Syracuse, N.Y. — Joe Filardi, an elite lacrosse recruit and walk-on football player at Syracuse, is expected to make his debut for the Orange against North Carolina on Friday night.
Lacrosse coaches in Long Island where Filardi was from told Syracuse.com they expect him to play, while others with connections to his hometown indicated that he will start for the Orange.
Gregg Sarra, a high school sports reporter with Newsday, was the first to report that Filardi would start. His report was confirmed by Kevin Mahar, another Long Island-based reporter.
A social media account connected with Filardi’s club lacrosse program also said he would start for the Orange.
A Syracuse University spokesperson declined to say if Filardi would start for the Orange.
But the Syracuse football team’s struggle to get competent quarterback play is expected to have it turning to Filardi in some capacity against the Tar Heels.
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, Filardi was named a high school All-American by USA Lacrosse in 2024 and was the No. 52-ranked lacrosse recruit in the Class of 2025, according to Inside Lacrosse.
He is attending Syracuse on a lacrosse scholarship and had North Carolina as one of his final options.
As a senior quarterback at Half Hollow Hills West, he completed 137 of 209 passes for 3,115 yards, along with 43 touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for over 1,200 yards and 12 more touchdowns.
Filardi threw for more than 3,000 yards in each of his final two high school football seasons, earning a football scholarship offer from Stony Brook despite his previous commitment to play lacrosse for the Orange.
His club lacrosse coach with 91 Long Island Shock, Jim Mulé, said that Filardi shares some personality traits that allowed quarterback Steve Angeli to thrive for the Orange earlier this year, noting his ability to remain calm and poised under pressure.
His high school lacrosse coach, Connor Hughes, said Filardi is a natural leader with an unusual level of sports savvy and maturity.
Both men said they expect Filardi to play in some capacity when the Orange faces North Carolina. They said they did not know if he would be the starter.
Despite prioritizing lacrosse when he picked his college, Filardi chose to skip his final high school season in order to join the Orange for this football season.
That meant turning down a spring with state championship lacrosse aspirations so that he could give himself the best opportunity with Fran Brown’s program.
“I’m so happy that it worked out for him,” said Hughes on Friday, noting that Filardi was on the sidelines watching when his team won the state championship last spring. “He did everything right to put himself into position for tonight.”
Intrigue around Filardi has grown in recent weeks as Syracuse quarterback Rickie Collins has struggled since taking over for Angeli following his season-ending Achilles injury on Sept. 20 at Clemson.
Syracuse head coach Fran Brown dropped the quarterback’s name for the first time last week while listing off players with the potential and noted an unnamed signal-caller on the roster who he felt might be the team’s best quarterback.
ESPN commentator Dusty Dvoracek said on his radio show this week that Brown told him that Filardi might be the best quarterback the Orange has.
As a lacrosse player, Filardi played long-stick midfielder in high school and never left the field. During his junior season he routinely shut down the opponents’ best player, scored 30 goals, added 30 assists and earned All-America honors.
“That’s the type of athlete that he is,” Hughes said. “He never came off the field. I’d ask him if he needed to and he’d just tell me, ‘We’re good. I got you.’ ”
Mulé said Filardi would often be in the middle of training for football and show up at a club lacrosse tournament. Despite limited preparation, he’d still match him up with the opposition’s best player and he’d usually deliver shut-down defense.
Filardi decided near the end of his junior year of high school lacrosse that he was going to graduate early in order to play football.
After making his decision, Filardi called Hughes ahead of the high school team’s season-ending banquet. He told the coach, then told the team as a group.
“He called me and asked if we could talk,” Hughes remembered. “I was like, ‘What do we have to talk about?’ He wanted me to be the first to know. He told the whole team as a group. He played it so close to the vest that even some of his best friends didn’t know.”
Filardi is the son of Gerald Filardi, a former Penn State linebacker and the current high school football coach at Half Hollow Hills West.
According to the South Shore Press, Joe Filardi finished his high school career with Long Island records for all-purpose yards (14,483) and touchdowns (151).
Despite his statistical success, his ascendance up the depth chart as a freshman walk-on at Syracuse is a remarkable rise.
While he was an early enrollee and arrived in time for spring practices, he appeared to be behind an array of quarterbacks this fall, including Angeli and Collins, incoming scholarship freshmen Luke Carney and Rich Belin and returner Jakhari Williams.
Angeli won the job out of training camp but suffered a torn Achilles tendon during SU’s 34-21 victory at Clemson. Collins took over but was benched against the Tar Heels after four games of poor play and lopsided losses.
Now, the Orange has turned to Filardi in search of a spark.
According to 247Sports, Filardi was receiving minimal interest from college football programs when he committed to play lacrosse for Syracuse in September 2023.
Mulé said he isn’t sure whether it was the fact that Filardi was viewed as a lacrosse player or the lack of attention on Long Island football that limited the football interest.
“He just kept getting better and better,” Mulé said.
Playing on the football team, he told 247Sports, required lacrosse coach Gary Gait’s permission and cooperation between the lacrosse and football programs.
While Filardi prioritized lacrosse as he left high school, he does have strong football bloodlines.
His father, Gerald, is a former linebacker at Penn State.
Coincidentally, Gerald also began his career as a football walk-on, according to Penn State’s student newspaper, The Daily Collegian.
Gerald eventually earned a scholarship and turned himself into a two-year starter at inside linebacker who earned an NFL tryout with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On Friday, his son began his own unlikely football story.
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