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Fran Brown walked to the podium inside the John A. Lally Athletic Complex for his weekly Monday afternoon press conference hours after Syracuse football was hit with a $25,000 fine from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The conference imposed the punishment on SU for faking injuries in its 34-21 Week 4 road victory over Clemson. The ACC flagged an incident with 9:25 left in the fourth quarter where two Syracuse players and a coach tried to gain an “unmerited advantage” by stopping the clock while the Tigers were driving. It drew the ire of Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik postgame.

Brown, saying he doesn’t want to take attention away from the Orange’s statement win in Death Valley, offered no comment. With SU quarterback Steve Angeli undergoing surgery Monday afternoon, Brown has bigger things to worry about.

“I’m not going to speak too much in reference to that,” he said of the ACC’s fine. “I’m trying to move on.”

Here’s what else Brown had to say before Syracuse’s (3-1, 1-0 ACC) home bout against Duke (2-2, 1-0 ACC) Saturday:

Surgery for Angeli

Brown was quick to the point when providing an update on Angeli after he suffered a left Achilles tear during the win over Clemson.

“He’s getting ready to get surgery in a couple of hours,” Brown said of Angeli on Monday.

Angeli will miss the remainder of the 2025 campaign, concluding his first year at SU after four starts. Following the quarterback’s Monday afternoon surgery on the Achilles, Brown said Angeli will begin a recovery process that will sideline him until Syracuse’s spring 2026 practices.

Brown expects Angeli to obtain a medical redshirt for this year and maintain collegiate eligibility through the 2027 season. The second-year head coach doesn’t see this setback as the end of Angeli’s road at SU.

“I’m sorry that he has to go through it, but it’s part of the game,” Brown said of Angeli’s injury. “It’s part of being a human.”

The Orange plan to keep Angeli involved within their offense. Brown said he’ll now act as an unofficial quarterbacks coach, sitting in on team meetings and eventually traveling with the team to be on the sidelines for away games.

Brown thinks the plan will help Angeli stay sane while being forced to watch from the sidelines, and it’ll give SU’s less experienced backup quarterback — Rickie Collins — extra guidance.

“It’s hard for a young man to go through that at 21 years old,” Brown said of Angeli. “So we got a full plan from (his) mental health to him getting back on the field.”

Collins gets the keys

Collins, a junior LSU transfer who entered 2025 with seven career Division I pass attempts, will make his starting debut this Saturday against Duke. After losing the quarterback battle in fall training camp, Collins is now set to be Syracuse’s QB1 until further notice.

He took over for Angeli late in the third quarter against Clemson after SU’s day one starter was helped off the Memorial Stadium grass. Collins fired an 18-yard touchdown strike to Justus Ross-Simmons to highlight his 3-for-8, 34-yard relief appearance.

Brown praised Collins for providing stability following Angeli’s abrupt exit. He lauded the signal caller in the previous month for accepting his backup role and thinks he’s well-suited to take Angeli’s mantle.

“I’m happy for Rickie. I’m excited for him. I thought he handled everything the right way,” Brown said of Collins. “No one deserves an opportunity more than he does.”

Despite the toll losing Angeli could have on SU, Brown is confident in offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon’s ability to scheme success for Collins. Nixon led Kyle McCord to be the nation’s passing leader in 2024, and he did the same for Angeli through three full weeks of play.

Now, he’ll doctor an offense around Collins, who Brown said is more than just a running quarterback. He sees a calm, proficient pocket passer and thinks Collins has taken proper advice from signal-callers he’s worked with in the past.

“He’s shadowed Jayden Daniels, he’s shadowed (Garrett Nussmeier),” Brown said. “He got a chance to see Kyle (McCord) here last year, and over the last four weeks he’s been able to be right behind Steve (Angeli), so I think there’s no better place for him to be than to be here.”

Moving on to Duke

Brown considers Blue Devils head coach Manny Diaz one of his closest confidants among the ACC’s head coaches. Diaz, who led Duke to a nine-win 2024 season in his first year on the job, experienced similar debut-year success to Brown’s 10-3 campaign at Syracuse. He holds Diaz in high regard because of the intelligence he instills in his players and the culture changes he inspired within the Blue Devils’ program, Brown said.

“I understand who we’re going up against and the type of guys they are and how they love the game of football,” he said about Diaz and Duke’s staff.

Brown said he views Saturday’s game as an opportunity to compete for ACC title-game qualification. He believes both teams have the capabilities to make it there. The head coach said Blue Devils’ sophomore quarterback Darian Mensah — who ranks third in the country with 1,305 passing yards — is a dangerous assignment for any defense.

He also complimented Duke’s array of weapons, such as wide receiver Cooper Barkate (337 yards) and running back Anderson Castle (193 yards, three touchdowns), saying SU has its “hands full” on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of work that we gotta make sure we do on the defensive side of the ball to be able to stop these guys,” Brown said.

Published on September 22, 2025 at 3:57 pm
Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews