Dino Babers talks replacing Oronde Gadsden II, offensive line
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Dino Babers said he’s excited to face Army for Week 4. He grew up on a military base and has a nephew that graduated from West Point three years ago.
After defeating Purdue on the road to improve to 3-0, the Orange head back to the JMA Wireless Dome to face the Black Knights. Through three weeks, Army enters the matchup as winners of two straight after losing to UL-Monroe, 17-13, in Week 1. Despite Army’s upset loss, Babers still noted the Black Knights committed just one penalty through an entire contest against UTSA. This is a stark contrast to Syracuse, who have recorded more penalties than their opponents in all three wins.
Here are some other takeaways from Babers’ Monday press conference ahead of SU’s game versus Army:
Replacing Oronde
Babers didn’t reveal tight end Oronde Gadsden II’s status before Syracuse took on Purdue. Fans, media and probably most importantly the Boilermakers were kept in the dark about if Gadsden would play. But hours before the game, Gadsden released a statement on social media saying he was ruled out for the season. Gadsden’s injury was later revealed to be a Lisfranc injury.
So, the talk shifted away from Gadsden’s production to his potential replacement. In terms of who would start in Gadsden’s absence, Babers didn’t mention tight ends like Maximilian Mang and David Clement. Those two have mainly served as blocking tight ends in Babers’ system anyways.
“What they have to do is carve out a niche for themselves,” Babers said. “We have other guys that play that position besides Oronde.”
Instead, Babers mentioned players like Donovan Brown and Trebor Pena, who still hasn’t played a game this season due to injury. Though Gadsden is listed as a tight end, he primarily played in a slot receiver role. Through three games, Brown has gotten the most targets in the slot with 18, per Pro Football Focus, while Pena has had experience in the slot in past seasons.
In terms of other wide receivers replacing Gadsden’s production, Babers kept his response short and simple.
“Catching the ball would be great,” Babers said.
Babers on the offensive line
Following the Western Michigan win in Week 2, Garrett Shrader said that Joe More and Kalan Ellis would be back. But More and Ellis didn’t play against Purdue and Babers did not provide updates for either linemen.
The head coach said that he felt the offensive line did OK versus Purdue. With right tackle David Wohlabaugh Jr. out for the season, Mark Petry stepped in. When Syracuse was down at the goal line, it added extra linemen and moved players around like Petry, Enrique Cruz Jr. and Jakob Bradford.
Babers did praise the offensive linemen that have started regularly this season, including players like Cruz, left guard Chris Bleich and center J’Onre Reed. Among all of the Orange offensive linemen, PFF graded Bleich as the team’s best pass blocker with a grade of 83.2. Still, Babers said that the unit still needs time to come together.
“Any time you have a new guy that comes in, the other guys have to get a feel for him,” Babers said. “And and until they have that camaraderie of playing together for a while, you really don’t have that completely gelled unit that you want to have.”
Notes on the defense
At halftime on Saturday, linebacker Marlowe Wax mentioned that defensive coordinator Rocky Long drew up a play on the fly that the Orange’s defense was able to execute in the second half. Wax did not go into specifics about what the play was.
Babers said he was unaware of this. He noted that the travel back from Indiana has made him fall behind on rewatching film. That isn’t to say he hasn’t watched the film, but he said that he needs to watch it again to see if he can find that play. As for the unspecified play itself, Babers equated Long’s ability to draw up a defensive play to that of an artist.
“I think any time that a guy that’s painting a portrait, he’s a master and he wants to do a stroke that someone else hasn’t done before,” Babers said of Long. “But the knowledge that he has, I think he should allow that person to have the creativity to be different. And just make sure they’ve got the experience to do that. I believe he does.”
Along with Wax and Long, Babers had praise for cornerback Jeremiah Wilson. The defensive back had an interception against Colgate and leads the team in pass breakups, per PFF. Babers said Wilson stands out at practice amongst other defenders.
“If everybody practiced the way Jeremiah does on defense… we’d be really, really, really good,” Babers said.
