Angeli Back in Spotlight as Syracuse QB Depth Thins

By Mason Katz

Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli is officially back as QB1 this Saturday versus North Carolina. 

Head coach Fran Brown made this decision with Amari Odom undergoing season ending shoulder surgery, and last week’s starter, Malachi Nelson undergoing surgery for an apparent ankle injury.

Syracuse’s backup quarterbacks did show some promise in their limited starts. Amari Odom, the only quarterback who gave Syracuse a victory in his tenure, threw for 398 yards, 6 touchdowns, and only 2 interceptions in his 3 games played. One of them being a start versus UConn, which resulted in a 42-41 thriller victory for Syracuse. 

The other quarterback, Malachi Nelson. The former 5 star and 13th ranked national recruit in 2023, had two starts for the Orange. Those being against Virginia and Louisville. Those both resulted in losses, but Nelson showed some promise throwing for 398 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions in those two games. 

Syracuse resorts back to Angeli after a rough couple of previous performances early on in the season. A 3 interception game versus California on September 12th, and a 2 interception game versus Pittsburgh back on September 17th. Angeli was benched in the fourth quarter, and has not started a game since.

This start versus North Carolina would be Angeli’s 4th appearance back since tearing his achilles last season versus Clemson on September 20th. There were high expectations for Angeli’s return from his injury in hopes of turning the Football program back around, but his 731 passing yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions in his three starts proved costly. 

Although his 2025 season did come off to a hot start. Throwing for 1,317 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and only two interceptions in just four starts. 

Syracuse coaching staff and fans hope to see Angeli return on Saturday up in Chapel Hill, and get Syracuse back in the win column.  The Orange look to pick up their first ACC conference win since November of 2024 where they defeated Miami at home.