Dino Babers Discusses QB Room, Offensive Line and More

The Syracuse football head coach speaks about the start of week two of spring ball.

Syracuse head coach Dino Babers met with the media as the Orange kicked off week two of spring ball Monday. 

Q: How was the break?

Babers: "I stayed here. Weather was good." 

Q: Have you FaceTimed with your daughter and son in law?

Babers: "I got a FaceTime call from them. It was really exciting, sure did. Haven't had an opportunity to touch him yet, but when I do, it'll be good." 

Note: For context with the above, Babers daughter recently had their first child. 

Q: Did anything surprise you from what you've seen so far?

Babers: "I'll tell you what, they're coming together. They really are. We almost had a perfect attendance on something that's internal. We got a 99 out of 100 on a test today. It's a strong A. We were right there from being perfect, so we've still got room to grow." 

Q: How are you trying to evaluate your quarterback room?

Babers: "We're going to have to evaluate that in live situations. We're going to put those guys in live situations. We're not going to guess on what they're going to do when it's live. When it goes to scrimmage, they're going to get their opportunities. Now Garrett is not in that situation. We've seen him live. But the other guys need to show us." 

Q: Did you learn anything from evaluating Garrett last year?

Babers: "You have to be able to do it in a game. I can feel that you can do something, and faith is strong, there's nothing about it. You have to be able to see it. You have to have results. Just based off the little bit that we saw, we thought there was more behind it." 

Q: What's it been like having Andre Szmyt back and have you seen him develop with the new special teams coach?

Babers: "I have. He's working really good with the new special teams coach. I think they're a good match. He wants to go to the pros. Coach Ligashesky has been in the pros. And everything he tells him is gospel. The guy is nothing but knowledge. It's an awesome get for us and it could be an extremely, extremely good match." 

Q: What have you been able to see from (Dan) Villari?

Babers: "Again, one of those quarterbacks that we've got to put behind the line. We've got to make him live because some of the best things he does is going to be what he does when a play is not there. So we've got to see him in a live situation." 

Q: Where do you see the growth in Justin Lamson?

Babers: "Justin's had growth, he really has. Again, he hasn't been hit since high school. So when we got into live situations, he was hit last year in situations, but he's got to be able to show us that he can not only do it against the threes and do it against the twos on defense but do it against the ones." 

Q: Do you see anything different now compared to last fall?

Babers: "More confident. More confident, there's no doubt about it." 

Q: Do you think you have your right tackle here?

Babers: "I think we're still waiting to see how those guys, you want to put your five best guys out there. I think they've done some fantastic things. We've got to see how they're all going to play out." 

Q: You're still recruiting that position?

Babers: "We're recruiting a lot of positions. I can guarantee the guys that we're recruiting are guys that we think can be starters at this situation. We're going to give them late scholarships." 

Q: What have you seen from Carlos Vettorello?

Babers: "I do see growth with what Carlos has been doing outside, we've just got to see if that's the best spot for the team. But there's no doubt he's gotten better out there." 

Q: Do you feel like those guys are being challenged by the defensive end group you have?

Babers: "The defensive line is young and they're (offensive line) going to have to do really well against that young defensive line for us to think that they're going to be able to do some of the things in the ACC that we want to be able to do on offense. So we've got to be able to see how they grow. But yes, we understand that the defensive line is young." 

Q: How have the players adapted to the new coaches?

Babers: "I think it's still a growing situation. I think the players are getting used to them. Every new coach, even though he uses English, has his own little special language to communicate with the players very quickly on the football field. They're getting used to their new language. I'm smiling because it's all part of it. The young men are so adaptable. So young and so adaptable. Just put them in the situation, after spring ball they'll have a good feel for their new coaches." 

Q: Are you comfortable dressing three tight ends?

Babers: "You mean would you like to have more? You'd always like to have more but I'm comfortable with three." 

Q: Is this Mahar's moment to see if he be that pass catching tight end?

Babers: "I think when you think about our tight ends, Rhino has shown he can catch the ball. Max Mang has shown he can catch the ball and Steve Mahar can catch the ball. So I think all three of those guys are going to have an opportunity to show what they can do." 

SUPPORT ALL SYRACUSE

SUBSCRIBE TO ALLSYRACUSE.COM NOW TO GET ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE INSIDER CONTENT

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE ALL SYRACUSE NEWSLETTER TO GET THE LATEST ORANGE UPDATES SENT TO YOUR INBOX

JOIN THE ALL SYRACUSE FORUMS FOR FREE AND DISCUSS THE ORANGE WITH OTHER FANS AND OUR STAFF