![NCAA Football: ACC Football Kickoff](https://www.buffalosports.today/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/usa_today_23822038.0.jpg)
Plenty of good stuff to digest from coach Fran and company.
Coach Fran Brown and several members of the Syracuse Orange football team traveled down to Charlotte for ACC’s annual Football Kickoff.
Syracuse fans had the chance on Thursday to hear from Brown along with Kyle McCord, LeQuint Allen, Justin Barron and Fadil Diggs. All five spoke live on the ACC Network as well as participated in a nearly 30-min press conference, which means we have a lot to unpack.
(Writer’s note: on that note, can we please get this one vs. one on the court between Fran and Dabo?)
The game we didn’t know we needed: Fran Brown vs. Dabo Swinney pic.twitter.com/rmJkX8GoV7
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) July 25, 2024
Let’s start with coach Brown’s presser, where he addressed a pretty diverse set of topics: tampering, building chemistry within the program, goals for the team, community/culture and Syracuse’s success in recruitment since he took over.
Just like during his opening presser when he took over as coach, Brown’s emphasis on creating a legit culture for the Orange was yet again consistent and radiating. There is a clear vision for this program, and quotes like these are ones that should get Syracuse fans really fired up:
“I think what we did when it came to transfers, we only got guys that were truly, there’s a saying I have like DART (detail, accountable, relentless, and tough) is our core values, but (after that) I go committed, care and trust. If you look at the guys we (brought) in, they’re truly committed to, not just themselves, but to winning. To the bigger piece of the program. They truly care. Then I can trust them.”
“Everything I do, I try to make sure we just follow all the way through. We have a saying, how you do anything is how you’ll do everything. Just make sure I’m locked in because those guys are watching what I’m doing not only as a football coach, but as a father, a husband, with my faith.”
“I’m just trying to play, to be honest. I just want to coach football, play football, so I can watch these guys have an opportunity to go out and show who they are, how hard they’ve been working.”
In probably the most powerful part of his presser, coach Brown name-dropped some of the former Syracuse football greats.
He specifically mentioned Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Rob Konrad, Larry Csonka, Tom Coughlin, Donovan McNabb, Dwight Freeney, Marvin Harrison and Donovan Darius.
“All those guys are important to me.”
![NCAA Football: ACC Football Kickoff](https://www.buffalosports.today/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/usa_today_23822031.jpg)
Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
He also mentioned multiple times that he wanted to get Syracuse “back to where they belong” and brought up the 1959 championship team and the iconic 1987 squad.
Yet again, that remains a consistent theme with coach Brown: he sees the bigger picture. Syracuse’s football history truly matters to him, and that is clearly the benchmark he desires for the program today.
“I just want to win. Like I want to win. I want to make sure that Syracuse gets back to where they belong, where it was, where football kind of started at, in my opinion.”
One last note from Brown: consistency also seemed to be other big emphasis. That was mentioned in both the presser and his ACC Network interview. For context, it’s something the Orange never quite had with the program’s predecessor. Now, it’s something Brown thinks needs to be a constant moving forward.
Onto the players. McCord and Allen paired up together to represent the offense, while Diggs and Barron talked defense.
Among the highlights:
- Barron on his uncertain future with the program: “When he (Brown) got hired, I was thinking about leaving just because I didn’t know what was gonna go on. His first thing he said to me was ‘just give me a chance, let me just get there and talk to you.’ I did that and it ended up being perfect.”
- Barron on why he stayed: “His vision, not just for me but for the program. The vision was for right now… he wanted to win and he wanted to win now.”
- Diggs said he and coach Brown knew each other since he was in 7th grade and was being recruited by Temple.
- Diggs emphasized that he wanted to learn from some of the other defensive leaders the Orange already add, namely Barron and Marlowe Wax.
- Diggs: “You gotta dominate the line of scrimmage. That’s what coach Fran wanted to do and that’s what he’s gonna do.”
- McCord on Allen: “He had a great year last year. He was at the bowl game, so I got to see kind of first-hand that anger coming out. I was like ‘okay, no we’ll be good. 100%.”
- McCord: “Coach Brown is super genuine. What you see from him is what you get.”
- McCord on the hype around the program: “It’s exciting. I remember going to the basketball games in January, February, March and all the fans and the people I was sitting with are talking about Syracuse football. They were saying it’s not like this to be talking about the football team during basketball season.”
- Allen: “We’re trying to bring it back to the old days.”
- And of course, Allen on what animal he would be: “a lion mixed with an ape.”
We encourage out of the box thinking like this. What would we call this a Liape or Apion? Does this animal have the ape’s torso and lion’s legs/claws?
Do we have an artistic follower who can deliver some designs of this animal? https://t.co/u9g0o2fzvV
— NunesMagician.com (@NunesMagician) July 25, 2024
Moving forward, Syracuse fans will have the chance to get even more from behind the scenes prior to the start of the 2024 season. The program will have an All-Access program on the ACC Network which premieres starting on August 12.
The beginning of a new era
All Access with @CuseFootball premieres August 12 on ACCN. pic.twitter.com/JUmpTcAv7V
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) July 25, 2024