With the calendar flipping to August, Syracuse football (0-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) plays its first game this month. After the Orange won ten games for the first time since 2018 a year ago, 2025 brings high expectations and even bigger shoes to fill.
That theme could not be more true when looking at the wide receiver room for next season. A big reason why the team had a lot of success last season was the plethora of experienced wide outs Quarterback Kyle McCord had at his disposal. However, McCord’s top four targets from last season have all moved on from rocking the Orange and Blue.
He Gone
With one year of eligibility remaining, wide receiver Jackson Meeks led Syracuse with over a thousand receiving yards a season ago. That mark put him in second in the ACC. Meeks also had just under 80 catches and seven touchdowns, which both were the second most on the squad. The Georgia transfer made big plays downfield all season long and he loves when the game is in his hands.
“The game is always on the receivers, so when it comes down to it we got to make the plays,” Meeks said after Syracuse’s 42-35 comeback win over Miami last season.
Meeks’ breakout season in the 315 led to him signing with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent for the 2025 season.
The partner in crime for Meeks in 2024 was wide receiver Trebor Pena. The junior finished with a conference leading 84 catches. Nine of those grabs were for touchdowns, which led Syracuse as well. As a whole, Pena was the speedster for the Orange that had the ability to get behind the defense at any time.
But, Syracuse fans thought he would be back for a senior season. About a week after he was named captain by head coach Fran Brown, Pena entered the transfer portal. The senior is going to finish out his college career in 2025 with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Next year though, it is a different story. In 2024, the Orange were one of two teams in the ACC to have at least five players total at least 500 receiving yards on the season.
However, only one of those five players is returning for the 2025 campaign. His name is Darrell Gill Jr.
I’m Back
In his sophomore season last year, Gill reeled in just over 30 receptions for 570 yards, with two of those resulting in touchdowns. Gill has elite speed and is in line to be the new deep ball threat, replacing the role of Trebor Pena from a season ago. The speedster had multiple receptions that went for more than 40 yards last season, and averaged nearly 20 yards a catch. However, Gill feels it is his turn to be the leader of the wide receiver room.
“It is really just coaching the younger guys. Just making sure they know what to do to make everyone’s life easier,” Gill said after spring practice in mid April.
Outside of Gill, Syracuse returns two more upperclassmen wide receivers that both saw action in 2024: redshirt senior Umari Hatcher and senior Justus Ross-Simmons.
The two combined for 26 catches, just shy of 500 receiving yards, and five touchdowns. Hatcher started in six games, while Ross Simmons only started one. Despite this, they both did play in 10 of the team’s 13 games last season. Look for Hatcher and Ross-Simmons to break out in a big way, just like how Meeks and Pena did a season ago.
New Toys
Coach Brown lost a wide receiver to the portal, but added one at the same time: Johntay Cook from Texas. The former four star recruit transfers to the hill with 16 collegiate receptions for 273 yards and two touchdowns across two seasons for the Longhorns, and has two years of eligibility remaining as well.
Outside of Cook, coach Brown brings in what he hopes to be the next Travis Hunter: Demetrius Samuel Jr. The four star high school recruit is supposed to be a senior in high school, but is expected to play defensive back and wide receiver for the Orange in his true freshman season. Samuel has been practicing on both sides of the ball this summer and he says he is ready for the challenge.
“Kuddos to Travis Hunter, but I am really trying to just be like me,” Samuel said back in late April. “I am just trying to do what I do.”
Bigger Picture
As a unit, it is a whole new look for the wide receivers. They have to find a way to make up for about 3,500 receiving yards that are not on the team in 2025. That loss in production comes with a new quarterback and position coach.
What was a group that came into the season with little expectations in 2024, the 2025 wide receivers have big shoes to fill in order for Syracuse to reach double digit wins in back to back seasons for the first time since the early 1990s.