Syracuse opens the 2015 season with Rhode Island at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome on Friday night, and here’s what you need to know heading into the Orange’s first game week.

Easy rebound 

SU finished 3-9 last season with a 1-7 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. This year will be the third for head coach Scott Shafer, and the team has continually shifted the conversation away from the 2014 season as a means of moving on.

A home date with the Rams will be a good start to what promises to be a multi-year mending process. The Rhode Island game starts a stretch of three winnable home games to start the season: with Wake Forest visiting the Dome in Week 2 and Central Michigan in Week 3. The last time the Rams played at Syracuse, in 2011, the Orange won 21-14 and rode a fourth-quarter touchdown to a 2-0 record.

This Rhode Island team is coming off a 1-11 season, and will need to play well above its potential to stay close with Syracuse for four quarters.

Syracuse depth chart 

The Orange released its two-deep Week 1 depth chart on Saturday. Below is the full depth chart with notes underneath.

Offense

Quarterback: Terrel Hunt, Austin Wilson or Eric Dungey

Running back: Devante McFarlane, George Morris

Hybrid: Ervin Philips, Ben Lewis

Wide receiver: Steve Ishmael, Sean Avant

Wide receiver: Brisly Estime, Alvin Cornelius

Tight end: Josh Parris, Kendall Moore

Left tackle: Ivan Foy, Cody Conway

Left guard: Nick Robinson, Alex Hayes

Center: Rob Trudo, Jason Emerich

Right guard: Seamus Shanley, Aaron Roberts

Right tackle: Omari Palmer, Jamar McGloster

Defense

Defensive end: Donnie Simmons, Qaadir Sheppard

Nose tackle: Kayton Samuels, Steven Clark

Defensive tackle: John Raymon, Chris Slayton

Defensive end: Ron Thompson, Luke Arciniega

Strong-side linebacker: Parris Bennett, Ted Taylor

Middle linebacker: Zaire Franklin, Oliver Vigille

Weak-side linebacker: Marqez Hodge, Alryk Perry

Cornerback: Julian Whigham, Cordell Hudson or Juwan Dowels

Strong safety: Antwan Cordy, Kielan Whitner

Free safety: Rodney Williams, Chauncey Scissum

Cornerback: Corey Winfield, Wayne Morgan

Special teams

Place kicker: Cole Murphy, Ryan Norton

Punter: Riley Dixon, Ryan Norton

Kickoffs: Ryan Norton, Cole Murphy

Holder: Riley Dixon

Long snapper: Matt Keller or Keith Mitsucchi

Kick returner: Brisly Estime, Ervin Philips

Punt returner: Brisly Estime, Ervin Philips

The most surprising depth chart position is right guard, where senior walk-on Seamus Shanley beat out redshirt freshman Aaron Roberts, who was the presumed starter going back to the Orange’s annual spring game in April. Another interesting position is cornerback, where sophomore Corey Winfield — who switched from wide receiver to defensive back at the start of last season — is currently slotted ahead of senior Wayne Morgan. But Shafer did clarify at a press conference Saturday that he’s comfortable with all five cornerbacks in the two-deep and isn’t necessarily ranking them in any particular order.

Five true freshman were listed on the Week 1 depth chart, including quarterback Eric Dungey, left tackle Cody Conway, defensive end Qaadir Shepard, nose tackle Steven Clark, strong safety Kielan Whitner and long snapper Matt Keller.

On Saturday, Shafer made a point of saying that the two-deep depth chart will be a competition week-to-week throughout the entire season.

Injury report

Syracuse usually releases an injury report the day before kickoff, and there are two key players, both on the defensive line, who were still working back from injuries at the end of training camp.

Junior defensive end Ron Thompson, touted as the team’s most dangerous pass rusher, was sidelined for a good portion of training camp with a lower-body injury. He was out of a walking boot a week ago, and this will be the third week since Shafer said the team expected him to be out for three weeks.

Senior defensive tackle John Raymon was limited by an upper-body injury for almost all of training camp that media was allowed to watch, which was the first 20 minutes of practice for two and a half weeks. Raymon had a cast on his right arm for most of that period, and the coaches said he’d made notable progress by the end of camp.

Game-week coverage

For all Syracuse-Rhode Island updates leading up to and during the game, you can follow @DOSports on Twitter and keep up regularly with dailyorange.com.

Published on August 31, 2015 at 3:00 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse