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.

Last season was Wayne Morgan’s chance to prove himself as the Swiss Army Knife in Syracuse’s secondary, shifting from safety into the Orange’s cornerback rotation with Brandon Reddish and Julian Whigham.

But Morgan’s season was derailed by a right knee injury that required surgery and sidelined him for SU’s last nine games. Morgan is likely the cornerback who will replace Reddish and start alongside Whigham, who played boundary corner last season and had a lot of trouble against the deep ball.

On top of that, Reddish was arguably the team’s most reliable defensive player last year. He led the team with three interceptions and finished with five tackles for loss, the most of any defensive back on the team. That’s a testament to his open-field tackling and ability to defend screens, and how Morgan replaces him in that regard will be big for an Orange defense that is inexperienced at safety, linebacker and defensive tackle.

Syracuse ranked sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in yards given up per game last year, and staying in that range will be both difficult and contingent on the play of Morgan and Whigam, both seniors.

And how Morgan bounces back from injury will be a deciding factor in the pair’s play.