Syracuse football defensive lineman Kevon Darton wasn’t tipped off before head coach Dino Babers awarded him a scholarship on Tuesday night. But the redshirt sophomore knew sophomore was up because he’d never been asked to stand up in a team meeting during his three years with the program.
Babers riled up the room with a few lines about the value of earning something versus it being given, then told Darton that his scholarship was earned. Teammates shouted and started piling onto him.
“It means everything to me because it shows they’re appreciating me,” Darton said after practice on Friday. “Like he said, I earned the scholarship. It wasn’t given to me.”
A 5-foot-11, 266-pound Fitchburg, Mass., native, Darton has been with the program since coming from Worcester Academy in 2019. He’s appeared in 18 games over the past two years, tallying 14 tackles as a reserve. Now he has a chance to take on a larger role this fall with SU’s six most-played defensive linemen gone from 2021 gone.
“I’m just really grateful for older guys like Bear (McKinley Williams), (Josh) Black, (Cody) Roscoe, all of them,” Darton said, “because I was behind them the whole time watching how they do movements and how they hustle and how they work.”
Darton, though, did more than just observe from the sidelines. He worked his way into the best shape of his career by matching up with Babers’ uptempo offense during scout team as an underclassman. And when the defensive coordinator who recruited him was fired — and Brian Ward took his 4-2-5 with him — Darton pivoted his playing style toward the movement-based 3-3-5 that Tony White is now in his third year running at Syracuse.
Darton said he’s worked gradually over that span to become more explosive.
“Just ability to get off the ball,” Darton explained. “Get off the ball and get my hands tighter inside. That’s basically what everything is now. Being quick off the ball and getting to the point.”
Darton could end up serving as SU’s backup defensive tackle this fall behind sophomore Terry Lockett, and he has the positional flexibility to work in at end. But with that significant senior turnover, he’s also taken on a leadership role in the position group alongside other upperclassmen Caleb Okechukwu and Steve Linton.
Together, they’re working to fill the shoes of the veteran group that Darton credited to getting him to this point.
Said Darton: “All of the older guys, we knew last year once they left that we would have to step up. So we knew we were coming in as young guys, but we’re not really worried about that.”
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