The Syracuse football team is officially ready to open up its 2026 preseason on Wednesday as training camp begins.

By opening up camp on Aug. 5, the Orange will have exactly one month until the opening of the 2026 regular season, which is Sept. 5 at home against the New Hampshire Wildcats.

Speaking at the pre-camp media session on Tuesday, head coach Fran Brown pushed back on the notion that his team is going to finish 14th in the 17-team Atlantic Coast Conference, and as noted by Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com, Brown also gave a few more updates, including:

As relayed by Carlson, Russell is the only player who will enter camp with a significant injury. The five-star receiving recruit from Florida tore his Achilles during spring practice, though he's determined to play this season. Speaking back in April, Brown made it seem like Russell is a possibility to play this year as well.

The fact that quarterback Steve Angeli, who tore his Achilles last year, comes in with no injury designation is also a very good thing. He told the media earlier this summer that he was OK after missing the final eight games of the 2025 campaign.

Syracuse went 3-1 when Angeli was playing and then lost its next eight games to finish 3-9.

Kubala has played in 36 games for the Orange in his career, all at linebacker or on special teams. He has nine career tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss. He's moving to tight end/full back and could end up playing a role in trying to elevate the Orange's run game.

Brown says the program has no plans of bringing any alumni back under the '5-in-5' ruling that has taken the country by storm this week

Sometimes called the '5-in-5' rule, the new "aged-base eligibility model," adopted earlier this year, gives a player five years to play five seasons in their sport, from the time they enroll in college or after their 19th birthday, whatever comes first.

For instance, an athlete who goes the traditional US path from high school to college, would get five years to play five seasons.

In addition to players entering college this year, athletes who are returning to campus this year are being given an extra year of eligibility. For instance, someone who enrolled in college last fall and played in their freshman season would still have four years of eligibility remaining.

However, athletes who graduated in 2026, from the high school Class of 2022, were not given this exemption. They simply played four seasons in four years and graduated.

A group of now-graduated seniors, including some Syracuse lacrosse players, recenetly filed a lawsuit against the NCAA seeking to get a fifth year of eligibility.

For the moment, a judge has granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA, which would make all high school Class of 2022 athletes eligible for a fifth year in the upcoming academic year.

The NCAA is appealing, but all this needs to be decided quickly, as the fall sports game schedule begins in less than two weeks.

While Syracuse has some alums who could fit this criteria, again, Brown says he has no designs of bringing any alums back.