Reno Ferri rattled off questions to a group of Syracuse players working with children in a gym at Fort Drum during preseason training camp.

“Who’s the heaviest guy here?” he asked. “Who’s the lightest? Who’s the slowest?”

Several players called out and debated after each question.

“Who’s the fastest?”

Standing to the far left of the group of quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and linemen, one newly-acquired, 5-foot-10, 193-pound running back shyly raised his hand.

“Oh yeah, Winston. I forgot,” another one of the players said. “You run track.”

Winston Lee joined the SU (1-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) football team as a walk-on running back this summer after running track at Syracuse in the spring of 2016 — his first semester at SU since transferring from SUNY Cobleskill. The 60- and 100-meter dash runner has since moved over to defensive back and views himself as a role player, primarily playing on special teams.

Lee recorded his first career tackle on a kickoff in the season opener against Colgate. But with two more injuries to the secondary during Friday’s game against then-No. 13 Louisville, his chances of significant playing time have risen.

“He’s got a lot of ability,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said a few days before Syracuse’s first game and about a week after Lee switched positions. “And he’s one of those guys that we’re looking at and he’s gonna help us. We’re not sure where he’s gonna help us at.

“He’s not moving because of other people’s injuries. He’s moving because he has the ability to help us at all those spots.”

Lee played running back and linebacker at Hudson (New York) High School while also running track. He averaged 8.4 yards per carry and was selected to play in the 2013 Blue-Grey All Star Classic in Florida. He won a state championship in the 100-meter dash and placed fifth at nationals.

At a football combine, Lee managed a standing broad jump of 11 feet, 6 inches — breaking the high school mark set by current Cleveland Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Lee wanted to do both at the college level, but SUNY Cobleskill had no football team so he was stuck with just track. As a freshman, he was named an All-American. And by sophomore year, Lee was an NCAA Division III national champion in the 60-meter dash.

In the car after winning the national title, Lee’s coach Brad Fichthorn turned to him and said “You’re the national champ.” Lee just smiled and said “Yeah, what’s next?”

What was next was Syracuse, where he ran track last spring. Lee was “kind of” thinking about playing football at SU before he even arrived. He always wanted to play Division I football and this was his shot.

He’s not sure when he made up his mind, but maintains it wasn’t an impulse decision. He asked no one for advice — not his parents, friends or fellow athletes.

Early this summer, Lee approached Syracuse running back Jordan Fredericks and asked what it would take to join the football team. Talk to the head coach, Fredericks responded.

“It was a surprise to me,” Fredericks said. “Kids come up to you and say they want to play and then you never see them. But he said it and actually did it.”

Joining the team required several meetings with director of player development Roy Wittke and the OK from Chris Fox and Dave Hegland, SU’s track coaches.

They had some doubt, Lee said, but they respected what he was doing.

Lee hadn’t played football in about four or five years, so the adjustment is still ongoing. Learning the plays and signals — at both running back and defensive back — was difficult and frustrating he said. The change to a sport where most of your day is scheduled was the most difficult switch to make.

His first hit of the season against Colgate was less intense than he thought it would be.

Once the football season is over, Lee still plans to run track at SU. He thinks the training that came along with Syracuse’s up-tempo offense will help during the running season.

Now that he’s on the team, Lee’s goals are simple: practice well and move up on the depth chart. With a third of the team’s defensive backs either injured or coming off injury, it could happen quicker than he or the coaches first thought.

“I always try to prosper in my goals and if I want something I go for it,” Lee said. “I try to get it. Football is one of them. I just made the jump and I’m here now.”

— staff writer Matt Liberman, mdliberm@syr.edu, contributed reporting to this story.

Published on September 13, 2016 at 11:23 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus