The pace of Dino Babers’ offense didn’t hit Ryan Alexander until his second week at fall camp. After several days of consecutive practices, he felt his legs tightening up. He wasn’t moving as fast.  

Sure, he’d played up-tempo at South Alabama for three years, but that wasn’t Syracuse. And Alexander came to camp around 310 pounds, nearly 20 pounds more than his playing weight at South Alabama last fall. The players ran to the line quicker after each play. Then it happened again. And again. When the Week 1 depth chart was released, Alexander was deemed not ready yet.  

“The one thing about tempo is we’re only as fast as our slowest offensive lineman,” Babers said on Aug. 26. “And it’s hard for those big guys to get used to the speed…When you haven’t been in this system, you have to get used to it.”  

The same transition period came with Koda Martin last year, who transferred from an up-tempo offense at Texas A&M but still required a Babers timeout to salvage his beet–red face during his first practice. Syracuse (1-1) averaged 84.3 plays per game last season, the second most in the country, and ranked first in the nation in offensive tempo. So how does a position group whose starters average 309.6 pounds keep pace with one of the fastest offenses in college football?  

“It’s definitely hard,” said offensive tackle Carlos Vettorello after the first two starts against Liberty and Maryland. “You see it a lot during those hot summer camp days, [with] the up-tempo we try to keep, it’s hard.” 

The linemen agree the most difficult part of being a big man in the Babers offense is the period of adjustment. When Babers’ staff first arrived in 2016, Syracuse had been running one of the slowest offenses in the country under former head coach Scott Shafer. Babers brought speed to a new system, but as redshirt senior Evan Adams said, “It was just a taste.”  

The offense started running 110 snaps a practice. Then 120. 130. Eventually reaching 140, 75% more snaps than the 80 SU hopes to reach in a game. 

That grace period Babers allowed before is over now though, and this year three players — Vettorello, Alexander and Dakota Davis — are rotating into starting roles. With redshirt junior Sam Heckel out and Airon Servais moving from tackle to center, the opportunity for Alexander and Vettorello to split duties has vanished, forcing Alexander into regular playing time less than a month since he started practicing with the Orange.  

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Alexander’s trying to adjust his new body weight, which floats around 305 pounds, hoping to get leaner since he arrived at Syracuse. That was the case for Adams who’s gained about 20 pounds — he currently weighs 352 — and Servais who dropped approximately 20 pounds between this season and last.  

Their goal is to be lean, which is different than linemen in other college offenses. Wisconsin’s offensive line has an average weight of 319, 10 pounds more than Syracuse. No lineman on the Badgers first or second team weighs under 300 pounds, but in 2018 they ran 15 less plays than Syracuse on average.  

For SU’s big men, maintaining their body weight even while sweating a lot is specific for each player. Alexander shoots for 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day. Adams has pretty much cut out fast food, though he’s still interested in Popeyes’ new chicken sandwich. Vettorello was loyal to large portions of grilled chicken, broccoli and brown rice while Servais claims he can eat whatever he wants since his metabolism is so fast.  

“If I eat good before I go out to practice I’ll be fine,” Alexander said. “It only hits you when you don’t do the proper things to fuel your body to get you through practice.” 

Part of the linemen’s ability to lug around the field for more than 80 plays is created from assistant athletics director for athletic performance Sean Edinger, Servais said. They lift heavy but also have days where they lower the weight and emphasize exploding out of a squat while sitting on a box. Servais credited some of the conditioning runs as well, noting they’re designed to “make the offense go,” but doesn’t want to reveal their specifics.  

Regardless, after ballooning to more than 300 pounds a few seasons ago, Servais is now at 273 and has added six inches to his vertical. He estimates he’d run his 40-yard dash .3 seconds faster. The mix, strong yet nimble, may not work in other offensive systems predicated on a power run scheme.  

But this is Syracuse, and the Orange want to be the new fast.  

“We just got to be able to run,” Servais said. “And you just got to be able to handle the load that we take.” 

Published on September 12, 2019 at 1:18 am

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44