In a tweet on Friday afternoon, Syracuse offensive lineman Sam Heckel announced his retirement from football. The redshirt junior had one more season of eligibility remaining.
“I am no longer able to play the sport I love,” Heckel said in the tweet.
Heckel started at center in SU’s season-opening win over Liberty but sat out the rest of the 2019 season with an upper-body injury. In his three seasons with the Orange, Heckel played in 26 games, starting in 14 of them. In 2017, he started every game at left guard and led SU with 41 knockdown blocks.