There are a couple of certainties in college football in 2025. The SEC is dominant. Coaches’ contracts are going to be massive. And every December, a lot of players are going to leave your favorite program.
Some hurt more than others. But news today of Syracuse Football’s newest departure set a new level of discomfort for Orange fans. Running back Yasin Willis is entering the transfer portal and, in all likelihood, will not be returning to Syracuse for the 2026 season.
As bleak as this past season was for Syracuse, Willis was SU’s top running back this year and made firm progress from last year. He seemed poised too break out even further as a top running back in the ACC with a reestablished Syracuse offense. Instead, SU now has a massive, gaping hole at one of the biggest skill positions.
Willis is the third running back to exit the program (alongside Jaden Hart and Malachi James). Will Nixon remains on the depth chart, but his eligibility for next year is up in the air.
Long story short, there’s a lot of new questions for Syraucse. SU as a whole had seemed poised to bring back all of its big names: Demetres Samuel Jr, Antoine Delirious, and Steve Angeli all reaffirmed their commitment to the university.
While SU has certainly lost a few players in the past couple weeks, Willis is by far the biggest name to exit recently. And now, Syracuse has a monumnetal task ahead of itself: find a capable running back to lead the rush attack for Syracuse next year.
While Fran Brown has primarily used an air raid attack with SU so far, it’s still a necessity for Syracuse to have a capable RB for the 2025 season. Now let’s see if SU’s new look coaching staff can bag one.
