It’s been a complete mismanagement of Syracuse quarterbacks: ‘There is no plan for his development’

Syracuse, N.Y. — The past two Syracuse football seasons under head coach Fran Brown have been a full-scale demonstration of what can go right and wrong at the most important position in sports.

SU hit the quarterback lottery with Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord in 2024. He led SU to a 10-3 record and set the ACC single-season passing record in the process.

Notre Dame transfer Steve Angeli took the baton in 2025 and had the offense humming with 1,317 passing yards, a mark that led the country, when he went down with a torn Achilles at Clemson on Sept. 20.

The problem for Syracuse is there has been no middle-ground between Angeli keeping the offense on a brisk pace and a string of attempted replacements, the latest being freshman walk-on and lacrosse player Joe Filardi, attempting to keep the Orange offense afloat.

What we have seen since then is a complete mismanagement of the quarterback position at Syracuse, as I said on the latest episode of the "Syracuse Sports" podcast.

Syracuse.com colleague Chris Carlson and I examined the staff’s questionable quarterback choices following the Orange’s 70-7 loss at No. 9 Notre Dame on Saturday.

Filardi opened the game throwing two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns, bookending an unfathomably horrific start that also included another Notre Dame touchdown on a deflected punt that was scooped up and returned for a score.

The Irish, improbably, led 21-0 before its offense ever took the field.

It went on to lead 35-0 at the end of the first quarter and 49-0 at halftime.

Part of the reason Brown elected to start Filardi on Saturday, Brown said, was because Filardi led the team’s only touchdown drive in the final minutes of a 38-10 loss at Miami (Fla.) the previous game.

In the week leading up to the Notre Dame game, Brown said freshman Luke Carney would play in one of the team’s remaining two games in order to stay below the minimum number of games played to preserve a season of eligibility.

Brown inserted Carney into the Notre Dame game for three series, saying after the game he did so to give Filardi a rest.

Carney’s usage throughout the season is most head-scratching. The freshman who opened the year as the team’s third-string quarterback got jumped by Filardi prior to the team’s Oct. 31 game against North Carolina.

Carney was a strong redshirt candidate at the start of the year but has played in four games.

One appearance came against Colgate, when Carney subbed in when another quarterback’s helmet came off and had to come out of the game for one play.

After Carney saw limited action in the Orange’s Oct. 18 loss to Pittsburgh, he played sparingly in a 27-10 loss to North Carolina in which Filardi finished 4-for-18 (22%) for 39 yards and a 40.4 passer rating in his first appearance. It was the fewest completions by Syracuse in an ACC game.

Then, when Brown intimated Carney would get a real shot in one of the team’s remaining two games, he ran Carney out for 11 snaps.

“I think it probably tells you what they think about Luke Carney. ... There is no plan for his development,” Carlson said, noting how the staff has only used him as a temporary bandage when other quarterbacks struggled, rather than as part of a coherent development plan.

Collins, the LSU transfer who took over as the team’s starter when Angeli went down, did not take the field against the Irish.

Redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams was unavailable play at Notre Dame due to injury (Williams had a sling on his right arm this past week), but his absence has been a coach’s decision prior to his injury.

I don’t think it’s too much to ask a coaching staff to develop a backup quarterback that can play football and go in and keep an offense functional, which has not been the case since Angeli went down against Clemson.

Filardi has thrown for 161 yards on 21-of-47 passing with a touchdown and three interceptions in three games for SU.

Before Filardi, Collins faltered to a 53.59% completion percentage on a 97-of-181 passing mark for 1,042 yards with six touchdowns and 10 interceptions in seven games.

Syracuse has one more game to get through with Boston College coming to the JMA Dome on Saturday (3 p.m., The CW).

Will Brown turn to Filardi again?

Will Collins, who was benched prior to the UNC loss only to get reinserted as the starter at Miami the following week — then benched again — get one more chance to run the show?

Will Carney, who has thrown just seven passes over four appearances, agree to blow his redshirt to be given a chance to truly show his stuff?

Should SU go back to the makeshift offense run by tight end Dan Villari, a former quarterback, that got the Orange over the finish line two seasons ago?

Your guess is as good as mine for the BC game.

And that’s exactly the problem.