Syracuse has spent enough recent Saturdays learning the hard way that quarterback depth is not a luxury. It’s survival.
That’s why Fran Brown spent the offseason building a room loaded with experience, even if the Orange hope most of it never gets used. With Syracuse a 30-plus point favorite over New Hampshire to open the season Saturday afternoon at noon on ACC Network, the focus is on Steve Angeli - and on how long Brown can keep the rest of the quarterback room on the shelf.
Brown still hasn’t named a backup, keeping the competition between Kennesaw State transfer Amari Odom and UTEP transfer Malachi Nelson alive until the last possible minute.
“We’re competing all week,” Brown said Monday. “We’re still not solid with a lot of stuff, so everybody will compete all week and we’ll find that out on Saturday. I’m not looking for the backup to go in Saturday.
“Whoever’s on the field, whenever they get on that field, when you step on that field, you better step on as a starter.”
Nelson has looked like the likeliest QB2, though Brown wasn’t ready to make that call. And Nelson brought plenty of buzz with him, once rated the top recruit in the country by ESPN. He said he has added about 15 pounds of muscle since arriving, said he has never ran faster and said his confidence is at an all-time high.
“I feel like I can play elite level football right now,” Nelson said. “I’ve picked up the offense pretty well due to the coaching and resources that we have here. I’ve never been at a place where I’ve had this level of detail and coaching, which has been super exciting for me.
“I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had, and when you’re doing that, it’s hard to mess up because you’re just playing free.”
Odom entered the picture with a résumé too. He guided Kennesaw State to a Conference USA title last season and came to Syracuse expecting a real shot at the job while Angeli’s return from an Achilles injury was still uncertain. When Angeli got healthy and reclaimed the starting role, Odom said the reaction hit hard at first.
“My reaction to it was shock,” Odom told me last week. “Obviously I wanted to be the guy, but I was still happy for Steve.
Like he’s fought through a lot. He did what he did last year and coach feels like he’s the best opportunity to go out there the first game.”
Even so, Odom said the demotion didn’t change his approach.
“Just because I’m not going out there the first drive of the season doesn’t really matter,” Odom said. “Doesn’t change how I prepare, how I practice, how I think about the game.
We have multiple guys in the room that can obviously get it done. That’s why the competition was so tight.”
He also admitted he was surprised when Nelson joined the room a week after Odom signed out of the transfer portal.
“It was shocking news to me, but Coach Fran wanted depth in the quarterback room,” Odom said in April during spring practice. He was open and honest about that. So, bringing in a big-value name, I can’t really complain.”
Odom said he and Nelson have since become close.
Brown didn’t stop there. Georgetown quarterback Danny Lauter is also in the mix, giving Syracuse four quarterbacks with starting experience and 1,394 college pass attempts on the roster. That’s a huge shift from where the Orange began last season, when the room had only 87 game passes to its name.
The reason for the overhaul is obvious. Syracuse watched its season fall apart after Angeli’s injury last year.
Before going down, he had put the Orange on a 3-1 start, throwing for 1,317 yards, 10 touchdowns and only two interceptions while averaging 329.3 passing yards per game. He had led the nation in passing and looked like the clean handoff from Kyle McCord was going to hold.
Instead, the rest of the season turned into a warning sign. The quarterback shuffle of Rickie Collins, Luke Carney and Joe Filardi never produced a win over the final eight games.
Collins, now at Kennesaw State and slated to start there this season, finished with more turnovers (10) than touchdowns (six). Carney, now at Houston, was used sparingly, with only seven pass attempts in four games. Filardi, a walk-on who remains at Syracuse and is also on the lacrosse team, struggled through 31 completions on 65 attempts for 226 yards in four games.
That stretch fits a larger pattern for Syracuse. The Orange have just six winning seasons since 2001, when they went 10-3 under Paul Pasqualoni. Brown owns one of those winning years already, after his 10-3 debut in 2024 with McCord setting several Syracuse records.
The other Syracuse quarterbacks to lead winning seasons since 2001 are Nassib in 2010 and 2012, Terrel Hunt in 2013, Eric Dungey in 2018 and Garrett Shrader in 2022.
McCord was the first Syracuse quarterback since Nassib in 2012 to go the distance without being replaced by injury or performance. Hunt took over for Drew Allen in 2013.
Tommy DeVito stepped in for Dungey at times in 2018, most memorably in the overtime win over North Carolina. Shrader helped Syracuse to a 6-0 start in 2022 before a lower-body injury helped trigger a five-game skid and a 7-6 finish.
That history is why Brown’s quarterback room matters so much. Syracuse knows what happens when the starter goes down, and it’s not pretty.
Brown is 13-4 when his starting quarterback is healthy. He is 0-8 without QB1 on the field.
So Angeli is back at the top, and the Orange will once again ride as long as he can stay upright. Brown hopes that means only a little relief work for Odom, Nelson or both against New Hampshire. If Angeli gets hurt again, Syracuse at least won’t be able to blame a thin quarterback room.
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