Three games into the season, Syracuse is still sorting out plenty of moving parts. The quarterback job has already shifted from Steve Angeli to Amari Odom after the Week 3 loss to Pitt, penalties have piled up, and the Orange are heading into their early bye week at 1-2.
The backfield, though, is a different kind of uncertainty. It’s messy in the best possible way.
Syracuse has leaned on four running backs through the first three games, and none has separated from the pack. Ju’Juan Johnson put it plainly: “Going into practice, we never know who’s gonna start.
We never know who’s gonna play the most,” Ju’Juan Johnson said. “We just all got the opportunity.”
That rotation has produced 492 total rushing yards so far, with three different backs leading the team in rushing in the first three games. It hasn’t turned the ground game into a dominant force, but it has given Fran Brown and offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon something to work with.
“That’s a bright spot in (the) offense,” Brown said of the rushing attack following the Pitt game.
Since Brown and Nixon arrived in 2024, Syracuse has built one of the nation’s most pass-heavy offenses. The run game has usually been there to support it, and that formula helped make LeQuint Allen Jr.’s 2024 season one of the best by a Syracuse running back in recent memory. But after 2025 starter Yasin Willis left for Kansas this offseason, Brown had to rebuild the room.
The Orange brought in Johnson from LSU and Ahmad Miller from Jackson State through the transfer portal. Sophomore Tylik Hill also earned his place after a strong fall camp, then opened the season with 91 rushing yards when Johnson and Miller were hurt. Freshman Shavane Anderson Jr. added another wrinkle in the opener, running for more than 100 yards and three touchdowns.
Johnson says the group gives Syracuse a little bit of everything.
“We have a running back for anything that you need,” Johnson said. “We have a power back, we have a catching back, a blocking back. So I think we will be versatile and effective.”
Brown likes the way they feed off each other.
“They all have fun together. We all compete and play,” Brown said of the group. “(There are) opportunities for everybody to get in.”
The first game against New Hampshire showed what that can look like when it clicks. Hill handled Syracuse’s first five snaps and had 51 total yards by the end of the opening quarter.
Then Anderson took over on the third drive, burst 37 yards up the middle on his first college carry and scored two plays later from two yards out. He finished with three touchdowns on the day, adding a 15-yard score and another two-yard run in the first half.
Hill also found the end zone on Syracuse’s first possession of the second quarter.
By the end, Hill and Anderson had combined for 193 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Hill averaged almost six yards per carry, while Anderson ripped off 10.2 yards per attempt.
“I think all those running backs played well today,” Brown said after the UNH win. “They all continue to get better.
“Two guys were out, and (Anderson and Hill) were able to step up,” Brown added. “It helps guys not want to stay injured long. (They) got to hurry up and get back.”
Johnson and Miller returned for Week 2 against Cal, but Hill remained the starter. That didn’t last long.
On the second play of the game, Hill broke loose down the left sideline and looked headed for a touchdown before slowing as he approached the red zone and being forced out after 55 yards. Brown later said Hill aggravated his quad and did not return.
That opened the door for Johnson to take on his biggest workload of the year. He carried 15 times, but the production never matched the volume: 46 yards and a touchdown on 3.1 yards per attempt. Anderson added nine carries for 18 yards, Miller had two carries for two yards in his debut, and Syracuse finished with only 118 rushing yards.
“I think we got to get better,” Johnson said after the Cal loss. “We have to make plays when some people think we can’t make a play.
Breaking tackles, finding the hole and hitting the hole as hard as we can. That’s what we gotta get better at.”
Syracuse got more out of the ground game against Pitt. The Orange finished with 135 rushing yards, and Miller was the biggest reason why.
He ran 14 times for 78 yards and a touchdown, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Anderson had 11 carries for 26 yards, and Johnson finished with six yards on six attempts.
“I thought we ran better than we normally been running,” Brown said after the loss.
Through three games, Anderson leads the team with 30 carries, while Johnson has 21, Hill 18 and Miller 16. Hill still owns the team lead in rushing yards with 147, even though he didn’t play in Week 3 because of the quad injury.
It leaves Brown and Nixon with a backfield that looks different from what Syracuse has relied on before. Allen once gave the Orange a true do-everything option, and last season Willis and Will Nixon formed a clear one-two punch. This year, Syracuse is spreading the load across four backs and riding whoever is available and rolling best that week.
Sometimes it has worked. Sometimes it hasn’t. And with the offense still looking for a jolt, the question now is whether this rotating approach can keep holding up.
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