The votes are in, and Scott Shafer loves the results.

Syracuse conducted its captaincy vote Sunday night, Shafer announced on Monday, and the Orange’s 2014 captains are fifth-year senior offensive lineman Sean Hickey, senior linebacker Cameron Lynch, fifth-year senior running back Prince-Tyson Gulley and senior long snapper Sam Rodgers.

Shafer pulled the four captains out of their positional meetings to inform them before notifying the entire team.

“I was really excited with the way the votes came out,” Shafer said during his post-practice press conference on Monday. “I thought there was a lot of maturity in the way the votes came across. But four of them kind of dominated the captainship process we went through.”

The voting process, as Shafer detailed it two weeks ago, values a senior’s vote as four points each, a junior’s vote as three points, a sophomore’s as two points and a freshman’s as one point.

Rodgers is considered the biggest surprise of the four captains, but Shafer offered plenty of validity for the three-year starter’s election. A devout Christian, Shafer said, Rodgers has ventured on missions in Haiti and led multiple campaigns within the team.

“He’s a salt-of-the-earth-type person,” Shafer said. “Young man of high character and I think there’s a lot of respect there, so … I thought that showed some maturity with the way our kids handled it. I think the players really respect him for his value system.”

Shafer also gave high praise to his other captains, who are all starters at their respective positions.

The head coach dubbed Hickey as a “hard-nosed offensive lineman” and strong student, Gulley as a player who’s found his way by taking on a leadership role and Lynch as “everything” that Shafer had used to positively describe the captains.

Published on August 18, 2014 at 8:31 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb