As is the case in college football, South Florida’s dynamic redshirt freshman quarterback Byrum Brown recently confirmed that he was returning to the American Athletic Conference school for next season.
With the transfer portal so fluid, a highly-touted quarterback often has to answer these questions.
Make no mistake, Brown is a highly-touted player.
There were just two players in the country who have thrown for at least 3,000 yards and have run for 700 this season. Those two are Brown and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU.
That’s pretty heady company to be in.
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No doubt had Brown entered the portal, he would have had plenty of suitors, but now he becomes the biggest attraction when USF (6-6) meets Syracuse (6-6) in the Roof.com Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 21 at FAU Stadium. ESPN will televise the 8 p.m. game.
The 6-foot-3, 209-pound Brown completed 64.1% of his passes for 3,073 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He rushed for 745 yards (3.9 avg.) and 11 touchdowns and set a single-season school record for passing yards.
With 3,823 total yards, he remains just 177 total yards shy of 4,000.
Brown leads the AAC and is seventh nationally in total offense, averaging 318.6 yards per game. He also leads the AAC and is 10th nationally in points responsible per game (17.3). (Daniels is No. 1 with 25.2).
USF became bowl-eligible with a 48-14 home win over Charlotte in the regular-season finale. In that game, Brown completed 22-of-30 passes for 253 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. He also rushed for 43 yards on eight carries and scored on a 35-yard touchdown run.
Another Potential School Record-Setter
Graduate receiver Sean Atkins, a former walk-on, is in line to become the first player in school history to achieve a 1,000-yard receiving season.
Atkins, a Second Team All-AAC choice, has 86 receptions for 961 yards and five touchdowns. The receptions and receiving yards are a single-season school record.
What made this breakout season even more surprising is that in 2022 he had his best season to that point with 19 receptions for 238 yards and three touchdowns.
He was a beneficiary of first-year coach Alex Golesh’s fast-paced offense and the fact that USF’s top two receivers from the previous season, Xavier Weaver and Jimmy Horn Jr., transferred to Colorado.
Fast-Paced Offense
Golesh, who had served as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator the previous two seasons, has presided over one of the nation’s most exciting offenses.
The Bulls led the nation in averaging 83 offensive plays per game.
Golesh has also helped improve the Bulls by five wins after inheriting a 1-11 squad.
South Florida is fifth in the AAC in scoring offense, averaging 30.8 points. The Bulls have to pick it up on the defensive end, as they allow 34.9 PPG.
Coaching Change At Syracuse
Syracuse fired coach Dino Babers with the Orange 5-6 and one game to go in the regular season. Tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile was named the interim coach and guided the Orange to a 35-31 home win over Wake Forest in the regular-season finale that made Syracuse bowl-eligible.
Syracuse has since hired Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown as head coach but Campanile, who will remain on Brown’s staff, will guide the team through the bowl game.
Syracuse is competing in a bowl game for the second straight year, the first time since 2012 and 2013.
QB Uncertainty At Syracuse
Syracuse’s starting QB is senior Garrett Shrader, who began his career at Mississippi State but has been the starter for the Orange since the fourth game of his first season with the ACC school in 2021. This year, Shrader had completed 63% of his passes for 1,686 yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions, and he has run for 469 yards (4.2 avg.) and eight TDs in 11 games.
Shrader, however, will miss the bowl game after undergoing shoulder surgery. Backup Carlos Del Rio-Wilson is also out due to injury. Redshirt freshman Braden Davis, who has attempted one pass this year, is listed as No. 1 on Syracuse’s depth chart, with sophomore Luke MacPhail listed as the backup.
LeQuint Allen Looking For Another Big Bowl Game
Syracuse’s leading rusher is sophomore LeQuint Allen, who has rushed for 1,062 yards (4.7 avg.) and nine touchdowns. He has 36 receptions for 197 yards and a TD.
As a freshman, he made his first start in Syracuse’s 28-20 loss to Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl. In that game, Allen rushed for 94 yards on 15 carries and caught 11 passes for 60 yards.
Syracuse On D
Syracuse’s leading tackler is junior LB Marlowe Wax, who has 101 tackles. LB Leon Lowery, who had 7.5 tackles for loss, including 3.5 sacks, has transferred to Wisconsin since the regular season ended.
Syracuse is allowing 23.75 points per game but is averaging just 25.50.
