Posted: Mike Couzens
The current Syracuse quarterback situation is extremely cloudy. The quarterback battle is Fizzing up Syracuse’s spring practice as Doug Marrone tries to determine the quarterback of the future. However, everything might become very clear, very soon. As long as Joe Licata is an Orange.
Ryan Nassib and Charley Loeb are fighting for the team’s top spot this spring practice. Of course, of last year taught us anything, that may not mean much.
Nassib got the call and Greg Paulus took it away. Loeb could be named starter by the Spring Game and John Kinder or Johnny Miller could end up the quarterback in September.
So when does musical quarterbacks finally stop turning? The Fizz presents to you a player who could be calling the plays at SU consistently a few years down the road.
Just a junior, Licata has made huge ripples on the recruiting scene and drawn a lot of eyes from around the country with massive passing numbers outside of Buffalo.
His high school, Williamsville South, runs a spread offense and the success of that attack has drawn him interest from places like Notre Dame, Penn State, and Harvard Рalong with Syracuse.
The Fizz spotted Licata taking a tour of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at SU with his parents Рif he’s got the grades for Harvard, he’s definitely got the grades for Newhouse.
The Orange is shaping up to have intriguing options at quarterback over the next couple of years, but adding a player who stands at 6-3, 205 rand growing won’t hurt at all.
He declined an interview with The Fizz because he hasn’t committed anywhere yet, and doesn’t want to make schools think that he’s leaning one way or another.
As for numbers, well here’s one big one: 492.
That’s how many yards he threw for in breaking the Section 6 (N.Y.) passing record in a game this season. And guess who was chasing in an effort to to set the all-time state mark for one game? Greg Paulus Рwho did it with 543 yards in a game back in 2003. Go figure.
In total he threw for 2,462 yards in his junior season along with 36 touchdowns.
Last offseason he went to Notre Dame’s quarterback camp and worked with former Navy quarterback Jim Kubiak. Maybe this offseason he’ll get to spend a little more time on the Hill.
