UPDATED: Sept. 10, 2017 at 10:51 p.m.

When everyone else got up, he stayed down. Antwan Cordy had thrown himself into a tackling scrum when Central Connecticut State tried a tight end screen pass in the middle of the first quarter, but Cordy seemed shaken up.

The redshirt junior apparently suffered a lower right leg injury on the play. The Orange (1-0) lost him early in its 50-7 drubbing of Central Connecticut State (0-1) on Friday night in the Carrier Dome. He did not return to the field.

“We don’t know what’s wrong,” SU head coach Dino Babers said. “We don’t have a final say on Antwan yet. We’re going to have to wait and see what the doctors say. We expect him back, and we’re trying to hope for the best. I don’t want to even talk about the other part of it.

“But I do think that’s one of the groups where we’re extremely deep. And we got a lot of help there in the offseason. And hopefully that depth will be able to carry us through.”

Cordy later returned to the sidelines using crutches, with a brace on his right leg.

Cordy left the game with Syracuse firmly in command, 14-0, and Babers said that contributed to the decision to sit Cordy for the rest of the night. Syracuse wouldn’t play a player, especially a player of Cordy’s caliber, Babers said, if they weren’t absolutely sure.

Todd Michaelek | Contributing Photographer

As a sophomore, Cordy started all 12 games at strong safety. Then last season, as a junior, he switched to free safety, and in the seven full quarters he played, Cordy made eight tackles, broke up a pass and recovered a fumble. But he broke his left forearm in the fourth quarter of Week 2 against Louisville and missed the rest of the season.

On Friday night, when Cordy went out, Jordan Martin replaced him. Martin is a graduate transfer from Toledo and brings similar size to the safety position at 6-foot-3, 203 pounds.

“Antwan means a lot,” Martin said. “… He brings a lot of fun to the defense. He brings a lot of good plays, a lot of big plays. That’s why I be calling him The Thermostat. He raises the temperature for all of us.”

Martin recently switched from corner to safety, and he said the biggest adjustment was making more calls and seeing an increased amount of chances to make plays.

Martin finished with three tackles, all solo.

Friday night, he had plenty of chances to put into the practice the lessons learned.

“Today, my number was called,” Martin said, “so (I) had to step up for the team.”

Published on September 2, 2017 at 12:40 am

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR