Yesterday, eight Syracuse players were named to the Reese’s Senior Bowl watchlist.
Those eight are Dion Wilson Jr, Justin Barron, Alijah Clark, Fadil Diggs, Oronde Gadsden, Kyle McCord, Salon Washington, and Marlow Wax. While all of these players will have a big impact on SU this season, only one is going to be the decider for the Orange’s postseason fate, Oronde Gadsden.
Some say that Kyle McCord is going to be the man whose performance will determine whether Syracuse will make the college football playoff. But, I think that couldn’t be further from the truth. The New Jersey native is a proven reliable arm, throwing for over 3,000 yards last season with 24 touchdowns at Ohio State. McCord also led the Buckeyes to an 11-win season in a competitive Big Ten conference. It’s not to say that the quarterback is guaranteed to play well barring injury, but if you look at the schedule for the Orange and his track record, it’s hard to find somewhere he will falter.
Oronde Gadsden on the other hand is the biggest question mark for the Orange heading into 2024. The tight-end missed nearly all of this past season due to injury. But in 2022, Gadsden caught 61 passes for 969 yards leading tight ends nationally in yardage. On top of that, the senior has been featured on the Athlon All-ACC preseason team in back-to-back campaigns while also earning All-ACC preseason honors this year.
All of these stats show that Gadsden is more than capable of delivering for the Orange this year, it’s just a question of if he can post the same numbers he had two years ago.
If the tight end is the dominant pass-catching force that showed in 2022, it will allow offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon to diversify the SU offense. Teams around the ACC know the threat that Gadsden poses on a game-by-game basis. If opponents decide to double-team the tight end when he’s on the field, players like Jackson Meeks, LeQuint Allen Jr., and Zeed Haynes will have more opportunities to make huge impacts for SU on offense.
That’s why Syracuse needs Gadsden to perform like he did in his sophomore campaign and stay healthy. If all of these things are to happen, the Orange are bound to make a serious push at a college football playoff spot.
