When Tim Lester was asked on Tuesday who had surprised him the most on the offense in the first three days of training camp, the offensive coordinator already had a name at the top of his mind.

“I’d probably say Cody Conway,” Lester said. “A young tackle, he’s done a great job. We’ve had a couple guys that haven’t been able to practice or are coming back. So he’s been getting some reps with the 2s. And the 2s go against the 1s a lot.”

And those matchups have pitted him against junior defensive end Ron Thompson, one of Syracuse’s most highly-touted and established players on the defense. It’s what Lester calls a “baptism by fire,” but he’s been impressed with the freshman’s ability to stick with Thompson.

Lester said that when he was recruiting Conway to come to Syracuse, he told Conway that “we got this guy Ron Thompson, he’s going to bring it at you.”

“He has gotten beat, but he keeps coming back,” Lester said. “It’s fun to watch a freshman against Ron Thompson. I didn’t know they’d be going against each other as much as they are the first four days. But he’s done a great job. Out of all the linemen, he’s only stuck out because every so often when he blocks Ron, it’s surprising when anybody blocks Ron.”