Terrel Hunt knows adversity, and losing a quarterback competition doesn’t qualify.
Try losing both parents in one year, and nearly seeing your football future flash before your eyes because of a silly mistake.
Hunt handled the news — that Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer was going with senior Drew Allen over him at the season’s onset — in stride. He had faced — and overcome — much worse.
“I’m actually happy it happened,” the red-shirt sophomore from Queens said. “It humbled me. It made me work 10 times harder than I was. Instead of being angry, I got more confident. It gives you a chip on your shoulder.”
That extra work seems to be paying off. Just a few weeks after replacing the struggling Allen, the mobile and strong-armed 6-foot-3 Hunt has kick-started an Orange turnaround, leading the program to two straight blowout victories entering the program’s first ACC contest, at the Carrier Dome against No. 3 Clemson, on Saturday afternoon. Shafer said he has made plays with his feet and shown awareness in the pocket that wasn’t there during the preseason.
“When he finally got his chance, he didn’t get jitters,” Syracuse center Macky MacPherson said. “He knew it was his time to shine.”
Though his production is a small sample size — in two games and one quarter he has thrown for seven touchdowns, run for two and completed 33-of-43 passes for 468 yards — Hunt has already carved out a piece of local history for himself, a New York City quarterback excelling at the FBS level, a rarity.
The top local quarterbacks from the five boroughs all have struggled at the next level, either transferring or switching positions. Hunt had that option, too, but chose otherwise.
“It gives other quarterbacks in New York City hope you can achieve what you want,” Hunt said. “Nobody is going to tell you, you can’t do it. I definitely take pride in that.”
Hunt is well-versed in adversity, but mostly off the field.
On Feb. 1, 2011, his father, Daryl Dockery, passed away from kidney failure, just a year and a day after his mother, Katrina Hunt, lost her battle with ovarian cancer. On game days, he wears a T-shirt of his mother and him, with a poem he wrote for her. Before kickoff, he says a prayer for everyone close to him he has lost and asks them to lead his team to victory.
The struggles haven’t all been family-based. His career with the Orange nearly ended before it started after he was arrested for attempting to shoplift cologne from a Syracuse mall in January of his freshman year. He missed most of spring practices that year before he was red-shirted last season.
“It definitely plays a role on the field,” he said of the adversity he has dealt with. “Things aren’t as bad as they seem. It definitely humbled me and showed me that when things are bad, nothing can match what I went through. It makes me optimistic about a lot of things .”
Hunt was a two-sport star at Christ the King, a valuable forward on the nationally ranked basketball team and the star quarterback on the gridiron. Entering high school, in fact, he had his mind set on a future in basketball, before realizing his greater upside resided on the football field.
College coaches frequented the Queens school to see Hunt in action, to catch a glimpse of his powerful right arm and impressive athleticism. The football coaches even attended his basketball games and left impressed.
“Whenever he played basketball, they always put him on the other team’s best offensive weapon,” Shafer raved. “That competitive spirit he has is something you can’t really measure.”
Still, most schools recruited Hunt as a wide receiver or defensive back, as an athlete rather than a quarterback. Syracuse wanted him under center, though Shafer was interested in seeing what the Queens kid could do at safety after he first arrived on campus.
Hunt wanted to stick at the position, so he picked Syracuse, the program that offered him the best opportunity to follow his dream. And after two straight victories, he’s making the most of his chance.
“I just knew I was a leader,” Hunt said. “I wanted to be the guy calling the shots, I wanted to be the guy throwing [the passes.] As a wide receiver, you can’t do that, you have to depend on the quarterback. You want to be that guy.”
Another win on Saturday at the Carrier Dome, what would be a shocking upset of Clemson, and there will be no doubt Hunt is Syracuse’s guy, for now and the next few years.
“We’re ready to shock the nation,” Hunt said. “You can count us as underdogs, but we’re going to come out on top.”