Fran Brown's Syracuse sweats it out with intense spring practice before offseason matchup

In his first season as head coach of the Syracuse Orange, Fran Brown led the school to a 10-3 overall record and 5-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They ended the season on a high, winning the 2024 DirecTV Holiday Bowl 52-35 against the Washington State Cougars.

After an offseason of recruiting, Brown has called his boys back to the gridiron for spring practice.

On Tuesday, Syracuse's official X channel uploaded a video from their ongoing spring practice. In the video, the defensive scrimmages were taking place.

Brown's incredible rookie season as head coach saw him earn several accolades, including the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year award and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year.

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Fran Brown's off-field goal heading into 2025 season

Year 1 was good but for Fran Brown, it's just the first step. The new way to remain competitive in college football is through the money available for NIL purposes.

He made his feelings known to Syracuse.com as he hopes to raise anywhere from $6-8 million in additional money, which will be used for recruitment.

“SU Football NIL (collective) is going to help us be able to compete,” Brown said. “There will be people with a larger amount of money but by us doing this, we’re looking to raise $6 to $8 million, to go along with the revenue share. With that, and the way we recruit and the way that we play, we’ll be able to compete with anybody in the country.”

When it comes to comparison with other programs in the ACC, Brown said the Orange ranks somewhere in the middle based on how much players are paid.

“There’s 17 teams?” Fran Brown said. “We’re probably, I’d say, about nine. Probably so. Middle-of-the-pack. Toward the back end of it. But, realistically, we’re probably around nine.”

According to Syracuse.com, once the House vs. NCAA settlement is complete, Syracuse will release funds of around $20.5 million for players. It is the maximum amount the school is allowed to give its players.

Apart from football, Brown also makes sure to advise his players on how to properly use their NIL earnings. He advocates not to spend more than 40% of NIL earnings and instead keep it for future purposes.