Syracuse starting QB revealed: Fran Brown finally breaks silence on his QB1 pick for 2025 season

Syracuse Orange football coach Fran Brown named his starting quarterback for the 2025 college football season. Brown and Syracuse had Kyle McCord as the team's QB1 in 2024. McCord had a ton of success but is off to the NFL, so the Orange had a quarterback battle between Rickie Collins, redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams and early enrollee Luke Carney.

Collins, a redshirt sophomore, became the team's starting quarterback.

Syracuse's quarterbacks coach, Nunzio Campanile, praised Collins for his improvement from December until now.

"From December to now, he's made incredible strides," Campanile said, via 247Sports. "He's grown a lot in his understanding of football. The growth he's shown since January has been really impressive. I think he's going to be a great player."

"Multi-sport athletes have great skill development, spatial awareness, and the ability to figure things out," Campanile said. "Throwing a football is a lot like hitting a baseball—it's a rotational movement. You see that in Rickie. He's got incredible torque and can really rip it. You can imagine he was able to 'rake,' as they say."

As the QB's coach says, Collins can help make the Orange's offense one of the best in the country.

Rickie Collins more comfortable in Syracuse's system

Rickie Collins was a four-star recruit and originally committed to LSU before transferring to Syracuse.

Collins says the adjustment to Syracuse was tough, but he feels like he has done well. He also has confidence that he is more comfortable with the system and is ready to get playing.

"It's definitely been an adjustment," Collins said. "Coming from sunny skies, heat, and humidity to seeing snow for the first time—it was wild. It snowed for like two or three months straight. But it was a good adjustment for me.

"I went home to Baltimore over spring break, got a little seafood, but I was ready to get back and lock in for spring ball. Way more comfortable. Not where I want to be yet, but I'm definitely playing faster and continuing to study so I can keep improving."

Syracuse will open the 2025 college football season on August 30 against Tennessee. The Orange have notable games against Pitt, SMU, Miami, Notre Dame and Clemson, among others.