Syracuse football’s 2023 linebackers: Stefon Thompson wants SU to be ‘best in the nation’

Syracuse, N.Y. — It’s rare when two teammates go down with the same injury in the same half of a game, but that’s exactly what happened to Stefon Thompson and Chris Elmore last year.
Both suffered season-ending ACL tears in the first half of Syracuse football’s season opener against Louisville. Both were expected to be major contributors to the Orange.
For Elmore, it was just another in a string of injuries that riddled his collegiate career. For Thompson, it was the first serious injury he suffered.
“I had to learn how to walk again and stuff like that, so just being mentally tough, really, is what I’ve learned over the course of like the season and offseason,” Thompson said Friday.
But having Elmore going through the ups and downs with him in real time helped, Thompson said. The two could go to each other with questions. It gave them a strong bond.
Thompson said he should be 100% healthy by Week 1 when Syracuse faces Colgate on Sept. 2. It will have been 364 days since his injury. He’s worn a green, no-contact jersey during fall practice, a sign of progress after being sidelined all spring.
Returning in the linebacker room alongside him are Marlowe Wax, Derek McDonald, Anwar Sparrow and Leon Lowery. The four, in addition to Mikel Jones, who’s now with the Los Angeles Chargers, made up Syracuse’s depth chart and all appeared in nine or more games last season.
Rotating in when members of that group were injured — McDonald and Sparrow both battled injuries that kept them week-to-week at the end of the season — were Austin Roon and Kadin Bailey. Roon has been limited in practice, but Bailey is full-go in fall camp.
Other rostered linebackers are Zyian Moultrie-Goddard, Mekhi Mason, David Omopariola, Khalib Gilmore, Yosuke Sugano, Ryan Dolan, Josiah Jeffrey and Marcale Billue.
Wax is taking over for Jones as middle linebacker, though he said at ACC Kickoff that the defenses’ 3-3-5 scheme makes that a little flexible.
But a slight position move isn’t the only way Wax is filling the space left by Jones. He’s also taken on an increased leadership role for the linebackers as one of three already elected captains.
Thompson said Wax has been speaking up more and leading by example, which he’s already done in his first three seasons.
The linebackers were SU’s highest-rated position group in Phil Steele’s ACC unit rankings at No. 5, tied with N.C. State and Miami in the ACC.
Thompson said his goal for the linebackers is to be “best in the nation” this season, though there isn’t really an easy metric to asses that. Asked how he would measure it, Thompson said their play will speak for itself.
Even being top of the ACC would be a feat, as four of the conference’s linebacker rooms — Clemson, Florida State, Pittsburgh and North Carolina — are among Steele’s Top 25 in the nation.
Not even Wax, who has the second-most tackles among ACC defensive returners regardless of position, made the cut for the All-ACC preseason team.
The drop off behind Wax is steep. He’s the only one of SU’s linebackers who played all 13 games last year and wasn’t limited by injury. He finished the season with 91 tackles, 10.5 for loss, 4.5 sacks and seven quarterback hurries.
McDonald, who appeared in nine games, finished with 43, and Sparrow, who played 11 games, had 40.
Thompson had three tackles and one quarterback hurry in the quarter and a half he played last season.
Rising to the top of the ACC will require a cohesion and consistency it somewhat lacked last year due to injuries.
With Wax as the new heart, McDonald and Sparrow returning with some experience under their belts, and then Thompson back, that cohesion, at the very least, is achievable.
What they can do with it will be seen come game time.