WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Two weeks from Friday night, the S.U. football team opens it’s 2021 season on the road against Ohio University.
Will it be Tommy DeVito under center for the Orange or will it be Garrett Shrader, a transfer who brings a lot of talent and experience to the position?
For Shrader, he’s hoping to get another shot at leading a Power 5 school after a less than fairytale ending to his time at Mississippi State.
As a true freshman for the Bulldogs in 2019, Shrader played in 10 games, starting 4, and ranked 6th in the SEC in passing efficiency, throwing for over 1,000 yards and rushing for another 500 yards.
Shrader threw for 8 touchdowns and rushed for 6 more, but that wasn’t enough for him to keep his job after Joe Moorehead was fired and Mike Leach took over.
Transferring after his sophomore season, Syracuse looked like a good place to revive his career and Shrader says the transition has been a smooth one.
”It’s been good. It’s different. Every year it’s always been, I’ve always been competing it’s always been a 5th year guy. I guess this is a little bit different because he’s been here and just knows all the stuff. So every now and then they’ll talk about plays and I’m just like ‘I gotta ask what the play is.’ It’s been different for sure coming in ‘cause at Mississippi State I was there already, but coming into a new spot. I feel like I’ve been getting an opportunity and I’ve just gotta keep getting better and working and see how I can help the team,” said Garrett Shrader, Syracuse Quarterback.
Shrader says each day he’s becoming more and more comfortable with the Syracuse offense and says running a Dino Babers up tempo offense is something that plays to his strengths, which relies on the quarterback to be more of a dual threat.
”Just showing that you understand the offense and that you would make a decision is a big thing that, just like throwing the ball away, and sometimes it’s hard to see exactly when you do it because it’s based more on the field. Showing to them that I know what I’m doing is the biggest thing and continuing to make the right decisions and the right reads and not turn the ball over,” said Shrader.
Shrader says now he is focusing on cleaning up a few things in his game in hopes of proving to Babers and his staff he can lead the Orange back to respectability, not only in the ACC, but nationally as well.
”Biggest thing is just trust your eyes, I think for me, because half the time I’m seeing it right and the only time I get off is when I second guess myself. So I feel like I’m seeing everything right. I just gotta continue to just pull the trigger when the reads there and just keep making plays. Keep making plays and be explosive and produce. That’s the biggest thing,” said Shrader.
The Federal Prospects Hockey League is just around the corner, and for Watertown Wolves owner Andreas Johansson it will be a year like no other.
In the off season, Johansson purchased another franchise and placed them in Binghamton.
The 2 teams will meet a total of 15 times in the regular season and Johansson hopes both clubs vie for a Federal Prospects Hockey League championship.
”I’m not gonna lie and say ‘No, it’s not weird.’ Of course it’s gonna be strange when your biggest rival is- You own both teams. Obviously the guys will play for it on the ice and I’ll just be in the stands. I hope we play each other in the final and it goes to 5 games and we’ll see how that goes,” said Andreas Johansson, owner of the Watertown Wolves and Binghamton Black Bears.
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