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Two years before Clayton Welch led Syracuse to an overtime win against Wake Forest in his first career start, he sat in his apartment and watched SU football.

Welch, a Syracuse quarterback from 2017-19, saw the offense, including then-starter Eric Dungey, navigate without a playbook. He saw the Orange’s no-huddle, which Welch said has its positives and negatives. But just as intently, Welch saw the SU defense try to stop the same plays he had run against them that week in practice as the scout team’s quarterback.

After the game, while his teammates were flying back from the road game, the then-sophomore quarterback said he often played Fortnite to pass the time until they returned.

The Orange don’t have enough practice reps to give all of their quarterbacks playing time during the NCAA’s allotted eight hours of practice each week. Instead, their time to impress is in the spring or summer, Welch said. In 2020, Syracuse has three freshman quarterbacks: Dillon Markiewicz, JaCobian Morgan and David Summers. All three started the season as members of the scout team, including Summers as a scout team tight end.

But a season-ending injury to quarterback Tommy DeVito has left the Orange short-handed on experienced quarterbacks, pushing backup Rex Culpepper into the starting role. If Culpepper went down, the Orange have zero experience and snaps from any other quarterback on their roster. Markiewicz is the No. 2 behind Culpepper now, which Welch and former SU quarterback Zack Mahoney said is a huge jump up from the scout team.

“I just got yelled at all the time,” Welch said of the scout team. “You go through the opposing team’s offense, but every day you got told who to throw it to, and if you didn’t throw it there, you pretty much got yelled at.”

Mahoney transferred to Syracuse from the College of DuPage, a community college, and entered as the fifth string in 2015. But he quickly moved his way up to third on the depth chart before the first game after flashing in spring and summer ball, he said. An injury to Terrel Hunt in the season-opener pushed Dungey into the starting role, and Mahoney jumped from third-string and zero practice reps into a second-string role behind Dungey. Mahoney said that the starting quarterback typically takes about 75% to 85% of the weekly reps, with the backup taking the rest.

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“You don’t rep your No. 3 three quarterback. You don’t rep your No. 4 four quarterback,” Babers said. “You barely rep your No. 2 two quarterback. We understand who they were out of high school.”

A few weeks after Mahoney became the second quarterback, Dungey had a season-ending injury. Mahoney appeared in eight games and started the last four of the season. He served as Dungey’s backup in 2016 and 2017, starting multiple games in both seasons due to additional injuries.

Mahoney went from getting reps against the No. 1 defense and acting as the quarterback of the opponent to leading SU’s offense for large portions of each season he played for the Orange. All of the other teams’ plays he’d studied no longer mattered. He had to learn an offense on the fly.

“It’s really challenging to go from scout to playing in the game,” Mahoney said. “But it’s important to show that you can do the scout stuff so that coaches can give you an opportunity to move up in the depth chart.”

Mahoney had college experience at DuPage, but all three of the Orange’s quarterbacks behind Culpepper have never played a game beyond high school. Competing with other quarterbacks for those 15% to 25% of reps is about knowing where to go with the ball, making the right decisions and knowing the offense well enough to execute it, if necessary, he said.

For road games, scout team players who don’t travel typically do an intense strength and conditioning program on Friday mornings at 6:30 a.m. That ranges from one to two hours, but the other non-traveling backups don’t typically have any responsibilities beyond those on Fridays and Saturdays during the season.

Former SU quarterback Zack Mahoney quickly moved his way up to third on the depth chart before the first game after flashing in spring and summer ball. Daily Orange File Photo

The whole team typically has a workout on Sunday and watches film. Welch said that while a few graduate assistants may do advance scouting on the next opponent a week in advance, most of the preparation doesn’t begin until the prior game is complete. On Monday, the scout team won’t practice but will watch film on the opponent — learning the cadance and hand movements of the opposing offense. By Tuesday’s practice, the scout team offense breaks off with the defense, where the players are shown cards of what plays to run, Mahoney said.

The scout team quarterback follows the tendencies and mirrors the future opposing quarterback by trying to make the same decisions he would. In walkthroughs and full practices, the quarterback can try to make plays, but Welch said going outside the scripted program is frowned upon.

“If you can go on scout team and show you make the throws you need to and make the defensive coaches mad, ultimately that’s what you want to do, because that’s how you get them better,” Mahoney said.

Welch often knew other offenses better than the Orange’s early on because he wasn’t used to not having access to the playbook. He could watch film and learn about Babers’ offense, but that wasn’t a main priority. Once he became the No. 2 quarterback, that all changed.

“The offense that you get is something you have to learn by doing,” Welch said. “It’s one thing to understand the play, but the next level speed in that offense is something you just have to do.”

About five of the allotted eight practice hours per week are spent preparing exclusively for the opposing offense, including all of Thursday practice. Even during that time, it’s hard for players to stand out when they’re studying opposing teams for the scout team, Mahoney and Welch said. The competition for spots typically happens in spring ball for returning players and summer for the freshmen who enter the program.

With COVID-19 shutting down practice three days into spring ball this year, and summer training altered, the Orange’s offseason program has been different, especially on offense. Injuries started mounting along the offensive line and two running backs opted out, both limiting an already thin offense.

“We’re slowly watching and seeing some glimpses of them on the scout team when they’re working with the defense,” Babers said. “But you’re functioning so the defense can prepare for an opponent and you’re not even running our plays.”

In a normal year, a true freshman quarterback wouldn’t be pushed beyond the scout team. DeVito redshirted his first year with the program. But Markiewicz and Morgan don’t have the luxury of easing their way through the scout team anymore. One injury could leave Syracuse playing a true freshman.

Published on October 21, 2020 at 11:09 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo