Babers rules out Garrett Williams, addresses backups, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson

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Head coach Dino Babers immediately addressed a key injury in his weekly press conference — Garrett Williams, Syracuse’s star cornerback, suffered a torn ACL during the first half against Notre Dame and will be out for the season. Williams declared for the NFL Draft after last season, but scouts told him it’d be best to return to the Orange for his redshirt sophomore season. This spring, he said scouts told him he’d be picked “very late in the process.”

Alongside Duce Chestnut, he returned to SU for a fourth season, getting banged up in a few games, but ultimately suiting up for each game except Clemson. After the loss, Babers said he was fairly certain he knew what Williams’ injury was, but that he was going to wait to publicly say what it was until it was confirmed. The Orange’s defense has also lost Stefon Thompson and Terry Lockett for the season.

Babers also addressed Garrett Shrader’s injury again, stating he was cleared by trainers to play, but the head coach believed he was not at full strength to properly compete against Notre Dame. In turn, he pointed out that Carlos Del Rio-Wilson did some good things during his first real reps in a new system. The interception, Babers said, wasn’t necessarily Del Rio-Wilson’s fault, and he wished the backup had a little bit better vision down field.

Finally, he looked on to Pittsburgh, a place the Orange have yet to win at under Babers’ tenure. He called Pitt’s system tough, and said head coach Pat Narduzzi and defensive coordinator Randy Bates are on the same page and run a well-oiled, physical program.

“Their defense is extremely aggressive,” Babers said. “It’s a grab, grab, grab, hold, take a (pass interference) penalty if the guy’s running by you.”

Replacing Garrett Williams, Shrader’s injury

Babers mentioned when a team loses a “bonafide starter” like Williams, the personnel that steps up in his place usually is a rotating cast of players. There’s not one person that can replace Williams, who was projected by some experts to be a second round pick in the 2023 draft. He said defensive coordinator Tony White and cornerbacks coach Chip West are working through the backups throughout practice to see which players line up the best against Pittsburgh’s schemes.

Isaiah Johnson came in during Saturday’s game to relieve Williams, and Babers said he did “okay.” The senior defensive back is in his first season with the Orange after four years at Dartmouth, including one year that was canceled due to the pandemic. Eric Coley, who tends to play safety, can also play in his place.

Babers also redressed Shrader’s injury and the ensuing switch to backup Del Rio-Wilson in the second half. He said it’s his job to watch players “move through space” and determine, even if they say they’re good, if the player needs to be taken out. Against certain opponents, Babers said Shrader would have played the rest of the game, but the Notre Dame defenders were too talented for an injured Shrader to stay in.

“Those guys are bigger, faster, flying around. Obviously upper-tier, four or five star guys and you could tell the stuff that we needed him to do he was not going to be as effective against those guys as other people,” Babers said.

Defensive depth

Babers feels like Syracuse has played the same, physical game three straight times. Beginning with NC State, he said the last three games have either featured a star quarterback or a punishing rushing attack. It’s led to a number of injured defensive starters and second string players. Leon Lowery exited the NC State game, Kevon Darton left the Clemson game numerous times and Alijah Clark went down against the Tigers as well.

But the head coach noted every team is dealing with injuries at this point, and pointed out that he’s been extremely impressed with the guys who’ve filled in.

“Even the backups who come in are doing okay to a really good job,” Babers said. “Which is surprising, which is what’s really keeping the defense together.”

He singled out Darton, who, despite being undersized and not having a scholarship until this spring, has been “persistent” and done things he shouldn’t be able to. The 5-foot-11 defensive end was thrusted into a starting role when Lockett went down.

Del Rio-Wilson’s play

The transfer quarterback hadn’t thrown a pass since Syracuse’s 59-0 blowout of Wagner. Prior to Saturday, he’d thrown just 3-for-5 for 32 yards in four games. When quarterback coach Jason Beck approached him during halftime to say to get ready, he hadn’t thrown a collegiate touchdown pass. Babers said the former Florida quarterback was “okay” — he finished with a 50% pass completion and threw an interception that Babers deemed “not necessarily his fault.”

The first opportunity for Del Rio-Wilson to play meaningful minutes was an opportunity for Babers and the coaching staff to see what he could do, “work the kinks out.” Despite spreading the ball around during the second half and storming back to within one possession of the Fighting Irish, Babers called Del Rio-Wilson’s vision “okay.”

Babers noted most teams don’t do much research on the backup quarterback. Given Del Rio-Wilson’s severe lack of playing time, the Fighting Irish likely had to adjust on the fly against his skill set.

“Most teams do not prepare the backup quarterback, so therefore they had no tape on Carlos,” Babers said. “Now, people have tape on Carlos. So it gets more difficult as you go down the road as they get more and more tendency from what you’d like to do with the ball.”