football. What’s important is that all 113 players was out here competing extremely hard today. We really didn’t care about who had on what jersey.”
Upcoming scrimmage
The Orange will have an intrasquad scrimmage Saturday. Brown’s focus was on the simulated game Monday. What does he hope to get out of the scrimmage?
“Looking to not repeat what we did last year,” he said. So we’re just looking for toughness. We’re going to get tougher in all aspects of the field of the game. Looking to make sure that they play together, that they count on each other, and they go out there to just do their individual jobs every play. So I want to see if every play I could go count down 11 guys did their job there (on offense). Eleven did it there (on defense). Usually, when it happens like that, we’re gonna have a pretty good football team.”
When asked which position group he’d seen the most improvement from so far, Brown said he’d know better after the scrimmage.
“I will say the D-line has been doing a good job there,” Brown said. “Coach (John) Scott’s done a really good job. Him and Coach (Jeremy) Hawkins, I really appreciate the work.”
Other scribbles in the notebook
Brown said sophomore offensive lineman D’Joni Scatliffe will undergo a “quick surgery” on his foot. He later confirmed it would not be season-ending.
When asked about his planned defensive scheme, Brown dismissed any potential alignments that might’ve been seen during practice.
Brown also indulged in some of his favorite music. He said some players have put him onto new artists, but he “likes to stick” to his previous favorites. Brown then listed some of his favorites: Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and Lil Durk.
“Everybody from New York or Philly,” Brown said of his music taste before adding, “I love all types of music. I listen to everything: country music, slow music. I was just listening to Anne-Marie out at practice. So I just like music. I think music brings everybody together.”
