Orange grades: RBs thrive, O-line falters in Week 1 loss to No. 24 Tennessee
Of many issues on Saturday, Syracuse's offensive and defensive lines struggled to deal with Tennessee's high-powered units in the Orange's loss. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor
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Syracuse’s 2025 debut came with a gut punch. Facing their first Southeastern Conference opponent since 2017, the Orange fell behind by as much as 24 points in the third quarter and ultimately fell 45-26.
Here are position-group grades for Syracuse’s season-opening loss:
Quarterback: B
Steve Angeli was under duress throughout his SU debut, taking five sacks and turning the ball over twice. He didn’t have much time to operate. But when he did, Angeli showed flashes of a solid signal caller, earning a B.
On Angeli’s first-quarter fumble that resulted in a Volunteers scoop-and-score, he failed to slide into an open lane to the right of the pocket. Syracuse center Austin Collins stepped on Angeli’s foot, and he was stripped of the football for a monumental mistake.
Angeli found his stride slightly and broke off a few tight window passes to impress. His 23-for-40 stat line was even a smidge higher than Tennessee starter Joey Aguilar’s completion percentage. Angeli receives some praise because of the high pressure he faced. Still, as the quarterback who was selected over Rickie Collins due to his “operating” ability, he deserves some of the blame for protection mishaps.
Running back: A-
The Orange’s most positive result of their lopsided defeat was the play of their running backs. Sophomore Yasin Willis looked the part of a bell cow, tallying three touchdowns on 91 yards and 23 carries.
He gave life throughout the day to Syracuse’s offense and became a security blanket in short-yardage situations. His gargantuan 6-foot-1, 235-pound frame matched the physicality of Tennessee’s defense — one of the best SU will face all season.
Alongside Willis’ stellar day, Will Nixon displayed the ability to add as a formidable second option. Even more important, Nixon added another layer to the offense with 29 receiving yards, helping earn the highest position grade of the week at an A-.
Receiver/Tight End: B
Syracuse’s receiving room and tight ends showed a mixed bag versus the Volunteers to contribute to some of its top plays but also limit its explosiveness. Wide receiver Johntay Cook starred in his SU debut with a remarkable first half that included a score. Cook tallied a team-high six receptions and 58 receiving yards despite an early exit. He looks to be matching — or even outperforming — the role Trebor Peña played last season.
As for the rest of SU’s receiving core, Darrell Gill Jr. wasn’t involved much with zero targets in the first half. Tyshawn Russell played a surprisingly consistent role with three catches for 40 yards to add to Justus Ross Simmons’ three for 50.
Tight end Dan Villari caught fire in the second half to finish with 55 receiving yards but found trouble systematically with multiple ineligible player downfield penalties early on. Though the wrinkle of Villari, David Clement and Chase Simmons all on the field at the same time as goal-line blockers upped the position groups’ value. Gill’s lack of production hinders its grade overall, but its receiving room and tight ends still earn a B for its efforts.
Offensive line: D
Fran Brown admittedly was unsure how his offensive line would perform against Tennessee’s ferocious pass rush when asked Monday. He said we’d all find out Saturday. Well, we found out. And it was nearly a failing performance.
Despite building immense depth in the trenches this offseason, the Orange decided to stick with the same starting five throughout the game as the Volunteers repeatedly cycled in freshly starved beasts. The starting five each played all 90 snaps, per Pro Football Focus.
Tennessee’s defense fooled SU multiple times on simple stunt concepts, including a 10-yard sack in the first quarter where Arion Carter practically walked through the interior. Brown knows allowing five sacks isn’t acceptable. The offensive line remains a work in progress with a D grade that could’ve gone lower.
Defensive line: D-
If there was a position group that performed worse than the offensive line, it was in the trenches on the other side of the ball. Syracuse’s defensive line recorded a whopping zero sacks to give Joey Aguilar and Tennessee’s powerful backfield plenty of room to operate.
The departure of Fadil Diggs to the NFL was felt early and often. The Orange didn’t do much in the offseason to replace Diggs’ production and paid for it in the season opener. They then played a largely three-down concept with David Reese and David Omopariola as jack linebackers.
Outside of an inability to produce a pass rush, the defensive line also failed to stop the run. Volunteers’ top two running backs Star Thomas and DeSean Bishop thrived throughout the day, as SU’s interior tackles couldn’t fill the gaps. Syracuse’s weakest link a season ago seems to be an issue once again.
Linebackers: C-
One of the most surprising revelations on SU’s depth chart Saturday morning was true freshman Antoine Deslauriers earning the start. Deslauriers recorded two tackles in his college debut, and the unit overall didn’t do much to stop Tennessee’s rushing attack that finished with 247 yards.
While Deslauriers held his ground, so did Gary Bryant III with six tackles. Classifying Reese and Omopariola as linebackers, they both finished top-four in tackles on the team. Anwar Sparrow also batted down a ball from Aguilar.
A key goal of SU’s defense entering the year was to improve its tackling. Though, as Peyton Lewis showed while running over Derek McDonald to take a 10-0 lead, the room has a long way to go. A lack of physicality causes a C-.
Secondary: B-
Besides Deslauriers, the Orange also opted to start another true freshman on their defense. 17-year-old phenom Demetres Samuel Jr. was targeted often by Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, and Samuel paid the price. He tallied an undisciplined pass interference penalty on the opening drive and was burned for a 73-yard touchdown a few drives later.
Samuel, however, settled in eventually and showed he belonged. Chris Peal held his own on the other side, and Syracuse’s experienced safety duo came to play despite Devin Grant exiting with an injury. Grant could also take some blame for the 73-yard touchdown toss as he was late to check back into the deep secondary. Duce Chestnut excelled with a tied-for-team-high seven tackles.
The secondary didn’t have much room to slip up with Aguilar having all day to throw. But there’s definitely room to improve as Samuel finds his way.
Special teams: B
There’s really not too much to evaluate for this unit. Jack Stonehouse did his usual Jack Stonehouse things by averaging 49 yards per punt. The Orange didn’t have an opportunity to return any kicks. They also attempted no field goals.
Tripp Woody converted the two extra points he attempted. The special teams unit could also take partial credit for a crafty pooch punt by Angeli that squeezed the Volunteers in tight.
What was one of Syracuse’s top weaknesses last season didn’t have any substantial slip-ups in its first game under new coordinator Ricky Brumfield. A punt nearly tipped the towel of Davion Kerr on another play to turn the ball over, but the call was upheld as not touching him to give SU possession. Either way, there wasn’t much to see, and the unit gets a relatively neutral grade.
Coaching: B-
Brown said postgame that Heupel was the better coach on Saturday. He added that the fifth-year head coach had his team more prepared than Brown, who kicked off his second season.
While it’s fair to say Heupel possesses the better roster, there were still a few moments that stuck out as coaching mistakes for Syracuse to fall to a B-. Fighting the noise, Angeli seemed to be struggling to get the play call in time to relay to his peers. Whether that’s a communication or coaching issue, SU burned multiple timeouts and took two delay of game penalties.
Both sides went down with “injuries” multiple times to slow the pace of the offense — an act the NCAA is attempting to take out of the game — but Syracuse had the most egregious one of the day. Brown alerted both Samuel and Chestnut to go down as they dropped like dominoes. Rather than kneel out the clock at the end of the first half, SU ran a play and got Angeli clobbered, forcing him to walk into the locker room with a noticeable limp.
There wasn’t a fourth-and-1 or fourth-and-9 situation like last season to make or break a close game. Syracuse trailed 28-26 across the final three quarters after a horrid first. The Orange weren’t underprepared but rather overmatched.
