Steve Angeli is almost back to where he wants to be, and the Syracuse quarterback knows the first real step onto the practice field will carry some weight.
A couple weeks from becoming a full participant for the first time in 10 months, Angeli said the long climb back from a torn Achilles tendon has been equal parts grind and reward. With Syracuse set to open the season Sept. 5 against New Hampshire, he’s already thinking about what that return will feel like.
“It’s going to be emotional,” Angeli said last week at the ACC’s football media days. “I’m just excited.
At the heart of hearts, we’re playing a game. I’m a kid at heart.
I love football. I love playing with my teammates.
It’s just going to be a great atmosphere.”
Angeli, a fifth-year senior, enters camp as the incumbent starter, but Syracuse has built a crowded quarterback room around him. The Orange brought in reigning all-Conference USA junior Amari Odom, junior Malachi Nelson and junior Danny Lauter through the transfer portal, giving the team multiple backup options and creating real competition behind Angeli.
Head coach Fran Brown said all three newcomers will get a shot.
“They gotta compete,” Brown said. “Steve wants to compete.
It’s important that we do that. We’ve got some players in there.
Three guys that have played college football, that were starters in other programs, that won and that did well throwing the ball. So, I want to give everybody a fair opportunity to go out and compete.”
For Angeli, the competition is part of the point. He said he’s physically ready after nearly 10 months since surgery, and he welcomed the challenge when Brown hired Super Bowl champion Sean Ryan to coach quarterbacks. Angeli had one request: bring in competition.
“I think guys are at their best when they’re in a form of competition,” Angeli said. “For me, personally, never get complacent and make sure I’m always working on my craft. It’s great to have those guys.”
Even while he was rehabbing, Syracuse leaned on Angeli’s eye for the offense. He had input on the receivers and tight ends he’ll be throwing to this fall, and he made clear he likes what the Orange has added.
Among the transfers he singled out were Noah Meyers, Zamondre Merriweather, Cole Weaver and Elijah Moore. He also said tight end David Clement can show more as a receiver, and he expects sixth-year wideout Umari Hatcher to top the season he put together in 2024, when he scored three touchdowns in six starts.
Angeli was on the phone with Moore during the recruiting process and told him he loved the idea of adding a jump-ball target.
“I think E-Moore is an unbelievable talent,” Angeli said. “A freak of an athlete, really natural catcher of the football.
Has kind of a different gear of acceleration. From just his limited snaps for his school he was at before, I could see the talent that he had.
I think he’s a great addition to our team.”
He’s also looking forward to getting back on the field with Hatcher, Tyshawn Russell and Darius Johnson. Angeli played a major role in helping repair the relationship between Hatcher and Brown after it became strained and eventually pushed Hatcher into the transfer portal before he returned.
That connection matters to Angeli. Hatcher was one of the first friends he made at Syracuse, and last season the receiver spent much of the year recovering from a serious injury of his own while staying close to Angeli during his rehab.
Now the Orange’s wide receivers are expected to be the offense’s strongest group. They’ll need to replace more production than the tight ends and running backs combined, and Weaver gives Syracuse another FBS-tested piece.
Angeli said he believes the offense has enough around him to work. He pointed to Meyers as a tight end option similar to Dan Villari and noted that Elijah Washington-Baker, at 6-foot-6, brings athleticism and two years of experience.
The biggest uncertainty sits up front. Syracuse’s offensive line struggled last season and allowed the third-most sacks in the ACC.
The Orange added only two transfers there, both of whom will battle for starting roles. Still, Angeli said the arrival of offensive line coach Juan Castillo has already made a difference.
“He is a legend,” Angeli said. “Everything he does relies on the work ... and it’s truly paying off.
Their technique is improving. Everything that they’ve done has become such a unit.”
He also likes the look of the backfield, where transfers Ahmad Miller and Ju’Juan Johnson headline what he called a deep group. Angeli said he thinks Syracuse has four or five playable running backs, and he believes a stronger ground game will open up more play-action shots and limit how often he has to drop back.
“The biggest thing for us is still be able to be explosive,” he said.
“We want to be the dictators of the tempo.”
That belief comes from a quarterback who never got to fully settle in last year. Angeli was injured after four games, right when his timing with the receivers and his grasp of the playbook were starting to click. Now, after a full year in offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon’s system, he expects to hit the ground faster.
He described his relationship with Nixon as collaborative, saying the call sheet reflects the plays he likes and that he can anticipate what’s coming in different situations. That continuity helped soften the blow when his longtime position coach left for Connecticut.
Angeli’s time away from the field also changed how he sees the game. He said he became something of a player-coach during rehab and started asking defensive coaches what they were looking for from opposing offenses. He compared it to a law school exercise, and said that process sharpened his football IQ.
Now the challenge is helping Syracuse move past last season. The Orange are likely to be underdogs more often than not, but Angeli said that doesn’t bother him.
“A little fuel to the fire,” Angeli said. “I’m just focused on our team and improving every day.
You can use it to help you. That’s great.
But no negative impact should be put on us. We want to make sure that we use it as fuel and not as something that will deter us.”
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