It’s going to feel a bit surreal until that first Syracuse Orange spring practice depth chart is released and the name Kyle McCord is penciled in at quarterback.

McCord just finished his first year as starter for the Ohio State Buckeyes where he had an 11-1 record. Sure he had Marvin Harrison, Jr to throw the ball to, but he led a game-winning drive at Notre Dame and you know was the starting quarterback on a team that won 11 games. I get that beating Michigan is all that matters to some people, but those people convinced the wannabe Rip Wheeler that McCord needed to be taken to the train station in Columbus. He might not be a Heisman-level QB but THEir loss is Syracuse’s gain.

McCord’s transfer was discussed on the LeBatard Show on Monday morning. You might not think that’s a big deal but the only time they’ve discussed Syracuse in the last couple of years is when they were taking a dump on Jim Boeheim or John Wildhack. Instead they actually had to acknowledge that the Orange did a good thing by getting the guy who started at Ohio State.

Paul Finebaum might be confused with McCord’s decision, but he was talking about Syracuse Football and if you had that on your bingo card for this week, you need to remember that Santa knows when you’re telling the truth.

“It’s a program that quite frankly doesn’t have a great path of coming back quickly,” Finebaum said. “I appreciate him getting another opportunity, but a year ago this guy was considered all-everything, a can’t miss and now he’s going to Syracuse. It’s weird.”

It doesn’t matter if Finebaum can’t see the fit from McCord’s perspective. It doesn’t matter if McCord wasn’t chased by dozens of programs. The addition puts Syracuse into a brighter spotlight and that means when Fran Brown and his staff make their push before the 2024 class is complete, they can point to the fact that a quarterback from a top-ten team chose the Orange for his final year.

McCord’s only got one season in Syracuse, but there’s a potential for his impact to stretch beyond 2024 as he brings an energy to the program that hasn’t existed for a new quarterback since Greg Paulus made the move to join Doug Marrone. While that move didn’t result in as much on-field success, it helped set the foundation for the next three seasons.

Getting players from Ohio State and Georgia should help Fran Brown set the tone for what he expects from his Syracuse program and we should see the results of that in 2024 and beyond.