Brown says Steve Angeli will start against UConn: ‘He’s our quarterback’
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Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli will start against UConn Saturday, head coach Fran Brown confirmed at his weekly press conference Monday.
The decision comes after Angeli threw five interceptions in the Orange’s first two Atlantic Coast Conference games — losses to Cal and Pitt. In the defeat to the Panthers, SU benched Angeli in favor of Amari Odom on the final drive of the game, where Odom went 7-for-7 on passing and piloted a drive that ended in a field goal.
“We’re going to stick with what we’ve been doing at quarterback, but we have a mixture of trying to be able to play more than one guy,” Brown said. “So it’s important we get that done from a quarterback perspective.”
Monday was the first time Brown spoke to the media in 11 days due to Syracuse’s bye this past weekend. Out of the break, Brown emphasized his faith in his team and improvements made with more practice time.
Here are more takeaways from Brown’s weekly media availability:
Trusting Angeli at QB
Brown noted Odom’s performance at the end of the Pitt game “did spark a little bit of competition,” but Angeli is still the first quarterback on the depth chart and will start from the outset against the Huskies Saturday.
“He’s the quarterback and after two games of not playing the way that you would want to play the best football, it’s hard to be able to just turn away from someone who’s done such a good job, someone who’s fought through injury to come back to be able to play,” Brown said of his decision to stick with Angeli.
Reviewing Angeli’s two second-half picks against Pitt on Sept. 17, Brown chalked them down to mistakes, which he stressed was part of the game.
“Some bad choices, some bad calls, just some good defense, just a mixture of all,” Brown said.
Brown again kiboshed any veracity to the idea Angeli is injured but admitted getting a year past the date — Sept. 20, 2025 — when he tore his Achilles at Clemson last year has allowed the quarterback to get more comfortable.
“He’s getting better, running better, moving the same way that he was, probably a little more,” Brown said. “The longer you’re out of surgery — he’s over a year now. The longer you’re out of that time, you’ll continue to get better and better and be more comfortable. We’re still getting back in there, getting hit, running around, moving and stuff like that, so he should be fine.”
Brown did hint at Odom playing a role against UConn but didn’t reveal any specifics.
“He’s a good football player who understands the offense,” Brown said of Odom. “He was able to move down the field. He was able to move the chains to get first downs. We were able to get points when he came in also. So there’s a part of the game where we’ll be able to put him in and get him on the football field, which will help us a lot.”
Calvin Russell III debuts at last
After joining SU’s basketball team at the beginning of 2026, participating in football spring practices before tearing his Achilles on March 30, Brown’s highest-ranked recruit — five-star wide receiver Calvin Russell III — will finally debut against UConn Saturday.
Brown plans to play Russell “as much as possible” versus the Huskies, he said.
“As much as his body will allow him to play, as much as our training room now says he can,” Brown said of Russell’s role. “He has a player load that we wanna make sure he continues to hit. He hit it all last week. I’m doing that again today, just consistently moving, but I’m really happy I’m excited about that.”
Brown said he couldn’t speak on any risk associated with Russell returning just over six months after his injury. He trusts the doctors, and they have given Russell the green light to play.
“I want to get him on the field,” Brown said, “because the faster he gets on the field, he’s gonna get back to being who it was that we wanted him to be.”
Other scribbles in the notebook
After kicker Tripp Woody was benched versus Pitt following three missed field goals in the two ACC games, Brown confirmed freshman Shay Barker will start going forward. Barker was the No. 7-ranked kicker in the 2026 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.
Running back Ahmad Miller was a revelation against Pitt, logging 78 yards and a touchdown on 14 touches after mustering just two yards on two carries versus Cal. Brown said Miller is one of the many key pieces in the Orange’s running back corps.
“He’s done a good job in the last four days of practice that we had on bye week,” Brown said of the Jackson State transfer. “So I’m excited for him and his future here, him being able to play along with the other guys. We got a host of running backs that could all go together and be able to help us.”
Brown didn’t need to be asked about his team’s penalties, the most in the FBS with 12 per game. He brought them up unprompted, saying the Orange worked on correcting those flags the “entire bye week.”
“Minimize the penalties and no pre-snap (penalties),” Brown said of the efforts. “Make sure that we handle our business and do what’s best for us during the play. Take one more step to continue to finish off the block, one more step to be able to tackle. So those are some of the things that we work on … we want to make sure it comes to life during the game because you can see that we work on those things.”
Brown’s eyes gleamed in excitement for the UConn game, teasing some new looks in certain positions. He said he was thankful SU had a bye week so early. During the off week, Brown said he called his uncle, who told him, “This is a situation where weak-minded people would think that we got a problem. But strong-minded people will look at it as an opportunity.”
Brown sees it as a big opportunity. Being 1-2 is not what his team wanted, he admitted, but he said Syracuse watched the tape of its recent losses and saw where it needed to improve. The most important area to ameliorate is playing complementary football, he said. Second is scoring once SU reaches the red zone, a sticking point at Pitt.
“The red zone is something that killed us over these last two weeks,” Brown said. “If we get touchdowns instead of field goals or field goal attempts, then we’re sitting here talking a little bit (differently). But I don’t know if we would have went and fixed it the way that we wanted to fix it. So I’m thankful. That was probably a blessing in disguise.”
