One of the biggest questions heading into the new Syracuse Orange football season now has an answer: who will be under center when the Orange open the 2025 season?
Coach Fran Brown named LSU transfer Rickie Collins as the Orange’s starting quarterback heading into the 2025 season. Brown made the announcement on Monday during a spring practice press conference.
“He’s getting a lot better. He seems to be moving into the leader of our football team. I’m liking what I’m seeing. Think the players are behind him, (and) everybody is behind him, so it seems like he’s going to be our quarterback,” Brown said.
Brown praised Collins for his strong arm and consistency. Collins beat out redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams, redshirt senior Michael Johnson Jr. and others for the starting spot. Brown indicated that competition for the #2 spot remains open and is something to watch for next August in camp.
“I’m really excited and happy about it. He puts the work in daily, learning how to lead,” Brown said. “I’m happy that the whole team gets to finally know who we going to go behind and who we’re going to follow.”
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Photo by Ella Hall/LSU/Getty Images
Collins began his collegiate career at LSU and joined the Tigers as a four-star prospect, according to ESPN, On3 and 247Sports. He committed to LSU over offers from 18 other programs, including Oregon, Nebraska, Louisville, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Arkansas.
Collins mainly served as a backup to LSU quarterbacks Jayden Daniels in 2023 and Garrett Nussmeier this past season. He redshirted after appearing in one game in 2023, then appeared in three games in 2024. In that limited playing time, Collins went 7/7 on passes for 38 yards and also had 7 rushes for 37 yards combined in his two years with LSU.
After entering the transfer portal, Collins committed to Syracuse in December as a three-star transfer, per rankings from 247Sports. The native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana currently has three years of eligibility remaining.
With last year’s starting quarterback Kyle McCord off to the NFL Draft process, Collins will now be tasked with leading the Orange’s offense.
Brown also noted that David Wohlabaugh Jr. will “probably” not play for Syracuse this year and that he is “thinking” about going into the portal.
Wohlabaugh started his career off with Kentucky, redshirting in 2021 and then playing eight games in 2022. He transferred to the Orange for the 2023 season, starting at right tackle for the team’s first two games before being ruled out the rest of the year due to injury.
Wohlabaugh had a much larger role this past year, starting in Syracuse’s final three games and playing in nine, pretty much entirely at left tackle. He allowed two sacks on 174 drop backs in 2024.
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