Eric Dungey — Meet the 2016 Syracuse Football team

eric dungey
How many games will Dungey and SU win this year?
eric dungey
Dungey will likely return as Syracuse’s starting QB

Each week over the summer, The Juice Online is going to highlight individual players on the 2016 Syracuse football team. This week, we’re profiling quarterback Eric Dungey.

There’s been a theme to sophomore quarterback Eric Dungey’s football career.

“Every year in high school, I had a new coach, a new offense,” Dungey said. “I’ve never had two years where I’ve been under one offense.”

That’s carried into his college career, with Dungey learning former offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s offense in his freshman season.

Then, Lester and the rest of the SU coaching staff was dismissed in the offseason, with Syracuse hiring new head coach Dino Babers. With it has come a brand new, lightening fast offense.

“You have to adjust on the fly,” Dungey said. “New coaching staff, so we had to learn a new offense. They expect the highest of us.”

So far, Dungey appears to have taken to the new playbook.

He threw for 296 yards and seven touchdowns in the spring game, peppering the ball to receivers Alvin Cornelius, Kenterius Womack, Steve Ishmael, Erv Phillips and Brisly Estime.

» More SU football: Jordan Fredericks — Meet the 2016 Syracuse Football team

Though Babers has yet to name a starting quarterback, the choice seems obvious, especially after Dungey’s productive first season under center. In 2015, Dungey threw for 1,298 yards, setting the team record for most passing yards by a true freshman.

Those numbers should become even more gaudy in Babers’ system.

“All of our receivers, I think I have pretty good chemistry with,” Dungey said.
“They got open so they got the ball.”

Hopefully, he will be saying more of that this fall.

Inside slant: If Dungey wants to continue his football career at SU, he will need to rely less on scrambling. Dungey had to miss several games last season because of injuries. He also mentioned during the spring practices that he’s worked to put on more weight to become more durable. But Dungey dazzled last season, and there’s no reason to think he can’t have a repeat performance.

Vitals:

  • Birthdate: June 1996
  • Hometown: Lake Oswego, Oregon
  • High School: Lakeridge
  • Position: Quarterback
  • Class: Sophomore
  • Height: 6’3″
  • Weight: 212 lbs

Career highlights: Dungey was one of 15 true freshmen to log time for the Orange last season. He started seven of the eight games he appeared in last season, throwing for 1,298 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 1,649 yards of total offense (1,298 passing, 351 rushing) ranked him third on the single-season Syracuse record list for freshmen. For his efforts, Dungey was named a 2015 College Football News and CampusInsiders.com Honorable Mention Freshman All-American.

Jim Stechschulte and Nick Salamone contributed to this report.

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About Wes Cheng 2907 Articles
Wes has worked for Rivals.com covering the New York Knicks, as well as for Scout.com covering Syracuse athletics. Wes has also been a contributing writer for the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), for SportsNet New York (SNY) as a news desk writer covering all of New York professional sports, and reported on the NBA and MLB for the New York Sportscene. A native of Long Island, New York, Wes graduated from Syracuse University in 2005 with a degree in journalism. Contact him at wes[at]sujuiceonline.com.