After missing spring to fix ‘chronic issue,’ Garrett Shrader says he feels better than ever

Charlotte, N.C. — It’s rare to hear a player or coach in any sport say missing practice made them better.
But that’s exactly the attitude Syracuse football quarterback Garrett Shrader has about missing the Orange’s spring camp as he recovered from surgery on his right elbow.
It’s a sentiment SU coach Dino Babers expressed in the spring, too.
“It’s been a blessing in disguise because it sucks that I had to go through this, but at the same time, I’ve kind of been able to clean up a lot of the mechanics and stuff,” Shrader said. “... I’m still rehabbing and all that stuff. I have a very positive, optimistic outlook on it.”
Shrader missed spring practice as he recovered from the surgery on his throwing arm, which fixed what he said Tuesday here at ACC Kickoff was a “chronic issue.”
Early in his recovery, Shrader wore a bulky brace that held his right arm at a 90-degree angle near his side. He graduated to a smaller brace while spring camp went on without him, and he did not have any apparatus on his arm in Charlotte.
He’s been throwing again, he said, with just about a week to go until SU’s fall camp is projected to begin.
Shrader couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the issue started but clarified it wasn’t an injury he suffered in the 2022 season.
He said he actually felt its effects more in the 2021 season, when he overtook Tommy DeVito as starting quarterback four games in after transferring from Mississippi State.
It may help explain some of the struggles Shrader had in that first season. He ranked last or second-to-last in the ACC in nearly every stat category.
Last year, despite a different, lower-body injury that hindered him in the second half of the season, Shrader was much improved. He finished the year No. 2 in the conference in completion percentage (64.7%) and No. 4 in efficiency (147.9).
“It was time to get (my elbow) fixed, so we did,” Shrader said. “Opportune time. I feel great, better than I have the past two years obviously, even though I’m only a couple months out of surgery. I’m excited though. Just stability, clean up, be a bit snappier with mechanics. It’s been awesome.”
This will be Shrader’s second season working under quarterbacks coach and new offensive coordinator Jason Beck, who’s developed a handful of NFL quarterbacks. It’s Beck’s first Power Five coordinator gig.
Together, the pair helped Syracuse’s offense become the No. 5 passing offense in the ACC in 2022 with 3,015 yards.
Despite the coordinator change — Shrader’s fifth in his five college seasons — many of the concepts from last year’s playbook remain the same, and the offense will again be pass-heavy.
“I feel like we have a clear-cut identity this year and where we’re going to be,” Shrader said. “It’s the same offense, but it will look a little bit different, and I think we’ll be a lot more explosive. I know we’ll be a lot more explosive.”
A healthy throwing arm will definitely help Shrader, Beck and the rest of SU’s offense make that sentiment a reality.