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Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse’s quarterback for this week’s game against Miami has not been determined but head coach Fran Brown said the future of the spot belongs to Steve Angeli, even after a change in the role his position coach on Monday. Brown answered a bevy of questions about his quarterbacks and changes that he made to his coaching staff on Monday, three days after the Orange completed just four passes during a 27-10 loss to North Carolina. Brown moved quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile from coaching the team’s quarterbacks to its tight ends. He swapped roles with Michael Johnson Sr. They were the only two assistant coach who Brown kept after taking over the program from Dino Babers before last season. Angeli is close with Campanile and played high school football for his brother, Vito, at Bergen Catholic. Brown said he didn’t expect the switching of responsibilities among the assistant coaches to impact Angeli’s decision about whether to return to Syracuse next season. Brown labeled Angeli the team’s future at the position and was firm in his belief that he’ll return next year. “He’s coming back,” Brown said of the quarterback who was leading the country in passing yards before suffering a torn Achilles tendon during the fourth week of the season. “I think all the coaches do a really good job. I think I’m good at recruiting. I think I’m good at building relationships. Steve came to play for me, right? ... The one thing I always tell (athletes) is assistant coaches can change but you came to Syracuse to play for me, correct? “Does he have a great relationship with Coach Nunz? Absolutely. Coach Nunz is still on staff. He’s still here. I just talked to Steve last night. He texted me this morning to make sure he was good with the travel squad (for Miami).” Brown also said on Monday that he is open to the possibility of Rickie Collins returning next season in a backup role. Collins struggled in four starts this season and was benched on Friday in favor of walk-on Joe Filardi. “This is a results-based business, right?,” Brown asked. “If he comes back, which hopefully he does, he’s going to have to compete with Steve. That’s Steve’s spot for the next year unless something crazy happens over these next three or four weeks.” While the Orange has its long-term plan in place at quarterback, at least when it comes to the starter, the picture for this Saturday’s game at Miami remains murky. Syracuse used two quarterbacks in its miserable passing performance on Friday, with both Filardi and true freshman Luke Carney looking less effective than Collins had been. When asked who the starter would be against Miami, Brown said the Orange would compete in practice this week. He declined to say which quarterbacks he considered to be part of that active competition but indicated that both Collins and Filardi would be. “We’re going to compete in practice,” Brown said. “Joe played last week. I’m hoping that he can be better than he was. Rickie’s still on our football team. He does a good job in practice and pushing and going. We’re just trying to see if we can get that on the field.” Brown said that he expects Carney to redshirt this season. Since Carney has appeared in three games already this season, that limits the true freshman to just one more appearance the rest of the year. Carney has played in three games but has had limited opportunities to throw the ball in those appearances. Brown said Syracuse would like Carney to be able to showcase his passing ability in his remaining appearance but said the staff is having him do what they believe he is best at. “Luke has like one more game left to play if I’m not mistaken,” Brown said. “The plan was always to redshirt him. ... It’s going to take some time to have the full offense open to him that way. I think he’s best right now with his legs and his intelligence, and he can make all those quick throws.” Brown also said that the coaching staff made choices that hurt the ability of the young quarterbacks at being successful this season once Angeli was hurt. He said that offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon runs a system that requires quarterbacks to do things that would be asked of them in the NFL. It worked well when the Orange had Kyle McCord and Angeli at the position, but Brown said he should have asked his coaches to simplify and refocus the offense earlier than they did. “It’s important that we are able to adapt to the player’s strengths and not just stick to our system,” Brown said. “This is like an NFL system. It works well when you’ve got that guy at the trigger and can handle all the things that go with that. “Sometimes you don’t have that quarterback and you gotta have the other version of this offense that is ready and suitable for that player. As a coaching staff, and really myself, I should have pushed for us to be able to adapt to the players faster.”
