Football Guide 2021

FLIP THE SCRIPT FOOTBALL GUIDE 2021

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Dear readers, In 2018, Syracuse defeated West Virginia, 34-18, in the Camping World Bowl after finishing the regular season 10-3 — the team’s best record under head coach Dino Babers and first 10-win season since 2001. That created a new trajectory for a program defined by mediocrity and an absence of bowl games, since the 2013 season. But a steady decline resulted instead. After walking off the field in Orlando, Florida, Syracuse has yet to piece together a winning season. And in last year’s 11-game campaign abbreviated by COVID-19, the Orange went 1-10 — their worst record since 2005. Now, Babers and the Orange look to improve on last year’s performance with the help of fifth-year senior Chris Elmore, an unexpected leader at fullback who’s been the face of almost every team he’s been on. And despite a troublesome 2020 season, Taj Harris returns to ignite Syracuse’s offense while honoring his mother. Garrett Williams sharpens his skills this season in hopes to become SU’s next secondary star and Syracuse’s key to regular season success. As the Orange approach their next season, perhaps one of the most pivotal in recent memory, The Daily Orange’s 2021 Football Guide has everything you need to know about Syracuse’s rising — and established — stars.

Thanks for reading, Skyler Rivera sports editor

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football guide 2021 5

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UNLIKELY LEADER

ALTHOUGH HE DOESN’T FILL UP THE STAT SHEET, THE 5TH-YEAR SENIOR IS ONE OF SYRACUSE’S MOST IMPORTANT PLAYERS THIS SEASON

By Roshan Fernandez senior staff writer

T

he first time Chris Elmore was the face of a team was the first time he played football.

In elementary school, he accompanied his father to Chicago high school games where the latter worked part-time as a medical standby for the school district.

Elmore took initiative — he led his younger siblings out of their father’s off-yellow Cadillac and in and out of Gately Park’s stadium as they carried medical supply bags and coolers.

Elmore then rounded up other fans’ kids to play football on the patch of grass outside the stadium during games.

Elmore was the group’s leader, said Kennard Johnson, who worked as stadium security at the time.

As the group played tackle football, driving one another into the ground, Elmore proved he was the “ultimate tough kid,” said Keith Brookshire, one of many Chicago high school coaches who noticed Elmore playing on the makeshift field years ago.

His father, Clinton Elmore, said another high school coach pointed at the kids playing on the little patch of grass as he passed by and told his players that if they worked that hard, they could win a state title.

Behind it all was Elmore, the face of the group.

“Coaches filtered around me and were just like, ‘You’re a guy who knows football,’” Elmore said of his experience leading the group. “That leadership role, it just came to me. It just naturally came to me.”

Elmore became the face of his high school team — and the school — at Wendell Phillips (Illinois) Academy, and he’s stepped into a similar role with Syracuse University football. Head coach Dino Babers said last year that the Orange wouldn’t have finished the season had Elmore not selflessly agreed to shift from fullback and tight end to offensive line.

But in his lifetime of leadership roles, his current has been the most unconventional. Elmore used his extra year of eligibility to come back and lead SU once more following a 1-10 season in 2020.

He holds a significant front-facing role, typically uncommon for a fullback. He’s an unlikely leader.

“When you want to say like, what’s a Philips Wildcat? Or if you were to say, what’s a Syracuse Orange? Chris would be one of those guys you would put at the face of it,” said Troy McAllister, former Phillips Academy head coach. “He’s the kind of person you put at the face of a program.”

Elmore was the one who “got the guys right” at Phillips, said his younger brother, Craig Elmore, who played alongside him in high school. During Elmore’s sophomore year, there was a junior offensive lineman who hated going to the weight

room, so coaches paired him with Elmore.

The two went to lift together everyday, and by the end of the year, the lineman was squatting 400 pounds, former Phillips Academy offensive coordinator Joe Winslow said. The pair went head-to-head at practice too, Elmore playing defensive line.

With Elmore’s guidance, the offensive lineman became one of the team’s best.

“It was safe to say Chris became his motivation,” Winslow said.

Off the field, Elmore was voted the most likely to become famous by his classmates at the end of his senior year, Clinton said. It wasn’t because he was the most vocal, but because he set an example that others at the school followed. He became “the face of the school,” according to Winslow, and an unofficial leader among students who weren’t even on the football team.

Elmore’s not intentionally trying to lead the pack, many close to him said, but his humility and personableness carry over to those around him, both on and off the football field. That was apparent when his best friend, Carliysia Clark, died in a fire during his sophomore year of high school. Elmore dedicated his football career to her, and she became his inspiration and motivation to push forward with his own goals.

While he was grieving Clark’s death, Elmore consoled others who were close to her. Daurice Lee, who was Clark’s boyfriend and one of Elmore’s close friends, said Elmore frequently checked on his mental health. Winslow said he remembers Elmore consoling a student who’s Clark’s death was particularly hard on.

Elmore rallied his teammates, as well as the entire school, to honor Clark. He took the negative and tried to make it positive, Clinton said. Others followed his lead.

Elmore’s been a leader all his life. In middle school, the coaching staff watched a grinning Elmore “running through people.” They were perplexed as he knocked kids down and then took the time to help them back up.

“We came to realize, that’s just the person he is,” Winslow said.

Clinton said he remembers a fan in the stands holding up a sign that read “Elmore Fan Club, Est. 2017”clo during his son’s freshman year at Syracuse.

Elmore was a rookie with limited on-field experience at the time, but those close to him weren’t surprised that he’d already drawn support.

“He just has that kind of magnetism and that energy that supersedes who he is,” Brookshire said.

At Syracuse, Elmore shared his personal experience as a Black man growing up in Chicago at April’s ‘Black Athletes Lives Matter’ march. He talked about experiencing police brutality at an early age and mentioned that two people close

to him were killed by the police. Lee said he wasn’t shocked that Elmore decided to share that message and speak on behalf of his community.

Elmore was part of the first Chicago public school football team to win the state championship in 2016, but the work he does in his local community stretches beyond football fundamentals and drills.

Since high school, he’s been mentoring young adults and helping them stay off the streets, Clinton said.

His father created a list of coaches who want Elmore to talk to their players when he returns home to the Chicago area. Elmore’s well known in his community, even among coaches who never trained him.

“

THAT LEADERSHIP ROLE, IT JUST CAME TO ME. IT JUST NATURALLY CAME TO ME.

CHRIS ELMORE

Elmore has worked with Rashad McKinnie — his cousin’s husband — at Youth Basketball Mentorship since 2019. As part of the support system, Elmore mentors those younger than him, including McKinnie’s son — a high school sophomore and basketball player.

Elmore also has a mentor of his own: Keifer Sykes, an NBA player who’s also from the Southside Chicago. They discuss how to carry themselves as athletes and people as well as how to give back to the community, Sykes said.

Elmore and YBM hope to set up more camps in the near future to expand their reach, although the pandemic has made this difficult. They’re working to change the narrative about Chicago so that there isn’t just one Chris Elmore, but 20 to 30, McKinnie said. Elmore serves as a leader and provides a younger perspective — he’s there to talk to kids who are experiencing hardship.

“Touch one, and that one might touch one,” Clinton added of what he tells his son. “But you can make a difference, and he’s so into doing this.”

It’s very uncommon to find a player as selfless as him — most players his age are only interested in their own ways, McKinnie said.

At SU, he’s played tight end, fullback, offensive line and defensive tackle along with a special teams role on punts and kickoff returns. In high school, he played quarterback, running back, fullback, wide receiver, defensive tackle, offensive

tackle and guard.

In fifth or sixth grade, Elmore shifted from fullback to middle linebacker and has continued to develop since. Elmore said he’s always loved football so much that he never cared where he lined up.

During his freshman year of high school, he filled in at quarterback when the team needed him, taking snaps from the wildcat formation and trampling guys with quarterback dives and sneaks. Even then, Elmore had the fundamentals necessary to be a strong overall player, Lee said.

“There’s no excuses,” McAllister said.

“Having a guy like Chris do what he does — it really does take away all excuses from other people.”

Elmore was the first to mention “unfinished business” after a 1-10 season in 2020, Clinton said. Teammates adopted that mindset, too. Elmore earned respect from his teammates with big plays, but also from being a goofy, warmhearted person, Craig said. They call him “Rhino” after former coach Sean Lewis made up the nickname when Elmore blocked now-NFL player Zaire Franklin during the former’s freshman year.

The fullback has one more year to build his resume before he tries to fulfill his NFL dreams. Those close to him think he has a real shot at getting drafted, not only because of his skillset, but also because of the mindset and personality he brings into the locker room.

On the field, Elmore is like a chameleon, McKinnie said. Elmore is one of the guys who will go ask the coach whether there’s anything else he can do, Elmore’s brother Craig said. He’ll try to “do it all” if you let him, Winslow said. Clinton emphasized that Elmore is not a “football position player,” he’s simply a “football player.”

Like his leadership, which Elmore said comes easily for him, versatility “just came naturally.” That mentality is contagious because once Elmore says he’s willing to do anything or play anywhere on the field for the team’s betterment, others follow his lead.

During the offseason of Elmore’s senior year, defensive line coach Dana Robinson remembers seeing Elmore in a baseball uniform. He had limited prior experience playing baseball, and the hat didn’t really fit over Elmore’s dreadlocks anyway, Winslow said. He had run track during the offseasons of his first three years of high school, but Elmore was ready to change it up, and the baseball team was short on players.

“I thought (that) was amazing,” Winslow said. “Because … that’s who he was.”

But as Robinson watched Elmore walk out of the locker room in a baseball uniform that day, a handful of other senior football players in baseball uniforms followed. Not only had Elmore joined, but he’d recruited his teammates, too. rferna04@syr.edu @roshan_f16

Jack of all trades Chris Elmore has helped the Orange on both sides of the ball throughout his career. (source: cuse.com)

Contributed to the team as a full back and member of special teams.

Made the first start of his career at Clemson as a tight end.

Logged 9 tackles playing defensive tackle for the first time in college, while also playing fullback and tight end.

Switched to offensive line after injuries plagued the Orange.

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6 football guide 2021

HIS ‘EVERYTHING’

TAJ HARRIS TAKES AFTER HIS MOTHER IN DETERMINATION. HENCE WHY HE’S BACK FOR ONE MORE YEAR AFTER HIS BREAKOUT YEAR EVOLVED INTO A SPEED BUMP.

By Anish Vasudevan asst. sports editor

A

jeenah Miles reached for the remote as Syracuse faced Liberty on the television screen in front of her. Something in the last frame had caught her eye.

The game broadcast transitioned into a commercial break, but Miles pressed the rewind button.

Her son, SU receiver Taj Harris, sat at the corner of the bench — eyes directed toward the camera, orange gloves wrapped around his hands — and flipped his middle finger upright. Harris’ frustrations from Syracuse’s three losses of 2020 were displayed with two minutes left in the fourth quarter — all in one gesture.

After the Liberty game, Miles’ phone rang.

“I’m sorry mom, I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Harris said. But it wasn’t an embarrassment in Miles’ eyes. She knew her son was emotional at times, especially in sports.

“Everybody makes mistakes,” she told Harris and checked if he apologized to his coaches and teammates, something he already did.

“You live and you learn. It’s a lesson,” Miles said. “The road isn’t always smooth.”

Miles knows that an incident like last year’s could repeat this season since Harris gets frustrated easily. But the biggest lesson he learned from his mom was determination to succeed, even “when your back is against the wall,” Harris said. That’s why Harris came back for one more year, after what was supposed to be his breakout year last season evolved into a speed bump.

Harris returned for another season with the Orange so that one day he could give his mom — who he considers his “everything” — a better life. Her name, Ajeenah, is the first thing he had permanently tattooed onto his body, in black ink on his left forearm. He can’t remember a time in his life when Miles, specializing in private care, wasn’t going to work every day.

“Watching me every day and seeing me go to work to take care of them,” Miles said.

“He’s got that get up and go, do what you have to do mentality.”

Miles can’t remember a time when Harris didn’t have a ball in his hand. The competitive advice that Miles passed down to her kids first manifested in sports, specifically basketball for Harris. Miles remembers Harris finding empty crates around the neighborhood and cutting out the bottoms to make baskets.

He walked to neighbors’ houses, asking the parents of his friends if he could help their kids get better. Then, he would challenge them on his makeshift basketball court, making marks on the ground with chalk and trading shots with the other kids.

Harris quickly moved from his neighborhood to a nearby Pop Warner team in first grade. But it meant he and some of his friends needed transportation. Miles made sure to keep a “good running car,” a black Chevy Tahoe, for practices and games. She moved around her schedule to cope with Harris’ everchanging seasons. Whether it was basketball, football or even track and field, Miles tried to make every event, even if it meant she would have to return to work after the final whistle.

Miles’ Tahoe took Harris to basketball practice since Harris’ middle school didn’t have a football team for him to play on. He dominated on the court, even catching the eye of Jack Geisel — the head coach of the high school he would soon attend.

“He could dunk a basketball when he was in seventh grade,” Geisel said. “I never saw him play football, just heard about it.”

But in his first summer tryout for Palmyra

(New Jersey) High School’s basketball team, Harris ran into a roadblock. He missed one of his dunks before leaving practice to attend his mom’s cousin’s funeral and was crying on his way to the church.

“He said, ‘Mom, I missed it. Mom, I missed it.’ I thought he was saying, ‘Mom I miss him.

Mom I miss him,’” Miles said. “That hurt his heart. That was the first and the last time that he missed anything.”

Miles comforted Harris, encouraging him to continue on with his athletic pursuits in high school. Harris made the basketball team and starred on its roster for the rest of high school, averaging 25.2 points as a senior. After his freshman season, Geisel asked Harris to join the varsity football team in his sophomore year.

“

(FOOTBALL) IS HIS DREAM. I’M JUST SUPPORTING HIM.

MILES HARRIS

taj harris’ mother

But Harris had only played Pop Warner football, where his athletic talent separated him from the other kids. In high school he needed to develop technical skills for the game — practice he lost because of his time playing basketball.

Luckily for Harris, PHS’ varsity team at the time was led by two rising seniors, quarterback Max Smyth and receiver Kelvin Harmon — a future wide receiver at NC State and in the NFL as a free agent. Harris started to spend time with the duo after school at their houses.

Then, the trio would travel to the field next to Harris’ house, with Smyth throwing passes to Harmon and Harris.

While Miles was inside the house, she saw Harris work with Smyth and Harmon on the field where he first started playing sports. He ran routes, working on his timing and awareness while “perfecting his craft”, Symth said, along with him and Harmon. The trio still practice at Legion Field every offseason, Smyth said.

But in the classroom Harris had a “television personality,” Geisel said, and he would get in trouble for disrupting class. Miles would go to school during some of these missteps, making sure that Harris kept his spot on the team.

“She would get in there and take care of him, come be his rock and get him back on that right path,” Geisel said. “That relationship he has with her is just tremendous for him.”

Other parents approached Miles in the bleachers to say how talented her son was.

That year, Geisel said teams started to realize that they didn’t have to just stop Harmon — their scouting reports had to revolve around Harris, too.

PHS trailed 34-14 during the 2015 state semifinals, as Harris returned the opening kickoff for the third quarter. Geisel knew the other team was worried about Harris, but the opposition were unaware that Harris was in the middle of the field for the kickoff, sending the ball short. He scooped the ball and scored. Harris later added a touchdown after a field goal block later in the game, too. His two special teams touchdowns — and a third receiving one on a slant pass by Smyth — gave PHS a 35-34 lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.

“His ability to make people miss is a gift that you don’t see very often,” PHS athletic director Mike Papenberg said. “You kind of recognize he’s a special gifted athlete in order to make big athletic football players miss him on the field.”

As a sophomore, Harris recorded 51 catches

for 1,101 yards and 13 touchdowns. But for the next two seasons, without Smyth and Harmon on his team, Harris didn’t have anyone to throw the ball to him. He continued to work out at Legion Field, now practicing at what used to be Smyth’s position. He fell out of the top-100 receivers in his class, even the top-20 in his state.

After head coach Dino Babers impressed his mom during the recruiting process by promising that SU would serve as an alternate family, Harris accepted an offer from Syracuse. Miles cried while dropping off Harris at Syracuse, nervous about how the move would affect her son.

“Just adapting to the school and being away from home and learning how to trust people, everyone out there,” Miles said. “It’s been a lot (for him).”

When he arrived in Syracuse, Harris wasn’t on the second wide receiver unit. He moved in early, desperate to change his spot on the depth chart and challenge the best cornerbacks on the team in practice.

Harris spent the entire summer in Syracuse lifting, running and catching passes, trying to build chemistry with the quarterbacks like he did with Smyth as a sophomore in high school.

Similar to his sophomore year in high school, Harris mastered simple routes that were a staple in Babers’ playbook, like slants and hitches, earning his first start eight games into the season.

He was “skinny,” former Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey said, but he relentlessly hit the weight room for the first time in his career, becoming a blocking threat as well as a vertical receiving one.

Harris broke the all-time Syracuse freshmen records in receptions and receiving yards with 40 and 565 yards, respectively. Miles took her Tahoe up to Syracuse at the end of the year to see Harris’ record-breaking 40th catch and 565th yard against Florida State. She was emotional again, like her son.

“I’m at the game crying,” Miles said. “He does a lot of stuff that makes me proud.”

Harris was set to take over as Syracuse’s No. 1 offensive option after leading receiver Jamal Custis graduated in 2018, but over the next two seasons, Syracuse only won six games. In 2020, SU’s offense was the third-worst in the country, according to the NCAA. This was the first time in Harris’ life when he wasn’t “winning championships,” Miles said.

Geisel said Harris would show if he wasn’t happy as a high school player, something that Geisel said was apparent throughout the 2020 season.

He began to miss catches and would often wave his arms after failed plays or fall to the ground pounding his first in the turf.

Harris felt like he had a lot of “room for improvement” this offseason, he said. He knew he had to increase his weight to help him fight off defenders and enlisted the help of his mother and put on 10 to 15 pounds with a “mountain” of food everyday while he was home for the summer, Miles said.

Miles looks back at photos and can’t believe how her “skinny” son put on so much weight in the last few seasons. She even started working out more herself, using the same habits that her son utilized after seeing her work for his entire lifetime.

Usually, Miles cries while dropping off Harris to training camp every season, nervous about what’s to come for her youngest son.

This year, she didn’t. Miles isn’t nervous anymore, as she knows that Harris is ready for redemption.

“We all grew together and inspire each other,” Miles said. “This is his dream. I’m just supporting him.”

“Watching me every day and seeing me go to work to take care of them. He’s got that get up and go, do what you have to do mentality.” asvasude@syr.edu @anish_vasu

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8 football guide 2021

CHANGING C

SYRACUSE FOOTBALL’S 2021 CLASS BROUGHT IN 21 NEW PLAYERS. THE CLASS RANKED 60TH NATIONALLY AND 13TH IN THE ACC BY 247SPORTS.

23.8% 76.2%

WITH 15 PLAYERS LOST TO THE TRANSFER PORTAL, SYRACUSE WILL LOOK TO HAVE FRESHMEN FILL THE VOID AT EACH POSITION.

returning production %

DESPITE AN ABYSMAL 2020 SEASON, SYRACUSE RANKS 4TH IN THE ACC FOR RETURNING PRODUCTION.

79%

80%

81%

83%

North Carolina

Syracuse

Wake Forest

Georgia Tech

91%

Miami

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football guide 2021 9

COURSE

ROSHAN FERNANDEZ STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM, NOW WE’RE HERE RECORD: 6-6 MVP: THE SECONDARY X-FACTOR: OFFENSIVE LINE

AFTER HIS OFFENSIVE LINE FINISHED DEAD LAST IN 2020 FOR TOTAL RUSHING YARDS, DINO BABERS HAS MORE CONFIDENCE THE ORANGE WILL HAVE A STRONGER YEAR

1012

CONNOR SMITH

total rushing yards SYRACUSE FOOTBALL SAW 19 PLAYERS LEAVE THE PROGRAM AFTER ITS 2020 SEASON

Number of players who left

15

4

Transfer Out

NFL

It can’t get any worse than 2020, right? Syracuse’s 1-10 season in 2020, its worst since 2005, likely served as a wake-up call for Dino Babers and the Orange. With the addition of Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader, Syracuse has two reliable options at quarterback and a defense that’s entering year two of the 3-3-5 defense. Behind an offensive line that includes Chris Bleich, Airon Servais, Matthew Bergeron and Dakota Davis, the Orange should be able to better protect Shrader or Tommy DeVito, assuming they avoid the injury plague that struck them last season.

Syracuse has the ability to be competitive with ACC teams Boston College, Wake Forest and potentially Louisville and Pittsburgh.

On paper, it should have a good shot at beating Rutgers, Albany and Ohio too.

2 Decommits

How they left

BOTH THE SYRACUSE OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSE POSSESS EXPERIENCE HEADING INTO THE 2021 SEASON

BELIEF WITHOUT EVIDENCE RECORD: 5-7 MVP: GARRET T WILLIAMS X-FACTOR: QUARTERBACK PLAY

Coming off one of the worst seasons in program history, Syracuse is going to need to pick up nonconference wins before opening ACC play against Florida State on Oct. 2. Ohio, Rutgers, Albany and Liberty are all winnable games for the Orange. SU hasn’t lost to a Mid-American Conference team since 2008, and Rutgers has won only six games in the past three seasons, allowing Syracuse to start 3-1. The Orange also should be competitive against Wake Forest, Louisville and Boston College in league play, winning two of those three games to show improvement from last year.

The defense returns 10 starters and had a full year to learn the 3-3-5 defense. It adds top recruit Darian “Duce” Chestnut in a secondary led by Freshman All-American Garrett Williams. But the key throughout the season for SU will be getting solid production from the quarterback position. Dino Babers plans on playing both Tommy DeVito and Garrett Shrader, but whichever player is able to bring back Babers’ up-tempo offense can help make the Orange more competitive in the ACC. With an improved defense and a quicker offense, Syracuse fans will see a more competitive team this season.

ANISH VASUDEVAN

BABY STEPS RECORD: 4-8 (2-6 ACC) MVP: GARRETT WILLIAMS X-FACTOR: INJURIES

%

Defensive Production Returning

Offensive Production Returning

Four games into last season, then junior-quarterback Tommy DeVito hit the ground. While he was sacked in the fourth quarter against Duke, the starter tweaked his left leg, leaving the game on crutches and not returning onto the field for the remainder of the year. Twenty minutes before Syracuse’s only win of the season, preseason All-American Andre Cisco tore his ACL during pregame warm-ups, leaving the secondary in the hands of then-redshirtfreshman Garrett Williams. Williams was able to fill Cisco’s hole, but the quarterback position wasn’t able to produce another capable of the starting job. This led to Syracuse’s worst season since 2005, which wouldn’t have been the case if it weren’t for some of these injuries.

If injuries are kept to a minimum, Syracuse has a chance to field stars at almost every position, offense and defense. Rob Hanna is expected to also start at safety again this season, after going in last year for an injured player.

Taj Harris, who led Syracuse in receiving yards last year, is also back for another year.

Syracuse can’t get worse than last season, unless it drops every single matchup this year. But with healthy players, this season could serve as a stepping stone for the next — and a rebound for Babers if he wants to keep his job secure.

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football guide 2021 11

REPLICATING SUCCESS

GARRETT WILLIAMS, ONE OF THE ACC’S TOP CORNERBACKS FROM LAST SEASON, WANTS ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SEASON FOR SU FOOTBALL

By Connor Smith

asst. sports editor

I

n Hickory Ridge (North Carolina) High School’s 2017 homecoming game, Butler High School running back Jamal Worthy broke loose after a handoff at the 20-yard line, on his way to an 80-yard touchdown run. But Worthy only went 79 yards when Garrett Williams — lined up in press man coverage on the opposite side of the field — made the tackle at the 1-yard-line.

Hickory Ridge’s defense held Butler for the next three plays, blocking a field goal attempt on the fourth. Williams scooped up the ball and returned it the length of the field for a touchdown.

With Williams’ play, Hickory Ridge won the game 43-42. Williams, in his first season at defensive back, secured the victory with an interception in the red zone late in the fourth quarter.

After his breakout 2017 season as a junior, Williams was recruited by numerous D-I schools. He committed to Syracuse in August 2018 and redshirted in 2019. In 2020, Williams became one of the top cornerbacks in the Atlantic Coast Conference after leading the league in passes defended (12) and recording the most tackles per game by an ACC cornerback (5.8). He was named a Freshman All-American by The Athletic, an Honorable Mention All-ACC player and led the conference in passes defended. After two Syracuse DBs were selected in last year’s NFL draft, Williams’ name has been on recent 2022 first round NFL draft projections, too.

“I knew he could play D-I ball from the beginning,” Williams’ dad, George Williams, said. “But seeing those kinds of plays … I thought he could be the best cover corner in the country just because of natural instincts. He’s living up to everything I’ve thought about him.”

But Williams’ path to the ACC — and possibly the NFL — wasn’t always through being a defensive back. He started tackle football at 7 years old, eventually moving to quarterback three years later.

Once Williams did get the ball in his hands, his natural athletic ability — combined with his intelligence and skill set — took over, Raymond McClain, Williams’ youth coach, said. When Williams was 10, McClain met with him and his dad at a Wendy’s. McClain gave Williams a playbook and wristbands with plays on it that McClain said Williams “absorbed.” Williams was later able to start changing plays at the line of scrimmage.

Williams continued at quarterback into high school, where he played on Hickory Ridge’s JV team for his first two years. While he was a junior, he entered a quarterback competition with senior Dylan Ratliff — who now plays at Charlotte.

But at a 7-on-7 weekend tournament, Hickory Ridge’s head coach, Jason Seidel, decided to give Williams to his defensive coordinator for the weekend and see how he fared as a defensive back. Seidel didn’t want Williams worrying about playing quarterback and the ongoing battle for the position.

In the first defensive series of the trip, Williams intercepted a pass and returned it to the end zone for a touchdown. He intercepted five passes in total over just two days.

“It really looked like it was natural for him when he transitioned over to DB,” former Hickory Ridge wide receiver Jarett Garner said.

Williams remained at the secondary, but his quarterback knowledge helped with his transition, former coaches and teammates said. He was already familiar with route combinations, the pre-snap motioning and shifting opposing

offenses frequently employed, Seidel said. He knew how a quarterback thinks and was able to confuse them by disguising coverages, Williams’ senior year head coach, Sam Greiner, said.

“It helped a lot,” Williams said of his quarterback experience. “Knowing downs and distance, what you really want to run. … So that way you can match what you think the offense is going to do with the formation they run, and that way everything starts to come together.”

By midseason his junior year, Williams was matched up against opposing teams’ top wide receivers every game. When Seidel and Hickory Ridge would watch film on Saturdays after the previous night’s game, he wouldn’t even think about Williams since he hadn’t given up any big plays and essentially “locked down” an entire side of the field, Seidel said.

“You didn’t even think about him,” Seidel said. “He knew he was going to shut down their best receiver.”

“

HE’S DIFFERENT THAN THE REST OF THE PEOPLE HE GOES AGAINST

SAM GREINER

garrett williams’ high school coach

As Hickory Ridge’s top receiver, Garner went up against Williams every day in practice in 2017. Garner gave him pointers, telling Williams how he usually tried to attack the defensive back guarding him depending on the different coverage scheme the defense was playing.

“We would push each other,” Garner said, “He’d get beat on some days. I’d get him on some days. But I just always knew when I would go against him, it was always going to be something good.”

Garner — now at Duke — and Williams were at home in North Carolina last December when they met with former Hickory Ridge receiver Jalen Brooks, who now plays at South Carolina, for workouts with Seidel.

The trio’s former high school coach threw for a few hours, allowing the wide receivers to take turns running routes with Williams covering them 1-on-1. Seidel said there was “no coaching” involved — the players took over the workout themselves.

As Williams’ confidence grew throughout his junior season at Syracuse, his on-field personality grew, bringing out his “G-dub” side.

Off the field, Williams is a very “high character” person, Seidel said. He spoke to coaches with “yes sirs” and “no sirs,” and George tells people that Williams is a better person than he is a football player. He held doors open for others, and Greiner called him a “gentleman.”

But when it came to football, Williams’ competition came out. McClain recalled having conversations with Williams and his dad about football where McClain would tell Williams to calm down because he was so amped up that he was shaking. In one game, Williams was on defense when a timeout was called. As the other team huddled on their sideline, Williams went over and joined their huddle.

“That’s how much of a standout he was. He was that confident in his game and his talent,” McClain said.

A 3-star recruit, Williams would ultimately get several recruiting offers, including ones

from West Virginia and Maryland. Syracuse head coach Dino Babers told Williams and his dad that if he came to SU and worked hard, there would be an opportunity for him. But Babers didn’t promise anything, George said.

Before Williams’ senior season began, Seidel left Hickory Ridge to become the head coach at Blythewood High School in South Carolina. Hickory Ridge hired Greiner, who wanted Williams to play freely so his natural athletic abilities could take over.

Greiner and his coaching staff gave Williams specific objectives to accomplish before the snap, such as hitting the inside or outside shoulder of an opposing team’s player. Once Williams completed the objective, he could “just play football,” Greiner said.

“He is a special talent,” Greiner said. “You can just see it on film when he played. He’s different than the rest of the people he goes against.”

In his first year at Syracuse, Williams redshirted behind experienced cornerbacks Ifeatu Melifonwu, Scoop Bradshaw and Trill Williams. Garrett Williams said he needed to gain weight when he arrived at Syracuse. He arrived in 2019 at 5-foot-11, 175-pounds and entered the 2020 season 13 pounds heavier. He noted that many of the plays he made in high school were the result of his athleticism more than “truly knowing” football.

To help with his football knowledge heading into 2020, Williams ran late night training sessions with Andre Cisco in Ensley Athletic Center, linebacker Mikel Jones said.

He also spent early Sunday mornings in the offseason training, Jones said.

Williams became one of the Orange’s top defensive players after being given more playing time in 2020. Cisco and Trill Williams both suffered season-ending injuries that opened up opportunities in the secondary. Garrett Williams and Melifonwu — one of three SU defensive backs who signed with NFL teams this spring — became the seventh-best cornerback duo in all of Football Bowl Subdivision in 2020, according to Pro Football Focus.

Several NFL draft experts said Williams is Syracuse’s next top NFL prospect out of the secondary. McClain compared Williams to Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander, a Charlotte-area player who was a first round pick in 2018. But for now, Williams has been working with SU’s younger defensive backs on Babers’ 3-3-5 defense while also working on his conditioning so he can stay on the field longer during drives, he said.

Syracuse is more comfortable with the defensive scheme after a year playing in it, and the focus has been on knowing assignments and positioning before the snap to “fast” and not having to think more, Williams said.

“I definitely feel like we have a chip on our shoulder,” Williams said. “Going 1-10, just knowing how that feels, it can make you feel some type of embarrassment. But the majority of our team is back, and we’re working on our goal which is to make a bowl game again.”

It’s not a secret that after a player’s third year of college football, they become eligible for the NFL draft, George said. Williams will look at the available information at the end of this season and decide then if it’s the right decision to leave Syracuse early, meaning entering the draft will be something that is “definitely” considered, George said.

“Garrett Williams is really good, you can’t get around it,” Babers said. “If you can’t see it, there’s something wrong. He’s a very very good player.” csmith49@syr.edu @csmith17_

Secondary success Over the last two years, Syracuse has sent three players from their secondary to the NFL

trill williams (2021 free agent)

andre cisco (2021 3rd-round pick)

ifeatu melifonwu (2021 3rd-round pick)

No fly zone Garrett Williams tied with three other players for ACC leader with most pass breakups in 2020 10

8

6

4

2

0

Garrett Brandon Shyheim Williams Sebastian Battle

Kei'Trel Michael Clark Charter II

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Room to improve Chris Elmore, Taj Harris and Garrett Williams look to lead Syracuse to an improved record in 2021 after a 1-10 record last season.

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