With Syracuse football training camp just a month away, The Daily Orange beat writers, Sam Blum, Jesse Dougherty, Matt Schneidman and Paul Schwedelson will reveal the top 15 preseason storylines with a new one every other day. Make sure to check dailyorange.com and click here to see all the posts as we count down to camp.

In 2014, no Syracuse quarterback played more than six games. The Orange’s patchwork at its most important position put an emphasis on its backup signal-caller, which remains a key spot entering training camp.

Sophomores Austin Wilson, AJ Long, walk-on Zack Mahoney and incoming freshmen Eric Dungey and Kenterious Womack sit behind Terrel Hunt on the depth chart.

While Hunt returns from his injury-plagued junior season, which ended with a fractured fibula on Oct. 3, the battle for No. 2 is up for grabs.

Long led Syracuse last season in both touchdowns and completions, but also in interceptions and incompletions. He also didn’t throw a touchdown in four of his six games and threw at least one interception in five of six.

Though Wilson completed 56 percent of his passes, edging out Long’s 53.9 percent, he threw four picks and never found the end zone.

Long and Wilson seem to be the two most likely options as Hunt’s backup since none of the other quarterbacks have collegiate experience, but neither fully capitalized on his opportunities in 2014.

Mahoney was added to the team this offseason after spending one season at College of DuPage (Illinois), a junior college. Dungey, a three-star recruit from Lakeridge (Oregon) High School didn’t have any other offers from a Power Five school, per 247Sports.com, and Womack didn’t have a single offer on signing day but joined the Orange about a week later after picking up multiple Division I offers.

Ideally for Syracuse, Hunt stays healthy for the entire season, but if he goes down, the SU coaching staff will have to choose his replacement from a group in which no one has significantly separated themselves.

Published on July 15, 2015 at 8:36 am

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds