To avenge last year’s defensive woes, Syracuse shifts tackling philosophy
In training camp, Syracuse's coaches have incorporated drills from other programs in order to improve tackling fundamentals. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor
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Fourth-and-9 and fourth-and-1 still own plenty of real estate inside Syracuse’s football building. They’re the two plays that, in head coach Fran Brown’s eyes, prevented the Orange from reaching last season’s Atlantic Coast Conference title game.
First, on Sept. 20, 2024, former Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels converted a fourth-and-9 by finding wide receiver Elic Ayomanor down the left sideline for a 27-yard gain. The grab put the Cardinal in position for a game-winning field goal.
Then, on Nov. 9 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, SU surrendered a Boston College touchdown on a fourth-and-1 at the Orange’s 18-yard line, dooming them in another eventual defeat.
The two downs have become a battle cry for this season’s SU squad. Throughout training camp, Orange players and coaches have donned t-shirts bearing “4th & 9” and “4th & 1” on the back, a constant reminder of the mere yards that separated Syracuse from potential glory.
But for co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Robert Wright, it takes more than avenging two plays to spur a defensive turnaround. He doesn’t even want the Orange to leave outcomes up to a single down. The fix?
“Tackling,” Wright said on Aug. 8 for what SU must improve in 2025. “Tackling and (attention to) detail and playing as hard as we can every single snap.”
Of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision programs in 2024, Pro Football Focus graded Syracuse as the 109th-best tackling team in the country. SU’s defensive staff identified the weakness early on this offseason and spent the summer refining the team’s tackling philosophy, teaching it to all position groups at once instead of individually. Coaches and players say they’ve already noticed the improvements during fall training camp.
The Orange believe they have the speed, physicality and intelligence, but executing the simple fundamentals could help Syracuse’s defense allow fewer free yards in 2025.
“Last season, at times it wasn’t what we wanted,” SU second-year defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson said on Aug. 5. “We got back this offseason, we said, ‘We got to tackle better, (improve our) fundamentals, and those are things we got to lock in on.’ If they play with great effort and they play physically, we’ll be fine.”
Wright said the Orange conducted a makeshift study to cultivate a more “unified” tackling approach. They visited National Football League facilities and other FBS competitors, such as the University of Iowa, to observe their drills and how their coaches physically teach the art of tackling. Syracuse’s staff cobbled together those techniques and formed a plan from there.
“A lot of it was a wide-ranging study and a combination of different people that everybody (on the staff) knows, but then you got to make (the plan) fit for who you are and what you do,” Wright said.
Last season, Wright felt the Orange were coaching and practicing tackling “as a position,” without cohesive teachings on form for everyone. Now, the entire defense is hearing the same points and running through the same drills, Wright said.
A Syracuse defender makes a tackle in SU’s Sept. 7, 2024, contest against Georgia Tech. The Orange were ranked a bottom-30 tackling team in the country last year. Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer
The main problem SU’s staff noticed was tacklers taking poor angles when approaching a ball carrier. Wright said the Orange didn’t limit opponents’ space well enough, which created too many open-field opportunities.
Senior linebacker Derek McDonald echoed this sentiment after practice on Aug. 8.
“It’s all about angles,” McDonald said. “We talk a lot about getting your foot in the ground, (creating) force. If you don’t, then you’ll just get run through and they’ll end up gaining more yards.”
During individual position group drills, the Orange often work on one-on-one tackling in the open field, where players must take the correct angle or risk getting barked at by coaches. Wright emphasizes players maintaining forward momentum in these drills. When players whiff on a tackle, Wright says, “If you miss a tackle, miss it with leverage,” which the whole linebacking group repeats in unison.
Syracuse has even brought in Keith Bulluck, a former SU linebacker and first-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in the 2000 NFL Draft, to impart his tackling wisdom on the Orange. McDonald said Bullock recently visited the team in early August. The linebackers also watch tape of former Carolina Panthers star Luke Kuechly, modeling their game after professionals who mastered the minutia of tackling.
“It’s the second year in the system. So as opposed to coming in and teaching guys new things, we’re able to really dig into the 500-level coaching of stuff,” Wright said, explaining how the Orange are searching to perfect the little things. “It’s not, ‘Hey, you align here and do this.’ It’s about the details of why you’re doing it.”
Brown is also taking SU’s focus on tackling to heart. When Brown’s voice reverberates through the loudspeakers during training camp sessions, the head coach constantly emphasizes wrapping up with proper technique, unafraid to single players out when they fail to do so. If practice is too “soft,” Brown doesn’t shy away from making players run Oklahoma drills so he can hear pads pop the way he wants them to.
Establishing that physicality, McDonald said, starts with the linebacking corps.
“We’re kind of the quarterbackers of the defense,” McDonald said.
While all defenders need to tackle, the linebackers are usually tasked with making many of the difficult open-field ones that Syracuse struggled with last season. For a group containing a litany of new faces this year, it’s been even more important for Wright to ensure fundamentals are being executed at a high level.
The Orange lost top tacklers Marlowe Wax (Los Angeles Chargers) and Justin Barron (Dallas Cowboys) to the NFL this offseason, both signing as undrafted free agents. McDonald and Anwar Sparrow are now SU’s eldest linebackers, while names such as junior South Dakota transfer Gary Bryant III and sophomore Fatim Diggs supplement the group.
Brown and Wright have raised expectations for Bryant this season, saying he’s been explosive throughout camp, and Wright is confident McDonald can assume Wax’s former role.
No matter who emerges to lead the Orange’s linebackers in 2025, though, it’ll have to come through precise tackling — the key to unlocking their full potential.
“What we put on film last year wasn’t up to the standard,” Wright said of Syracuse’s defense. “We want to win a National Championship, so our defense needs to reflect that.”
