Fran Brown’s quarterback puzzle has been a hot topic in the offseason. The headache began after their star quarterback, Kyle McCord, who led the Syracuse Orange through a magnificent 10-win season in 2024, declared for the 2025 NFL draft. He carried the Orange on his back in the last season and was definitely the heartbeat of the offense. However, a massive void opened up after the 2024 starter’s departure, and now it’s up to Brown to figure out who would carry the torch next.
To address the gap, the Orange signed not one but two quarterbacks for the 2025 season. First, it was Rickie Collins, the promising talent from LSU, getting signed by the Orange as their starting quarterback. Then, out of nowhere, in came Notre Dame’s young QB, Steve Angeli, and suddenly it turned into the most talked-about QB battles in the ACC. But will Collins be their starting QB? Well, one Syracuse Alum has an answer for this question.
The former Orange player Brian Higgins talked about Fran Brown’s QB situation ahead of the season opener against Tennessee. “I bet when camp opens up, Angeli will be taking first-team reps,” Higgins said. “But I bet Rickie Collins will also be getting some first-team reps. And I think it will be a legitimate competition.” Interestingly, Higgins also pointed out how things were different just a season ago with Kyle McCord being the sole QB, “And unlike last year, when barring injury was very clear, McCord was going to start every game all season.”
“If I were to take a guess right now who starts the opener… I would guess Steve Angeli.”@BrianHiggins315 continues the 100 Day Fran Brown Countdown looking ahead to Syracuse football’s opener against Tennessee… Do you think he’s right here? pic.twitter.com/5HnbL3gtXq
— Cuse Sports Talk (@CuseSportsTalk_) June 17, 2025
“If you tell me that Angeli comes out the first two or three weeks and doesn’t play great, it wouldn’t surprise me for them to change course,” Higgins said. “But yeah, if I were to take a guess right now, who starts at the opener? I would guess Steve Angeli starts at the opener.” And honestly, it’s not a random guess from Higgins. A quick look at the numbers tells you why. Angeli, the former Notre Dame star, brings way more experience to the table. Featuring in 21 games in his college football career so far, Angeli has racked up 772 passing yards and 10 touchdowns. On the other hand, Collins has only played four games with 38 passing yards.
But Brown didn’t bring in Collins just to warm benches. Even if Angeli opens the season opener for Syracuse, there is no doubt that this battle will stretch more in the early weeks of the season. But who would be able to carry the momentum where McCord left off last season? Well, who better than Fran Brown can answer this? After all, he was the one who brought McCord in and watched him crackle up 4779 passing yards for them.
Fran Brown gets honest about McCord’s risk last season
Going from a giant like the Ohio State Buckeyes to Syracuse Orange was the darest thing McCord did in his college football career. It must have been a risky thing for him, but it was more pressurising for Fran Brown. Having a star like McCord on the team was nothing but a blessing for them, and it did pay off very well. Coaching McCord was the first of many big things for Brown; the star QB showed his faith in him, and the outcome was just incredible. Brown recently appeared on the June 13 episode of ‘Next Up with Adam Breneman’, where Adam Breneman asked him, “What was it like coaching Kyle for a year?”
Brown replied, “I was nervous, I wanted to see him be successful, like it meant everything to me to see him and just all of those guys. But you know, especially him, because he took a shot with me, right?” Brown also talked about how the star QB joined Syracuse for less than half of the money he was getting from other programs. “He took less than half the money that somebody else wanted to give him. He took half the money and came here with a leap of faith. And I forever owe him for that.” In this era of NIL, it’s very rare to hear this kind of honesty from the head coaches, but the way Brown admitted these things wholeheartedly shows what it meant to him.
Now that McCord is off to the NFL after being selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2025 NFL draft, the pressure is on Collins and Angeli. Both are young, both are talented, and both want to prove themselves, but the goal should remain the same, which is to take Syracuse to an even better season than the previous one. So, who’s your pick to lead Fran Brown’s next chapter?
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