Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer said senior cornerback Julian Whigham’s starting spot wasn’t guaranteed at Atlantic Coast Conference Media Day in July. For the first time all season, Whigham’s role was significantly reduced on Saturday against then-No. 25 Pittsburgh as he played at safety on third-down packages.

“Productivity on game day, or lack thereof,” Shafer said, “is probably the biggest component when we make those decisions.”

After an offseason in which Whigham transformed his lifestyle, he was beat several times downfield throughout the first half of the season. On Syracuse’s (3-4, 1-2 ACC) depth chart for its upcoming game against No. 17 Florida State (6-1, 4-1) Whigham was bumped to the backup cornerback spot as redshirt freshman Cordell Hudson moved up to start alongside sophomore Corey Winfield.

Whigham recorded seven total tackles and two pass breakups on Sept. 12 against Wake Forest, but in the last five games, he’s had eight tackles and no breakups. Meanwhile, Hudson has recorded eight tackles in the past three games and a pass breakup against Virginia as his role has steadily increased.

“(Hudson)’s progressively gotten better with everything he’s done and he’s been productive in practice,” Shafer said.

Shafer also said playing Whigham at safety, a position he played at Dwyer (Florida) High School, partially had to do with redshirt freshman Rodney Williams being injured with a lower-body injury in the past two games.

“When you have a guy that can play multiple positions, it goes a long way,” Shafer said, “and he’s shown that ability mentally to do those things so we felt it would be a good fit.”