Syracuse may not have much of a choice, but it’s time to play the young and untested.

AJ Long and Steve Ishmael — and to a lesser extent, running back Ervin Philips — made the Orange’s 38-20 loss to No. 1 Florida State more watchable. Long would seemingly try anything to make a play work. Ishmael provides a second deep threat SU can certainly use. And Philips has raw outside speed.

That’s not to say that SU (2-4, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) should stop giving the ball to Prince-Tyson Gulley or hitting the likes of Adrian Flemming and Jarrod West on a mixed range of passes. Teams that are trying to be good should give their best players the ball. But the Syracuse freshmen are also among the Orange’s best.

On Saturday, freshmen gave a Syracuse season that’s slipping the most traction it’s had in a month. They’re healthy while the Orange is without starting quarterback Terrel Hunt, and receivers Brisly Estime and Ashton Broyld, among other players. And while the freshmen have plenty of developing to do, letting them do it in games gives the Orange its greatest chance to win now and in the future.

“I was wondering, is it going to be too big for him?” SU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tim Lester said of Long. “Because it doesn’t seem like anything’s too big for this kid. And sure enough, he went out there and played.”

Whatever Long was doing, it was working, and his fellow freshmen did it too. But Saturday’s measured success was more about what they were simply being — freshmen.

Freshmen don’t know that they shouldn’t be able to gut Florida State’s secondary for touchdowns. But Long and Ishmael combined to do it twice.

“You put that ball within a 2- to 3-feet radius of that man, he’s going to catch it,” Long said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s one-handed, two-handed, he could catch it with his eyes closed.”

That’s just not true. It can’t be. Not all the time, anyway. But if Long believes as much and it helps him play better, it doesn’t really matter.

On third-and-6 on SU’s second drive Saturday, Long rolled right and lofted a ball into double coverage and Ishmael came down with it for a 36-yard completion to the Florida State 7-yard line. It was easy to wonder how many other times Syracuse has completed a similar play this year. The answer is not many.

It could be down to Lester. The Orange’s new offensive coordinator said he was playing particularly aggressively against the then-top-ranked Seminoles. And a team’s status as an underdog doesn’t get too much clearer than it was for Scott Shafer’s team on Saturday.

“When we came out here, Coach Shafe preached nothing to lose, just have fun, go out here and do what you do best,” Ishmael said. “And that’s what we did. We had a clear chance of beating this team but we’re just moving on to the second half of the season and worry about Wake Forest and just worrying about going to a bowl game.”

In pursuit of a postseason, most teams have to balance between having younger players and better, more experienced players on the field. SU has to do the same with its freshman and veterans that are healthy.

But there aren’t many. And as Syracuse looks to salvage its season, the more youth, the better.

Jacob Klinger is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at jmklinge@syr.edu or on Twitter at @Jacob_Klinger_.

Published on October 13, 2014 at 12:10 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_