E — AST HARTFORD, Conn. — The colors are beginning to change in the grove of trees beyond Rentschler Field, and today, Syracuse is turning a new leaf, too.
At about 11:20 a.m. last Saturday, Amari Odom stands at the 25-yard line, his orange helmet topping his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame. He takes some practice snaps, drops three steps and zips short passes to his receivers. At this point, most of the stadium doesn’t know it, but Odom does. In 40 minutes, he’ll lead Syracuse’s opening possession.
He runs toward the tunnel at 11:30 a.m., and about 10 minutes later, the secret’s out. Head coach Fran Brown publicly says Odom will start against UConn, despite voicing his faith in Steve Angeli days earlier…