Football Guide 2026

FOOTBALL GUIDE 2026

CLEAN SLATE

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battle tested Steve Angeli’s adversity in high school and at Notre Dame helped him return from injury at Syracuse to become its starting signal-caller in 2026.

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class in session Vince Kehres sculpted Toledo’s defense into one of the nation’s best as its defensive coordinator. He’ll look to do the same in his first year at Syracuse.

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pro appeal Ahead of the 2026 season, Chris Peal is Syracuse’s top 2027 NFL Draft prospect. Analysts say his physicality and athleticism give him a case for a breakout year.

2 september 3, 2026

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It’s almost time for Syracuse football’s long-awaited 2026 season to begin. The Orange’s 2025 campaign held promise, but Steve Angeli’s Week 4 Achilles injury instantly derailed it.

Rotating between three backup quarterbacks, SU lost its next eight games and finished last in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 3-9 record.

This season is about wiping the slate clean.

A healthy Angeli is back under center and primed to take a leap forward with a new offense around him.

On defense, the Orange are undergoing a makeover after finishing among the nation’s worst units in 2025. Former SU defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson left for Texas A&M, and the Orange hired Vince Kehres — an established DC at Toledo — to revitalize the platoon. One of Kehres’ primary playmakers is cornerback Chris Peal, who enters his second season with SU as a top defensive prospect in the 2027 NFL Draft.

The Daily Orange’s 2026 Football Guide has everything you need to know before Syracuse takes the field this season.

Thanks for reading,

JORDAN KIMBALL SPORTS EDITOR

september 3, 2026 3

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#9

STEVE ANGELI

quarterback

UMARI HATCHER

#2

wide receiver

#5 linebacker

#12 cornerback

DESLAURIERS

CHRIS ANTOINE PEAL

4 september 3, 2026

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Steve Angeli tore his Achilles last fall. He was braced for what came next.

By Noah Nussbaum MANAGING EDITOR

S

teve Angeli had 24 hours. Twenty-four hours to feel bad for himself. Twenty-four hours to consider what he should’ve done differently.

Twenty-four hours to create make-believes of what could’ve been.

At least, that’s what Vito Campanile told Angeli the day after his season-ending Achilles injury with Syracuse last year.

“I talked to him the next day and said, ‘So many of the best players in sports have been through this, and you’re gonna have to climb back up just like you have in the past,’” Vito said.

This was common motivation from Vito, who coached Angeli at Bergen Catholic High School (New Jersey) from 2018-21, and coached him hard. Vito immediately emphasized mental toughness in Angeli’s training by repeatedly putting him in uncomfortable situations against various defensive schemes and blitz packages.

Neither realized the impact it would have on Angeli’s career.

At nearly every stage of his football journey, Angeli has faced adversity. He weathered Vito’s tough coaching in high school and battled a deep bone bruise his senior year. Then, at Notre Dame, he was never truly given a chance, with new starters brought in every time he was next up.

And when everything looked like it was finally aligning last year, with three and a half masterful games for the Orange, Angeli’s Achilles failed him.

Eleven months later, that’s all behind him. Angeli is “100% healthy” as Syracuse’s starting signal-caller for the 2026 season, he said. He’ll look to return the Orange to the heights they reached in 2024 after a concoction of freshmen, walk-ons and unproven transfers led them to eight straight losses to end 2025. He can’t pinpoint one specific moment across his career, but those close to Angeli insist his past adversity conditioned him to return with even more confidence as Fran Brown’s No. 1 option.

“I looked at it as every day I walked into the training room or every day I walked into any part of my rehab, that’s my practice, that’s my chance to compete,” Angeli said of his recovery. “I’m a competitor, and for me it was one of the hardest competitions. It was against myself, my own body.”

“I think adversity is the biggest creator of confidence.

That's my experience in my career,” said Kedon Slovis, Angeli’s close friend and former Arizona Cardinals quarterback.

“Steve's on the latter end of it, but it's always gonna keep coming. So I think anytime you can taste that early in your career, the better.”

Angeli’s injury was so devastating last year not only because of the Orange’s poor backup quarterback play. He was simply one of the nation’s best quarterbacks.

Through his torrid start, Angeli accumulated 1,317 passing yards — second nationwide after Week 4 — 10 touchdowns and two interceptions.

He thrived in a similar offense to Bergen Catholic, which featured RPOs, option routes and deep shots. And he survived every punch he faced, from being roughed up in his debut against Tennessee to fighting back to steal a win against UConn. Former Notre Dame teammate Anthony Rezac summed it up best: Angeli entered a “flow state.”

Nunzio Campanile, Syracuse’s offensive associate head coach last year and Vito’s brother, saw Angeli’s confidence jump each week as SU went 3-1 in his starts. Then, it tanked against Clemson.

Playing QB is about handling one adversity to another.

Steve has done that his whole career and will continue to do it at a high level.

Sam Hartman former notre dame quarterback

numbers with vs. without angeli

3 with angeli

with angeli

ns wi

38.3

0 without angeli with angeli

without angeli

1317 1290 passing yards

without angeli

11.1 points per game

with angeli

10

pass ing tds

7 without angeli

Angeli was rightfully upset following his injury; he struggles to even describe his initial thoughts now. That mood lingered until he began walking a few weeks later, Slovis said.

Vito and Rezac heard about Angeli’s injury in their respective locker rooms during game breaks, dampening the vibe of their wins. A bittersweet feeling similarly blanketed Syracuse’s players after upsetting Clemson. Nobody wanted to see Angeli’s starting opportunity end the way it did.

“It's a little emotional talking about it now because sometimes there's not an answer for it,” Angeli said at Atlantic Coast Conference Media Day. “It's just tough when you watch the way the rest of the season goes. I tried to do everything I could, but it is definitely rough and definitely sucks.”

“He just seemed like he was so confident, felt so good about where he was going and where the team was going,” Vito said. “It was kind of a crazy pitfall to hit.”

Thus, Angeli began his long road back.

But he’d already dispatched similar obstacles before.

During one high school game his senior year, Angeli tweaked his knee.

Vito’s son Dominic Campanile, who was BC’s third-string quarterback then, said he was “scared to death” once his father told him to get ready. Thankfully for him, Angeli only missed a few plays, reentered the game and steered the Crusaders to victory over Seton Hall Prep.

The injury turned out to be a bone bruise. Vito said he should’ve missed three weeks, yet Angeli didn’t sit out a single game, constantly getting fluid drained from his leg to remain active. After not throwing as much as usual the next game, Angeli led Bergen Catholic to a state title later that year.

“He was always kind of banged up, but he never complained. He kept practicing,” said BC teammate and former SU defensive back Jayden Bellamy. “He's hurdling people on a bad knee. He's just always gonna keep going.”

Angeli stayed healthy at Notre Dame, but that wasn’t the issue. Every time he was in line to start, he was relegated into the shadows. First he sat behind Drew Pyne, then Sam Hartman and Riley Leonard, all of whom were deemed better than him. It didn’t help that head coach Brian Kelly, who recruited Angeli, left before he arrived.

As ND’s backup, Angeli sometimes received firstteam reps in practice. But he wasn’t “getting whacked” like the No. 3 or 4s, since he was essential if the starter got hurt, his youth coach Matt Bastardi said.

Still, Angeli practiced like he was the starter. He made sure he knew anything and everything about the team’s game plan each week, firing off questions about receivers’ routes and opponents’ defenses to anyone who would listen, former ND quarterback Kenny Minchey said.

That’s because Angeli believed he was the team’s best quarterback. It wasn’t egotistical; Rezac said it was just healthy confidence.

passing yard leaders through 4 games last season

Sawyer Robertson

1320

Steve Angeli

1317

Darian Mensah

1305

Katin Houser

1258

Jalen Kitna

1256

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He did the best he could to keep his chin up and be a man about it.

Nunzio Campanile former su offensive associate head coach

Steve Angeli’s passing yards when he got injured

The mindset guided Angeli through his toughest hurdle yet.

“Playing QB is about handling one adversity to another. Steve has done that his whole career and will continue to do it at a high level,” Hartman said in a statement to The Daily Orange. “No one I know is in a better spot to succeed and come back from an injury than Steve.”

Angeli finally had enough of riding the bench and transferred to Syracuse. He won a starting competition for the first time in his career, beating out LSU transfer Rickie Collins, who’d already been with the program for four months.

The short turnaround forced Angeli to gain teammates’ trust fast, and he did.

As quickly as he earned the job, he returned to the bench after his injury. The first part of his recovery was mental.

Every few weeks, Angeli, Rezac, Minchey and other former teammates at Notre Dame caught up over the phone. Angeli told them about Syracuse’s atmosphere, the city and areas around campus and acted optimistic about his rehab, Minchey said.

A little over a month after his surgery, Angeli began traveling with the team again. He served as an additional coach during games and practices and was given a task at each session to help him “feel committed to the team” despite being sidelined. Brown thinks it helped him learn how to “truly lead” entering 2026.

That time translated to Angeli’s relationships with his teammates. He called Miami (Ohio) transfer receiver Cole Weaver the day after he committed, telling him to “get ready to work” while breaking down the Orange’s offense. Former Toledo linebacker Chris D’Appolonia added that Angeli tries to form personal bonds with each of SU’s players.

Brown certainly didn’t enjoy Angeli’s injury last fall but has since realized its hidden benefits.

“I think him getting hurt was more than likely… the best thing to happen to him and myself,” Brown said. “Probably the best thing that's going to happen to our program because we're going to be able to take off and go to another level.”

angeli's adversity 2021 Suffers bone bruise senior year of HS

Serves as backup for 3 years at Notre Dame

2022 2024

JULY - AUG

2025

QB competition in camp with Rickie Collins

Once he could walk, though, Angeli did everything possible to progress in his rehab. Nunzio was amazed when Angeli started throwing again in November. At first, Angeli only did stationary throws using his upper body but could be seen “ripping the ball around” before SU’s late-season games, Nunzio said.

Angeli also worked with SU Director of Performance Chad Smith, who Angeli said helped him add 10 pounds of muscle.

“He did the best he could to keep his chin up and be a man about it. He went right to work after the surgery,” Nunzio said. “He was out there doing everything he could.”

In March, Angeli traveled to California with Slovis and Hartman to work with Taylor Kelly, a former college signal-caller who now trains others for 3DQB, a company that specifically works with quarterbacks. Angeli wasn’t completely healthy yet, but he was so eager to begin a full workout that 3DQB’s coaches had to restrain him from overdoing it.

Torn Achilles vs. Clemson

SEPT. 2025

AUG. 2026 Angeli returns to SU practice fully healthy

His workouts focused on mechanics rather than dropbacks and footwork, but Slovis was more impressed by his mentality than his throws.

When fall camp started in August, he was practicing in full capacity, a black compression sleeve covering his left leg and his walking boot stuffed in his apartment’s closet.

Angeli said he’s also worked with Syracuse’s defensive coaches to see how they’d attack him and figure out ways to combat their tactics.

Before the season, Angeli has been asked ad nauseam about his health status. He’s never had much to say, besides that he’s 100% and ready to go. He’s told the same to friends, family and coaches who reach out.

He wants to put his injury in the past — and with it, his previous adversity.

A fully healthy season, one where he returns to the level he hit in 2025, would validate it all. njnussba@syr.edu @Noahnuss99

6 september 3, 2026

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nfl players kehres coached at toledo

11 AS 1 kehres' mantra

DC Vince Kehres brings defensive dominance, NFL pipeline to Syracuse

By NICHOLAS ALUMKAL SENIOR STAFF WRITER

T

oledo had allowed 31 points in the first half.

It was Oct. 15, 2022, and Kent State was running laps around the Rockets. Its lead had grown to 21 points in the opening seconds of the second quarter. Frustration reigned in the Glass Bowl.

“We are way better than this, and we're better than these guys we’re playing,” former Toledo defensive tackle Judge Culpepper remembered thinking.

Vince Kehres watched from the stadium box aerie. The then-Toledo defensive coordinator had his defensive players huddle on the sideline. He used a headset microphone to relay a message.

“Guys, sh-t hasn't gone our way,” Culpepper recalls Kehres saying. “I promise you, we're gonna win this game. I'm gonna put together a great plan at halftime. Do not lose sight of the goal.

Everything's gonna be fine.”

2025

defensive rankings

rush in

efense gd

toledo's

There wasn’t a single player who didn’t believe him, Culpepper said. Halftime came, the second half commenced and Kent State didn’t score again. Toledo romped to a 52-31 victory.

“We beat them, smoked them and it was a testament to V.K. just keeping a cool head and just letting us know, ‘Look, guys, we got this. Things go south. We just got to trust in each other and trust in this plan, and we're gonna put you guys in the right spot to succeed,’” Culpepper said.

That’s what Kehres has made a career of — putting his guys in the right spots to succeed. In 2025, Toledo boasted the nation’s second-best total defense (254.3 yards allowed per game) and the fourth-ranked scoring defense (13.31 points surrendered per contest). With Kehres in charge, his players were likely to be drafted and flourish in the NFL. First Team All-Pro Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell?

Giants starting defensive tackle Darius Alexander? Browns 2026 second-round pick Emmanuel McNeil-Warren? All of them count Kehres as a source of their thriving professional careers.

“He would always tell us to compete out there and to play hard.

Every down, every day, every rep,” Mitchell told The Daily Orange.

“I just try to compete against others and myself as well.”

Now, after six years at Toledo, Kehres, 50, looks to replicate his success in a new spot. Syracuse head coach Fran Brown hired Kehres to be his defensive coordinator after the Orange allowed 34.9 points per game last season, seventhworst in the country.

“I don't know if there's anybody that loves the game of football more than Vince Kehres,” Culpepper said.

As Syracuse’s 2025 campaign concluded with eight straight losses, Brown decided his team needed a new defensive coordinator. On a Sunday night in early November 2025, Kehres received a call from Brown while watching his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. Brown wanted to gauge Kehres’ interest in the position.

At a team meeting on Dec. 1, Brown informed the Orange then-defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson would be demoted to co-coordinator. Kehres was hired on Dec. 6, and a few weeks later, Robinson departed the program to become Texas A&M’s defensive line coach. Kehres was Syracuse’s sole defensive leader.

“There will be answers to things,” Brown told Sirius XM’s ACC Radio when asked what would be different about this year’s defense. “There will be adjustments. There will be more adjustments because of (Kehres’) experience. I feel like there were times I put Coach Robinson in a bad situation.”

Syracuse is Kehres’ third coaching stop. He spent 20 years at Division III Mount Union, where his father, Larry Kehres, boasts the highest winning percentage in college football history at 92.9%. Kehres replaced his father as the program’s head

Great defense is a collection of a bunch of people that really believe in the unit. And if you're not giving great effort, then you're being selfish. And honestly, you're not going to be on the field here.

Vince Kehres syracuse defensive coordinator

coach in 2013, leading the Purple Raiders to a 95-6 record and two national championships in seven years.

In 2020, Kehres moved to Toledo. On Dec. 6, 2025, the same day he signed with SU, Toledo head coach Jason Candle departed for UConn.

Kehres is content with how it played out. He said his move came down to “who was I going to work with, and do we have the opportunity to be successful?”

“I felt those boxes were checked here at Syracuse,” Kehres said.

Kehres brought defensive backs coach Perry Eliano and defensive analyst Dan Bolden with him from Toledo, along with Third Team All-Mid-American Conference linebacker Chris D’Appolonia and defensive back Amare Snowden. When Kehres arrived at SU, he first asked his players how they wanted to be taught, defensive back Davien Kerr said.

On top of that, Kehres said he’d be available as early as 3 a.m. to go over the playbook or film. Culpepper estimates Kehres has watched 100,000 hours of film in his life. At Toledo, Kehres even finalized his film for the following Saturday opponent the Sunday before.

“I go home on a Sunday night after a win, enjoy my team victory meal and watch a little bit of film that's already been broken down by the numbers, and understand what I'm looking at,” said Culpepper, a 2023 First Team All-MAC member. “And once you understand what you're looking at, the game slows down, and you're able to really make a lot of plays.”

Right now, the Orange defense is probably getting tired of seeing Toledo film, Kehres admitted during training camp on Aug. 7. But it’s all intended to build SU into one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top defensive units.

“He's gonna create a very cohesive unit that he's going to strip down complicated things and make it easy to learn,” said Mike Hallett, who coached alongside Kehres at Toledo and against him at Mt. Union.

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He's just going to give it his all. He's not going to shortchange you. He's not going to hold things back. He's going to pour into his players. He's going to make his players better each and every day. And he just pulls — he just pulls a different type of dog out of you.

Samuel Womack III new york jets cornerback

“Vince's dad had a great adage about coaching: Coaching is teaching. Teaching is inspiring learning,” Hallett added. “Vince does that very well. He does a great job of getting kids interested in learning all the ins and outs and nooks and crannies and intricacies of what our defense is able to do, and the kids are thirsty learners.”

That’s what Kehres did at Toledo. The defense underwent a 180 when he arrived, safety Tycen Anderson said. The Rockets played “stickier coverage,” and there was more accountability and attention to detail, said Anderson, a 2022 fifth-round pick and current Denver Bronco.

The summer Toledo hired Kehres, Anderson remembers talking to him on the phone for over an hour. They reviewed Anderson’s tape, with Kehres pointing out his flaws and strengths. Later that summer, Anderson was playing video games with his friends when Kehres called again.

“Next thing you know, my iPad was up, and we were watching tape,” Anderson said.

Cornerback Samuel Womack III, who was a senior when Kehres was hired, said Kehres “brought a different type of enthusiasm, a different type of grit” to his game. Because the COVID-19 pandemic granted players an additional year of eligibility, Womack played two seasons under Kehres and became Toledo’s all-time leader in pass breakups (46) before he was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Womack said he’d previously relied on his strength and athleticism to make plays. Once Kehres arrived, Womack better understood what was needed to beat receivers on contested balls.

“I remember (Kehres) just telling me, I can go to the NFL, I can be a great player, but I won't be doing that if I just take plays off,” Womack said.

That message was best exemplified, Womack thinks, in a threepoint loss at then-No. 8 Notre Dame in 2021. The Rockets forced the Fighting Irish into three turnovers — a total team effort. It was a prime example of Kehres’ defensive polestar: 11 as 1.

“Great defense is a collection of a bunch of people that really believe in the unit,” Kehres said of his philosophy. “And if you're not giving great effort, then you're being selfish. And honestly, you're not going to be on the field here.”

But Kehres wasn’t omnipotent. Womack remembers Kehres consulting him and Anderson in a tight game against Western Michigan. He let them choose the coverage for an important down.

It worked; Toledo won. Postgame, Womack thanked Kehres for taking his players’ input.

“He molds the playbook to us, which allows us to play very fast, very physical and not have to hesitate at all, which I think is why we've been so good under his defensive system,” D’Appolonia said of Kehres, noting he runs an “NFL-style” defense.

Anderson credits Kehres for recruiting defensive backs and setting them up to play with “confidence and swag.” Kehres also saw things in recruits others might not. When Alexander arrived at Toledo in 2019, Candle wanted to move him from defensive line to offensive line due to injuries in the unit. Kehres was hired the following year and convinced Candle to move Alexander back to defense.

“He told me I better ball out every chance I get, because if I don't, he brings me back to offense,” Alexander said of Kehres. “So that was gonna be pretty easy on my part.”

It sure seemed easy. Alexander was an All-MAC selection twice, a 2025 NFL Draft third-round pick and looks set to start for the Giants in his second professional season.

McNeil-Warren, now a Cleveland Brown, added SU is getting “the best coach ever” in Kehres, whose main goal is to win and set records. Culpepper said no one in the JMA Wireless Dome knows more about football than Kehres, calling him a walking “football algorithm.”

However, off the field, Kehres can be easygoing.

He always had a joke to tell, Mitchell said. During one defensive meeting, someone turned on a song by the rapper Lil Baby, Culpepper recalls. Then Kehres entered the room.

"All right, loving this one,” Kehres said.

He kept listening.

"This guy's pretty good. Who is this?”

A defender piped in: "It's Lil Baby, Coach. You don't know Lil Baby?”

"Hmm, little baby,” Kehres responded.

“I'm not really sure I know that one, but I'll mark it down. Maybe I'll put it on my playlist.”

However, Alexander heeds an important warning about Kehres’ disposition. When you see him on Thursday, he’ll be silly, he’ll laugh, he’ll smile. But on game day, “he’s a whole different guy.”

Meet Kehres’ alter ego.

Straight face. Serious. But energetic and loud. Alexander thinks Syracuse fans will love Kehres’ duality.

Good defense, synonymous with Kehres, is fun to watch. How about playing in it?

“You go one drive, the first drive of the game, and you get a three-and-out, and then you get another three-and-out, and it's like, ‘Oh my god, I love this,’” Culpepper said.

“Playing football is the best. And when you're doing well, and you've got a good plan in place, it's very easy to buy in.”

The team might change, but Kehres’ credo doesn't.

After each defensive drill or practice rep, his defense gathers together in a huddle and chants Kehres’ lodestar, “11 as 1,” before returning to their positions. That’s how he’s always functioned.

The man and the mantra have moved to central New York.

Now, he’ll look to bring defensive dominance — and with it, set Syracuse and its defenders up for success.

“He's just going to give it his all,” Womack said. “He's not going to shortchange you. He's not going to hold things back. He's going to pour into his players. He's going to make his players better each and every day. And he just pulls a different type of dog out of you.” njalumka@syr.edu @nalumkal

Defensive NFL players Vince Kehres coached at Toledo

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Why Chris Peal is Syracuse’s most hyped 2027 NFL Draft prospect months, especially with Peal projected to start every game this season.

“It was cool to hear that people were thinking highly of me like that, but that means that I really have a chance, and I really gotta go get it this year,” Peal said.

But why exactly did Peal climb so high — and what are the odds he sustains the hype? College football writers and NFL Draft analysts say his physicality, athleticism and proven success position him to break out and go off the board early next April.

“From the splash plays to the physical tools he brings to the table, he kind of checks all the boxes,” said Luke Easterling, an Athlon Sports writer who mocked Peal as the No. 30 pick in next year’s draft.

In analysts’ eyes, Peal’s rise was quick but not necessarily surprising. His numbers last season were modest — seven pass breakups, one forced fumble and no interceptions — but his 85.1 Pro Football Focus grade was by far the best of any SU defender and ranked first among returning ACC cornerbacks.

Easterling said there are a few ways players can get on his radar. Sometimes, game tape makes them unavoidable. Other times, he’ll see preseason recognition and note strengths and weaknesses. Easterling said Peal was a combination of both.

He didn’t necessarily have some crazy offseason development.

Analysts began to recognize his potential as they dove further into 2027 prospects.

Syracuse football’s last NFL Draft first-round pick

By Harris Pemberton ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

T

he hype around Chris Peal this offseason was so palpable that even Chris Peal couldn’t avoid it.

Sometime in the spring, the rising redshirt junior cornerback received a text from his mom attaching a way-too-early 2027 NFL Mock Draft. Peal’s name was among the first 32 listed, a projected first-round pick.

“It was surprising,” Peal said.​“​I don't know if I really expected that.”

The recognition kept coming. He was mocked as a firstrounder by Bleacher Report on April 25. Then Athlon Sports two days later. Then Sports Illustrated the next day. Peal was the lone Syracuse player on the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Preseason team and was tabbed a Preseason All-American by Phil Steele and Sporting News. The NFL Mock Draft Database had Peal outside its top 500 prospects before he surged to No. 40 in late April. He’s bobbed around the late first and early second round in most mocks since.

If Peal climbs into the top 32, he’d be Syracuse’s first NFL Draft first-round pick since 2013 and first defensive back selected in the first round since 2001. Granted, a lot can change in a few

Demetres Samuel Jr. 76.1

79.9 Shawn Lee Jr.

Chris Peal

85.1

pff grades among returning acc cornerbacks

The intangibles jump off the page first. Peal stands 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, with arms that measured 31 inches before his freshman year at Georgia. It’s partially why he was a four-star recruit in 2023. Eric Edholm, an NFL Draft writer at Yahoo! Sports, said Peal’s size “fits that outside modern zone corner.”

“That height, weight and speed profile, playing in a major conference, it certainly gives you a chance to be a top-100 guy,” Edholm said.

Peal’s long arms and lanky stature help him disrupt receivers at the catch point and be a sure-handed tackler. Easterling and Edholm pointed to Peal’s forced fumble against Georgia Tech last season as a prime example of his willingness to support the run game and not give up on plays.

“It's encouraging when it’s a guy like Chris because it's like, ‘Wow, I have this size, but I'm not just gonna let it go to waste as a run defender. I’m going to use this to my advantage,’” Easterling said.

In coverage, Edholm praised Peal’s ability to play with “late eyes” and “late hands,” meaning Peal has a knack for knowing when to turn his head and arms to make a play on a ball.

“He'll be judged on his length, his weight, the 40-(yard dash) and the combine, but I just like his game,” said Bill Bender, a senior writer at Sporting News who put Peal on his Preseason All-America Second Team. “I think it's fun to watch.”

It also helps that Peal’s in an NFL-style system — according to new SU defensive coordinator Vince Kehres — under coaches with strong track records of developing defensive backs.

At Georgia, Fran Brown coached a plethora of NFL DBs, notably Houston Texans corner Kamari Lassiter, who Brown said he thinks is the best at his position in the NFL. Kehres developed 2025 NFL All-Pro Quinyon Mitchell and 2026 second-round safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at Toledo. Defensive backs coach Perry Eliano — who also taught McNeil-Warren with the Rockets — coached former top-5 NFL Draft pick Sauce Gardner and Chicago Bears safety Coby Bryant at Cincinnati.

“I think our scheme simulates an NFL scheme,” Kehres said on Aug. 8. “I think the skill set of what they're doing translates well to what the NFL is looking for in a defensive back.”

“He puts people in the right circumstances,” Peal said of Kehres and his defense. “He plays to his players’ strengths. He knows what he’s doing so well that the scheme is so sound, and everybody fits in the right place. He puts everybody where they can be their best.”

For Peal, that’s on the outside. Last year, he mainly mirrored opponents’ No. 2 receivers while Demetres Samuel Jr. took most No. 1 matchups. But Peal still showed out against stellar competition. Per PFF’s matchup reports, Peal held UConn wideout Skyler Bell — a Buffalo Bills 2026 draft pick — to one catch for six yards and Tennessee receivers to a combined two catches for 21 yards in last year’s season-opener.

Edholm said SU’s Week 4 win over Clemson seemed to be one of the only matchups where opponents put a “target on his back.” But Peal held his own against Tigers wideout T.J. Moore, allowing five catches on 11 targets. Bender said “(Peal) started to turn it up in that last quarter of the season” in matchups against Miami, Notre Dame and Boston College.

He’ll get numerous big matchups this season against quarterbacks and receivers he may meet again at the next level. But Peal insists there’s nobody in particular circled on his calendar.

“I'm trying to just go play,” he said.

There are, of course, some things Peal must patch up to be pro-ready. The most notable stat is his zero interceptions last season, though analysts are divided on how much that matters when evaluating corners. Edholm said Peal is also more of a zone corner than a press-man corner, but filling out his frame would boost his pro prospects.

Peal said his main goal next season is to “go get my hands on the ball” with pass breakups, forced fumbles, sacks or interceptions. For him to truly be an All-American, Bender said a few picks would help the case.

Over the offseason, Peal worked with Brown, Kehres and Eliano to brush up his technique. Peal said Brown wants his defensive backs to be “masters of technique.” Eliano said Peal’s main focus is to clean up “those little things that (are) going to be the difference in the fourth quarter.”

“We're not looking at the results,” Eliano said of his work with Peal. “We're just focused on today. Did we get better today? How do we get better this afternoon in the meeting room? How do we take that to tomorrow morning's walkthrough? And so that's been the focus, to live in the now.”

“The now,” for Peal, is Saturday’s season opener against New Hampshire. He’s heard the noise at this point. He knows if he lives up to the preseason hype this year, he can rewrite Syracuse football history.

But the road to realizing those expectations is long. His first step is to help Syracuse exceed its own.

“First round and all that stuff will come when it comes,” Brown said. “Chris is going to play in the NFL, but we’re going to handle what we got to handle here.” harrispemberton@gmail.com @HarrisPemb6

10 september 3, 2026

dailyorange.com sports@dailyorange.com

Pemberton: In 2026, Syracuse must show it won't fade into irrelevance again

By Harris Pemberton ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

R

eplay the scene in your mind. It’s Dec. 27, 2024. Kyle McCord, Oronde Gadsden and many SU stars have passed around the Holiday Bowl trophy after a 52-35 win over Washington State. Fran Brown is stoic in celebration.

He avoided the yearly tradition of having a vat of eggnog poured over his head. Instead, with the help of Joey Chestnut, of all people, he launches a cooler of the milky beverage onto a crowd of his players.

The absurdity of it was something to behold.

Not just the eggnog and Joey Chestnut. The fact that Syracuse — the same Syracuse that logged losing records in eight of its previous 10 seasons — was celebrating a 10-win campaign. And to make it more absurd, the man who fueled it, Brown, had been with the program for just over a year.

Now replay a different scene. This one, Nov. 22, 2025. The scoreboard at the bottom of your television screen really does say 70-7. No, it’s not a typo. It’s Syracuse’s seventh straight loss and worst defeat in over 132 years. There’s no eggnog.

No Joey Chestnut. But there are numerous questions to be answered surrounding SU. It might feel like an all-too-familiar tale — that drop-off from one season to the next.

Syracuse football hasn’t enjoyed much sustained success since the 1990s and hasn’t had back-to-back winning seasons in over a decade.

Sure, there have been one-off years of brilliance since, like the 10-win 2018 and 2001 seasons.

Even eight-win years in 2010 and 2012 were bright spots. But the Orange couldn’t turn them into real, lasting success.

The 2024 season is threatening to be next on that list of one-offs. It ended with SU’s third 10-win season since 2000, and four players became NFL Draft picks. But the momentum Brown built came to a major halt when Syracuse went 3-9 in 2025.

Now, the Orange face another season where they’re presented two choices: win, and show you’re here to contend. Lose, and continue a slip back toward irrelevance, with no telling when — or if — sustained success will come. To prove this isn’t the same old Syracuse under new athletic director Bryan Blair, Brown and the Orange can’t let it be the latter.

“It all comes down to winning, we play this game to win,” quarterback Steve Angeli said. “I don’t think anyone wants to lose games or be known as a losing football team.”

Consecutive years without back-to-back winning seasons When Brown first arrived at Syracuse, the Orange had been doing that frequently. While he inherited a program that made back-toback bowl games, the Orange posted losing records in four of their previous five seasons.

Brown instantly worked his patented recruiting skills to land big-time transfers McCord and Fadil Diggs, who powered SU to its first 10-win season since 2018.

Syracuse then began 2025 3-1, including a Week 4 road upset over Clemson. But in that victory, Angeli tore his Achilles, beginning a disastrous spiral where the Orange lost eight straight games to close the year.

Sure, Angeli’s injury was uncontrollable, and, at times, felt like a major asterisk next to that ugly record. SU’s schedule was also treacherous, as it faced four 2024-25 College Football Playoff teams. But the reality is that, whether harmed by those factors or not, Syracuse lost nine games.

“I think that we both learned a lot from last season,” Brown said of him and Angeli.

It’s important to note Brown’s 2024 success was perhaps ahead of schedule. The talent on the roster was abundant, but it’s not often a first-year head coach sees that much success that early. A slight drop-off in 2025 was expected with key pieces departing, albeit probably not as harsh as what SU experienced. In Year 3 under Brown, it’s about time for another bowl appearance, or at least encouraging signs of returning to one.

There’s some sense of urgency around the Orange this season. The clock is ticking for redshirt senior Angeli, although he could return in 2027. Star defensive back Chris Peal — who’s tabbed as a first-round pick in some NFL mock drafts — could leave after this season.

And frankly, another year without postseason football could lower SU’s national status. The 10-3 2024 campaign helped Brown reel in the program’s third-ever five-star recruit Calvin Russell III. Brown’s also put together strong 2027 and 2028 hauls, indicating he can bring the Orange lasting success. But if his teams can’t turn talent into wins, eventually, the talent will stop coming.

Brown’s certainly tried to prevent that from happening. His desire to improve was evident by bringing in six new position coaches while trying to patch major gaps that spoiled 2025.

Brown said he learned he needed good backup quarterbacks. Now, he has four that started Division I games. The Orange’s pass defense allowed the fifth-most yards in the Atlantic Coast Conference last year, but Peal and Demetres Samuel Jr. are two of the ACC’s highest-graded returning corners, per Pro Football Focus. SU’s pass rush ranked tied for 14th in the ACC in sacks last season. Now new defensive coordinator Vince Kehres looks to mold SU into one of the conference’s best units.

“There's new blood. There's a lot of different energy,” Brown said. “Of course, (we’re)

Bowl appearances since 2000

never gonna really flush what happened. You understand, and you realize, and you know that, because you're a competitor, you can't wait to get that last loss out your mouth, that taste.”

Those are all encouraging signs. But there are still a couple major questions looming.

Angeli hasn’t taken an in-game snap since his injury last September. Will he be the same passer that lit up the nation through four weeks? With Justus Ross-Simmons’ status in the air, who will be SU’s lead receiver? In the ACC, is Kehres' defense going to perform as advertised?

The schedule didn’t get much easier, either.

The Orange played four ranked opponents last season and get three more teams in the preseason poll this year. No. 4 Notre Dame — which handed the Orange their worst defeat since 1893 last season — still looms in a potential bowlgame-or-bust Week 12.

It’s not that Syracuse needs another 10 wins and to finish the season ranked. Looking at the schedule — and the unknowns — it’s not realistic to expect the Orange to climb to the heights they did two years ago. But even six, seven or eight wins would show clear signs of improvement from last year’s disaster.

A head coach’s tenure will always be defined by the big moments, but it’s equally important to note how they respond to the lows. We’ve seen Brown at the highs. And now we’ve seen Brown at the lows. His roster isn’t as good as it was two seasons ago, and frankly, the schedule is harder, too. But everybody in this new SU Athletics regime wants to rid the program of the poor reputation it's earned since the turn of the century. And to do that, there’s not much time to wait to rebuild again.

This season is Syracuse’s opportunity to show the 2025 season was really the one-off.

Not 2024. harrispemberton@gmail.com @HarrisPemb6

september 3, 2026 11

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record over last 6 seasons:

1-10 2020

5-7 2021

7-6 2022

6-7 2023

10-3 2024

3-9 2025

Beat writers predict whether Syracuse can rebound to make bowl game in 2026 Syracuse football hasn’t won a game in 11 months. When the Orange play New Hampshire in the JMA Wireless Dome Saturday, it’s their first chance to get back in the win column after eight straight losses to cap a forgettable 2025 season.

SU finished the year 3-9 despite starting 3-1. Its campaign was spoiled by starting quarterback Steve Angeli’s Achilles injury in Week 4.

Everything went downhill from there, but Syracuse is looking for a fresh start in 2026, its third year under Fran Brown.

Angeli is back under center, though his weapons remain a question entering the first game. SU also brought in former Toledo defensive coordinator Vince Kehres, who should revamp a unit that allowed the most points in the Atlantic Coast Conference last year.

Here’s how our beat writers think Syracuse will fare in 2026, and if it will make its third bowl game in four years:

NOAH NUSSBAUM

PEANUT BUTTER ANGELI

5-7 (3-6 ACC) MVP: STEVE ANGELI X-FACTOR: DEMETRES SAMUEL JR.

As you can see by my tagline, I believe the Orange’s season hinges on Angeli. If he was healthy last year, Syracuse easily would’ve made a bowl game and had a chance to win over seven games. Instead, SU barely looked competent in its eight games without him.

Of course, I don’t think SU will live or die by Angeli this season, since Brown went out and got transfer quarterbacks like Amari Odom, Malachi Nelson and Danny Lauter to avoid another disaster. But with Odom never having played at the Power Four level before and Nelson on his fourth college team, I have more faith in Angeli to lead the Orange back to prominence this year than the others.

With that being said, Syracuse still has too many “toss-up games,” making predicting a bowl game berth difficult. Its only surefire wins seem to be against New Hampshire and UConn — and even that game was almost a loss last year.

It only plays three ranked teams — No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 19 SMU and No. 24 Louisville — but Pitt, Virginia, Clemson and NC State could give SU fits despite being left off the poll.

I could see Syracuse winning anywhere between four and eight games. But with the Orange’s rough schedule and almost entirely new group of wide receivers — where two-way sophomore Demetres Samuel Jr. can make a bigger impact than last year — running backs and defensive linemen, I lean toward the lower side of things.

NICHOLAS ALUMKAL

HARRIS PEMBERTON

ONLY WAY TO GO IS UP

BOWL BOUND?

7-5 (5-4 ACC)

6-6 (4-5 ACC)

MVP: STEVE ANGELI X-FACTOR: UMARI HATCHER

As fellow scribe Noah mentioned, Angeli’s health and handiness will be integral for the Orange. Lest we forget, when his season ended after four games in 2025, Angeli was second in the FBS in passing yards.

Through four contests, his game was as beautiful as a Fabergé egg, but his body proved to be just as fragile.

Peppered with questions about his recovery all summer, Angeli has sounded like a broken record — he’ll be 100%. I expect the signal-caller to be back to his swashbuckling 2025 best. The question I do have is who Angeli will throw to, since the Orange’s wide receiver corps was decimated in the offseason. SU lost six of its seven best receivers based on yardage last season, and that lone exception is Justus Ross-Simmons, whose place on the team has been in limbo as he attempts to receive another season of eligibility.

Even if Ross-Simmons is ruled ineligible, I have belief in Syracuse’s receivers — enough to think the team will be just over .500. Yes, I have a positive outlook on Umari Hatcher, who Brown highlighted as the leader of the unit, as well as transfer Cole Weaver. Angeli’s accuracy will bring out the best in them and the rest of the receiving corps.

There are few penned-in wins on Syracuse’s schedule, but there are also only a couple of games where the Orange are most likely losers. New Hampshire and UConn should result in victories, while Notre Dame is almost assuredly a loss. The rest of the slate in the unpredictable ACC could go any way — I can see them winning or losing any of the remaining games. But I believe the JMA Wireless Dome will be weaponized, as new Director of Athletics Bryan Blair promised, so the Orange will sneak in two wins against visitors Louisville, Clemson or SMU. Can it get worse than 3-9 last year? I don’t think so. The only way to go is up. It looks like Brown learned his lesson — he brought in plenty of quarterback cover and replaced eight of his 11 position coaches in the offseason.

Expect an improvement, maybe even a bowl game and a winning record, if the offense can get going.

MVP: STEVE ANGELI X-FACTOR: CHRIS PEAL

By the time you’ve made it down here, you probably have a pretty good idea of the challenge Syracuse faces this season. The schedule isn’t 2025 difficult, but it certainly provides its share of tough situations for the Orange. In my eyes, I’m not sure I trust this rebuilt team to snatch most of the games that I view as toss-ups.

Angeli’s return is the defining event of the offseason, and he’ll provide the Orange with some much-needed stability at quarterback. I’m not sure we can count on him to be among the country’s leaders in passing yards, like he was through four games in 2025, but SU’s offense lives and dies by him. I like the additions to the running back room, though I still wonder who will step up among the receivers if Ross-Simmons is out.

Kehres’ new defense is probably the thing SU fans should most look forward to, and defensive back Chris Peal is a big reason. The redshirt junior has already gained loads of draft hype and preseason praise, and he could be Syracuse’s first NFL Draft first-round pick since 2013 if he has the breakout season a lot of people expect from him. Alongside Samuel, Peal can completely change an SU pass defense that ranked bottom-5 in the ACC in yards allowed last year.

The talent is evident everywhere. As Noah said, the Orange could win up to eight games, but it all depends on how they perform in those toss-ups. There are going to be your Notre Dames, where you can pretty comfortably pencil in a loss, and there are your New Hampshires, when you can pencil in a win. But matchups like NC State, Pitt, Virginia, Clemson, SMU and Louisville are difficult opportunities to capitalize on.

In the ACC, a conference that’s about as even top-to-bottom as any Power Four conference, there will be a plethora of makeor-break moments defining the season. And with the roster’s relative inexperience, I’m not sure I trust Syracuse to end up on the right side of a lot of them. But they’ll do enough to earn a postseason berth for the first time in two years.

12 september 3, 2026

dailyorange.com sports@dailyorange.com

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