Preseason camp is winding down for Syracuse Football. The Orange has already shifted the attention to its season opener against Penn State. Head coach Scott Shafer and the Orange are following a script to be ready for the August 31 game at MetLife Stadium. You can catch that game right here on WAER, 88.3 FM, starting at 2:30 PM with an hour-long Countdown to Kick-off
Coach Shafer announced earlier in this week that the 2013 team captains would be Marquis Spruill and Jay Bromley on defense and Macky MacPherson and Jerome Smith on offense.
"Spruill, Bromley, MacPherson and Smith were all elected captains by their teammates and I'm really proud of those guys," Shafer said. "From the wintertime right up until today I have been pleased with those guys and I'm happy the team felt the same way."
On Wednesday, the team headed to the other side of campus for its first practice in the Carrier Dome this season. Coach Shafer formatted the practice as a mock-game, giving the team a variety of situations they may face this season.
"Good practice in the Dome today," Coach Shafer said Wednesday. "It was good because it was really hot. What we did was we had a mock-game today. We tried to throw as many situations as we could at the kids. We had a lot of personnel changes and made up injuries. We were trying to create a mock-game and I think they did pretty good with it."
The practice for the Orange was just as much for the coaches as it was for the players. The coaches took the opportunity to practice their game day roles as well.
"Although a lot of us have worked together in the past, we have some younger personnel that are providing a ton of information and intel throughout the course of the game," Shafer said. "To speak to them and see how they speak is important. It's essential that they know how to speak on the headsets and not be afraid to correct the mistakes of the coordinators because that will save calls in the game."
The team has begun preparations for Penn State this week but will start to run full practices on their first opponent in the next few days.