With Syracuse football training camp less than a month away, The Daily Orange beat writers, Chris Libonati, Jon Mettus and Matt Schneidman, will analyze one of the top 10 preseason storylines, top 10 position battles or reveal one of 10 player files each day. Check out dailyorange.com and follow along here to countdown to camp.

Assuming Corey Winfield recovers from being stabbed in April, allegedly by former teammate Naesean Howard, and takes one of the cornerback spots, Cordell Hudson and Juwan Dowels will be an interesting training camp battle.

The Tampa 2 defense is one that typically relies on big cornerbacks to be disruptive at the line of scrimmage and contribute to stopping the run. But Hudson stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and Dowels is one inch shorter. Dowels outweighs Hudson by five pounds so consider their sizes a wash. Head coach Dino Babers said during the spring that he’s run the defense with smaller players in the secondary before.

Hudson and Dowels both played in all 12 games last season with Hudson starting the final four games of the season and Dowels starting the last five. Hudson finished with 35 solo tackles and 42 total. Dowels had 29 and 40, respectively. Hudson had two interceptions and three pass breakups. Dowels had one pick and five disruptions.

The pass defense as a whole struggled, though, and is going to be revamped. Syracuse finished 102nd in passing yards allowed in the nation, 117th in completion percentage and 99th in passing efficiency defense.

Hudson had seven tackles in the spring game compared to just 2 for Dowels. Babers is looking for a guy that can make big tackles and be sound in coverage. Whoever can show that in training camp will come out on top. Right now, it appears Hudson has the edge.