Syracuse football is coming off of not only its most successful season in six years, but one of its most electrifying in history. Orange quarterback Kyle McCord led the nation in total passing yards, SU finished 11th in total offense, finished fifth in total touchdowns through the air and closed its campaign in the top 25.
Syracuse’s flashy scoring and bonafide leader were the brightest spots; however, the fuse burnt out in the special teams department.
The Orange rotated through three field goal kickers last season, from Brady Denaburg to Jadyn Oh and then finally Jackson Kennedy. The trio made 12 of their 20 attempts on the year slotting them in the bottom 25 percent nationally.
Syracuse also struggled containing opposing defensive lines, surrendering two blocked punts against UNLV, one of which was returned for a touchdown. SU had two field goals swatted back this year and another punt returned for a touchdown in the Holiday Bowl against Washington State.
“We gotta fix it guys. It was blocked, there was another that was almost blocked. It was bad and we have to get it fixed,” Syracuse head coach Fran Brown said following the UNLV contest.
SU rested among the bottom 20 teams in special teams rating nationally with a score of -0.7. This stain on a productive season was sizable, so Fran Brown took action fast.
Less than two months after the Holiday Bowl, the Orange welcomed new special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield to the coaching staff.
Brumfield spent his last two years as the special teams coordinator with Georgia Tech: a crew that was in a similar rutt as Syracuse before he arrived. Prior to Brumfield's arrival, the Yellow Jackets surrendered eight blocked kicks and ranked last nationally in special teams efficiency. The very next season, Brumfield arrived and propelled Georgia Tech’s special teams unit over 80 spots in the national efficiency rankings. GT also swatted four kicks defensively in 2023, good for the third most in the country.
Brumfield’s experience doesn’t end there, he boasts over two decades of NCAA experience. Prior to his time with the Yellow Jackets, he bumped the FIU Panthers unit up 49 spots from their previous efficiency ranking and they blocked three kicks. In 2022, FIU did not surrender any special teams scores. Syracuse allowed two last season.
University of Virginia also reaped the benefits of Brumfield’s expertise. In his first year (2018), the Cavaliers ranked seventh nationally in punt return defense and first in the ACC, surrendering 3.21 yards per return. It was a 110 spot improvement for a UVA squad who presented a bottom 25 punt return defense a year prior. In his next season, Brumfield’s unit set Virginia single-season records for kick return yards (1,204) and average (28.7).
“Every punt return that we get we want to take it back to the crib. That is really our opportunity to change the field. Our punt return team, their number one objective is going to get the ball back to the offense. That's number one regardless of whether it's a fair catch, yards after the catch, whatever it is, to get the ball back to the offense. But we want to take it to the house… If we don't get a return for a touchdown we're disappointed and somebody messed up,” Brumfield said.
When Syracuse head coach Fran Brown was brought in to kickstart the program in 2024, his results were almost instant. Brown is prepared for similar, hasty success with Brumfield.
"He's been in a situation before with a program that was struggling on special teams, like we were, and flipped it around in one year,” said Brown.
Ricky Brumfield and his special teams unit will kick off the 2025 season on August 30th in Atlanta for the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff game against Tennessee. Follow @WAERSports on X for more offseason coverage of Syracuse football.