Three-star quarterback Henry Belin committed to Duke today. The 66th-best QB in the nation chose the Blue Devils over Syracuse and Northwestern. Belin hails from the Bronx, and attended Cardinal Gibbons High School. Syracuse currently has zero quarterback commits in the class of 2022.
There is a major problem there. It isn’t Syracuse’s crowded quarterback room. The Orange have six quarterbacks on their roster, and the Blue Devils have seven. Both schools have three freshman quarterbacks who could fight for playing time.
The problem is twofold. SU’s offense has been a major drag for quarterbacks, and the Orange also struggle to recruit the state.
It’s no secret that SU has gone through a rough stretch after Eric Dungey’s graduation. And yes, some of that was on the shoulders of Tommy DeVito. He hasn’t shown growth over the past two seasons. There’s plenty of arm talent, however, the former four-star still misses reads and bails out of the pocket too early. Another major problem was the offensive line. DeVito was one of the most sacked quarterbacks two years ago (he didn’t even make it through the season in 2020) and having a backup freshman signal-caller run your offense isn’t exactly a path to success, unless your backup is D.J. Uiagalelei.
The second issue is that Syracuse has failed to recruit its home state. The Orange have only picked up one four-star prospect out of the Empire state in the last ten years. It was Trill Williams, so that was a success, but it’s more about the lack of volume than anything else. The more high-level prospects you get, the better chance that some of them turn into future pros. Fizz colleague John Eads has more on this tomorrow.
For now, the search for an arm of the future continues.
