Syracuse football training camp opens Saturday. The Daily Orange beat writers, Chris Libonati, Jon Mettus and Matt Schneidman, analyzed the top 10 preseason storylines and top 10 position battle heading into camp. Here are the final three of 10 player files in the series. Check out dailyorange.com and follow along here to countdown to camp.

Antwan Cordy
Year: Junior
Position: Free safety
Ht.: 5-8
Wt.: 175

Antwan Cordy was a standout in a Syracuse defense that struggled last season. He set an SU single-season record for a defensive back with 12 tackles for loss, finished second on the team with 68 tackles (50 solo) and caught two interceptions. Cordy also forced a fumble and recovered two.

But when head coach Scott Shafer was fired, Cordy took to Twitter twice to voice his intentions to transfer from Syracuse. After he got to meet defensive backs coach Nick Monroe and the new coaching staff in December, though, Cordy changed his mind and decided to stay.

The junior is slotted to start at free safety in 2016 after starting at strong safety last season. At 5 feet 8 inches and 175 pounds, he’s below average in size for a Division I FBS safety, but the team referred to him as Giant under Shafer.

“The little guy over here … has eight tackles, two (tackles for loss), a sack,” Shafer said after Cordy’s eight-tackle (2.5 for loss) performance against Louisiana State last season. “That’s a good job. I’m proud of you.”

It’ll be up to Cordy to lead the charge in 2016 for a transitioning secondary that’s in need of a much improved year.

Published on August 5, 2016 at 9:19 am

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus