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Dan Villari crouched down, lining up to the left of the Syracuse offensive line. He may not have been an inch or so away from left tackle Enrique Cruz Jr.

Villari burst off the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped. Villari ran a corner route as Garrett Shrader faked a handoff, and the tight end had no Clemson defender covering him. Once Villari caught the ball, he leaped over the incoming Sheridan Jones and then dodged four different Tiger defenders as he barreled his way into the end zone to make the score 14-7.

While he didn’t have the attention of the Tigers in coverage on that play, Villari had always caught the eye of fans and media for being a quarterback transfer from Michigan. But before he got in a game for SU, he switched to tight end. He appeared in seven games in 2022 and started the final three games of the season at his new position. Outside of one catch for 22 yards against UConn, though, Villari was never involved in any impactful plays for the Orange.

But during a game where Syracuse (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) was mostly lethargic on offense (286 total yards) in a 31-14 loss to Clemson (3-2, 2-1 ACC), Villari provided the Orange with a spark. The tight end finished with a team-high 65 receiving yards and the 28-yard touchdown that cut an early deficit to seven points. Villari also got involved in multiple trick plays that served as positives before he came out of the game with an unspecified injury.

Head coach Dino Babers said Villari had suffered an “owie” and was seen in the second half with tape on his wrist. An SU Athletics spokesperson said Villari was getting evaluated for the injury after the game. Villari has had injuries before, suffering an unspecified one during spring ball.

“We have to make sure that A: his injury is not going to come back that he had and B: whether he could catch up not only cardiovascular-wise but mentally with what’s going on with the offense,” Babers said.

But after the Orange had allowed two turnovers in the first quarter that led to both Clemson’s touchdowns, they started tapping into the Michigan transfer’s abilities.

On a 2nd-and-20 in Syracuse’s fourth drive, Shrader hit Villari in the flat. Like on his touchdown, Villari evaded Clemson middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., slapping away his hands as the tight end ran on the right sidelines. He then broke a tackle from cornerback Jeadyn Lukus before being shoved out of bounds for a pickup of 37 yards.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said after the game Villari’s first down was “a disappointing sequence” for his defense, noting that the defenders did not rally, get off the blocks or bring the tight end to the ground. Shrader and Babers were both impressed by the tight end’s performance, with the quarterback adding that they knew Villari had the ability to make those plays.

“I thought he played awesome while he was in there,” Shrader said. “And then the big thing was just getting him targets, getting him the ball so he can go out and make plays, because he is a playmaker.”

The Orange also used Villari on multiple trick plays, utilizing Villari’s prior experience as a quarterback. On the next play after the 37-yard gain, Villari received a backwards pass from Shrader and looked for Donovan Brown, who found a soft coverage spot in the Clemson defense. But his pass was wobbly and Brown dropped the ball.

That didn’t stop SU from using that play again in the second quarter. Villari threw another wobbly ball, intended for Damien Alford, and the pass was incomplete. But this time, the Orange drew pass interference against Jones and picked up a first down that put them at Clemson’s 23-yard line. Syracuse couldn’t take advantage of the play, however, as the offense stalled and Brady Denaburg missed a 57-yard field goal. But Swinney noted his disappointment in the trick play as well.

“We’re just disappointed because we talked about it in the huddle, they’re gonna throw back, there’s gonna be a throwback,” Swinney said. “And just sometimes, guys try to do too much instead of doing their job.”

Aside from using Villari as a thrower, he also got two direct snaps near the goal line during the fourth quarter as SU tried to mount a comeback. On 2nd-and-goal, Syracuse lined up in its bunch set, but had Villari in the shotgun and Shrader split wide.

Villari powered his way through the left side of the offensive line, seemingly having an open route to the end zone. But Tiger defensive end Justin Mascoll stonewalled him a yard short of the goal line. The Orange planned to run the exact same play again, but a false start penalty pushed them back to the 6-yard line. Still, Shrader threw to LeQuint Allen Jr. for a touchdown to lessen the deficit and Babers saw it fit to mention Villari’s use in various aspects of the offense.

“I think that he has a lot of football player in him,” Babers said. “…He can throw, he can run, he can block, he can catch. And I just think the more that you use those skills, the better off the team is.”

But as Villari spent the rest of the game on the sidelines, the Orange’s offense remained stuck as it had been for most of the game. Later in the quarter, Shrader threw a pick to Trotter Jr. and the Tigers capitalized with a rushing touchdown from Phil Mafah.

Taking away Villari’s production, Syracuse’s receivers were quiet. Alford finished with 100 yards fewer than last week in his career day against Army. Brown had four catches for 34 yards, but that made little impact on the game. And Umari Hatcher didn’t even catch a ball all afternoon.

With Oronde Gadsden II out for the year and the receiving unit getting put in their place by Clemson, will the Orange rely on Villari more? Shrader said the team has been trying to work the tight end more into the offense in order to get him more targets and more opportunities to perform like he did against the Tigers.

“Depends on what the defense gives us,” Shrader said. “We’ll take it day by day but definitely, he showed what he can do today and we knew we could.”

Published on September 30, 2023 at 6:14 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com