Perry Eliano walked into Syracuse in January and found a defensive back room with real pieces already in place. Chris Peal was fresh off a strong 2025 season, and Demetres Samuel Jr. had already carved out a reputation as one of the ACC’s youngest and most promising defensive backs. That leaves Eliano with a clear lane to make his mark, and head coach Fran Brown believes the biggest chance to do it might be at safety.
Brown has described Eliano as a "technician" with defensive backs, and the coach arrives with a track record that includes helping develop players who reached the NFL, among them Sauce Gardner and Coby Bryant.
For Eliano, though, the work begins well before technique or scheme. His first priority is building trust.
"I mean, it all starts with relationships, first," Eliano said. "You got to build a relationship with the young men."
That mindset has shaped his first offseason with the Orange. Eliano said the goal is to establish confidence between coaches and players while also building a defense that can shift pieces around as needed.
"The guys that we coach, I think there's phenomenal trust, unwavering belief in what we're teaching them and what we're asking them to do," Eliano said.
That kind of flexibility looks especially useful at safety. Eliano said the group has come far enough since January that the staff can move players into different spots and still expect them to perform at a high level.
"You know, in our system, they're really just X's," Eliano said. "You know, we do a lot of things with all the guys, you know, not just Davien (Kerr), all the guys have embraced their roles as far as what we're doing defensively."
That ability to shuffle personnel is a major part of what Eliano sees as a strength. Syracuse is not locked into one setup or one player at one spot; instead, the defense can adjust based on the matchup.
"We are able to move guys in different places, and, uh, really and truthfully, they've grasped our system, you know, and have done a really, really good job of progressing in the right direction to allow us to do that as coaches and move them around," Eliano said.
After arriving in January and getting all the way to August, Eliano said the growth has been one of the most encouraging parts of his first year. The defensive backs still have room to develop, and no one has locked down a starting job yet, but he believes the room is moving in the right direction.
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