2010 Football guide

FOOTBALL GUIDE 2010

In Year Two, Marrone aims for bowl with core of new and old faces

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Table of contents

3 At last

Ryan Nassib finally gets his chance as SU’s starting quarterback after a year behind Greg Paulus.

4

6

8

Delone Carter’s family and faith have a clear mindset he returns from a summerlong suspension.

Doug Marrone tapped Nathaniel Hackett as a co-pilot to run his offense.

What does he bring to the table?

Linebackers Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith key Syracuse’s defense.

In the balance

The apprentice

Two of a kind

10 12 15 17 The natural

After stepping in and excelling as Cincinnati’s quarterback last season, Zach Collaros is ready for a full-time shot.

Wide open

Predictions

A complete look at the Orange’s 2010 schedule.

The next step

The Daily Orange beat writers make their season prognostications. Will SU get to a bowl?

Utah will get to contend for a national championship with a summer move to the Pac-10.

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At last

THE RYAN NASSIB FILE No.: 12 Position: Quarterback Height: 6-2 Weight: 224 Year: Sophomore Hometown: West Chester, Pa. High school: Malvern Prep

After getting a taste of the quarterback job last season, this is finally Ryan Nassib’s turn

By Brett LoGiurato

H

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

ere was vindication. Here was transparency, thrill — gushing, even — from Doug Marrone. Here was confirmation, Round 2.

“Ryan Nassib,” Marrone started, “I’m impressed by not only his play, but his leadership and command of the offense. We’re excited about where he is going into the season with him as our No. 1 quarterback.”

And with that, the second day into preseason camp this August, Nassib’s journey to the starting position came to a close — again. Just like that. It had been expected, sure. And Marrone had offered hints throughout the spring, all the while verbally dancing around a definitive answer and leaving the door thisfar open.

Then again, Marrone’s first proclamation seemed definitive, too. And it was quick. Four spring practices. That’s all Marrone needed to name Nassib his starter last season. Of course, “some guy named Paulus, or something, came in,” jokes Gamp Pellegrini, Nassib’s high school coach at Malvern (Pa.) Prep, and shook up Nassib’s plans.

Almost 500 days later, Nassib found himself back where he started. Here he was again. Physically drained from the third day of camp. Mentally

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drained from a year and a half of ups and downs.

And when he learned of Marrone’s comments, he perked up.

“Oh, wow,” Nassib said. “I hadn’t heard he said that. Man, it feels good. You’re told not to think about it, but it’s definitely a little monkey off your back to know you’ve got your coach behind you. It’s a pretty good feeling.”

‘Oh, that must be him’ The scene, Nassib admits, should have been awkward.

“I remember him walking into the locker room,” Nassib said. “I didn’t really know what he looked like, but then when I saw him and everyone around him, I was like, ‘Oh, that must be him.’”

Him — the one most of the Syracuse locker room flocked to last summer, in awe of celebrity — was Greg Paulus.

Nassib’s honeymoon was over. A quarterback competition began. It was a competition that, eventually, Nassib would lose. Marrone, who has been one to make quick decisions with quarterbacks, named Paulus the starter after just one week of preseason camp, relegating Nassib to the bench.

Nassib shrugged it off. ‘It happens,’ he thought.

And he used it as an opportunity. An opportunity to learn the offense for another year. An opportunity to

SEE NASSIB PAGE 14

2009 stats 9 games 422 yards passing 52.9 completion percentage 116.7 quarterback rating 3 touchdowns 1 interception 2009 Highlights Nassib’s first noteworthy action in an Orange uniform came at Penn State. He completed his first career college pass, a 19yard connection to Cody Catalina.

He threw two touchdown passes in a loss to West Virginia and made appearances in every game thereafter.

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In the

THE DELONE CARTER FILE

balance Returning from latest setback, Delone Carter has faith based on how he has reacted before

By Tony Olivero

D

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

elone Carter wrestles with Isaac New-

ton’s third law of motion. Even if it is a simple enough idea, for Carter, simplicity is not a word to use when describing how physics pertain to his life journey and football career.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Reaction is the entity which has engulfed the life and football career of Delone Carter.

Reaction is exactly the thing that became of Carter’s 2010 summer after he was suspended from the university and football team. Carter was independent. He remained in Akron, Ohio, reacting to what occurred last spring.

Carter was suspended from the team for allegedly punching a fellow Syracuse student in a snowball-throwing incident on Feb. 27. Carter was reinstated to the university and football team on Aug. 9 and will not serve a suspension for any games this coming season. His trial in Syracuse City Court is pending.

“It just shapes the man that you are going to be,” Carter said of the suspension. “Whatever comes in front of me, I am going to be able to handle.”

Carter has handled before. Carter has reacted before. He’s not new to situations like this. The past seven long years have been chock-full of Carter reacting.

He believes, whenever given the time to respond, he can mold it into opportunity. It became opportunity for him when he transferred across Akron

“It just shapes the man that you are going to be. Whatever comes in front of me, I am going to be able to handle.”

Delone Carter

SU RUNNING BACK

from Archbishop Hoban High School to Copley High School as a 16-year-old. It became opportunity when coping with his dislocated hip while sitting out the entirety of the 2007 season. It became opportunity this past summer when months spent

Feb. 2004: As a sophomore at Akron’s Archbishop Hoban High School, Carter is behind current Carolina Panther Tyrell Sutton. Carter transfers to Copley High School 15 minutes outside of Akron.

Dec. 2005: A senior at Copley, Carter wins Ohio’s Mr. Football award.

Dec. 2006: Carter is elected to The Sporting News’ freshman All-American team.

March 2007: Carter dislocates his hip in spring practice and misses his entire would-be sophomore season.

Oct. 2 2007: Carter’s son Caden is born. Caden will turn 3 the exact Saturday Carter and Syracuse will have off via a bye this Oct. 2.

away from Syracuse, in Akron, marked the longest period of time Carter has spent with his 2-year-old son, Caden.

Heading into his final season, Carter is Syracuse’s No. 1 weapon and starting running back. In 2009, Carter amassed 1,021 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. And now, Carter is banking on reaction breathing life into liberty yet again.

“He went through some things that he had control over and some that he didn’t,” said Robert White, Carter’s stepfather. “(He has) learned a valuable lesson from all of the things that he has gone through.”

Truth be told, situations like these Carter knows better than almost every other Division-I football player. He has traversed the hurdles before. But coming off the suspension, he knows this is his biggest hurdle yet.

Carter thinks he can succeed, as long as he can stay stable. For Carter, stability is the key. From the makeup and upkeep of his leviathan body, to his role as SU’s main threat, to fatherhood back in Akron. Maintaining a balance has always been Carter’s challenge. It’s an inherent challenge for an inimitable athlete and person.

It’s a test which correlates with what is most important to him: home. Home yields family. Family leads to faith. And faith is where Carter’s mindset and struggle truly resides…

Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

That is the devoutly religious Carter’s favorite Bible passage. He lives by the scripture.

For anyone who knows Carter, his faith is no secret. Syracuse strength and conditioning coach William Hicks — who has been with Carter longer than most of the Syracuse coaching staff — says Carter is thankful through his faith for the natural talent he was born with, the bullish body he had as that 16-year-old at Hoban.

“The good Lord made Delone look the way he does the day we saw him,” Hicks said. “Use his abilities for what would be the best, as opposed to what it would naturally be.

“We put him in natural and unnatural positions.”

Natural and unnatural positions. Hicks simulates them where he and Carter can harness Carter’s God-given attributes in the football team’s weight

SEE NEXT PAGE

Sept. 2009: Carter excels in his revived role as the starter at running back, rushing for more than 1,000 yards.

Feb. 27 2010: Carter allegedly punches a fellow Syracuse student in a snowball-throwing incident outside of Kimmel Food Court.

April 14 2010: Carter is charged with misdemeanor assault after he was questioned along with teammate Ryan Gillum by the Syracuse Police Department for the snowballthrowing incident. Carter does not play in the team’s spring game, and is suspended from the team and university.

Aug. 9, 2010: Carter is reinstated to the university and team. He returns to practice the following day, the second day of SU’s fall camp. It is announced he will not be suspended for any regular season games.

Sept. 4 2010: Carter will start at running back and return just a mile and a half from Hoban, playing in his hometown of Akron in his first game back from the suspension.

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FROM PREVIOUS PAGE room. The natural and unnatural positions Hicks and his partner, Hal Luther, put Carter in are planned. And they are all brewed with the goal of training Carter so that he doesn’t hurt himself.

Because, naturally, he would hurt himself.

He has before. His muscles are just too dense.

He is too much for himself to remain secure.

In the simulated unnatural situations, Carter becomes resolute. His body has been stable since devising these plans after the muscular balance around his hip was lost with the injury in 2007, Hicks said.

The schemed situations start with the Delone-specific training equipment Hicks and Luther bought solely for Carter: rubber bands and Physioballs. The most paramount of the stability workouts consists of a drill where Carter jumps onto the blow-up Physioball, straddles and clamps onto it with the insides of his knees. Carter then attempts to remain upright, clenching the ball with his legs, almost surfing it while training the muscles around his hips.

Luther compares strength coaching to teaching math: Two plus two will always equal four. But when strength coaching, two plus two doesn’t always equal four. When coaching Carter, the sum is ever-changing.

“If you exert a force against it, it’s giving you a force back,” Hicks said. “Part of speed training is what they call ‘ground-force contact’: The force given is the force received. Strike a

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surface, the more force you are going to get out of that surface.”

Metaphorically, the “ground-force contact” in the weight room parlays with the physics and motion of Carter’s football career.

If you exert a force against it, it’s giving you a force back.

The force given is the force received.

And Hicks’ words speak directly to the situations Carter has faced.

His words speak directly to his suspension.

“You kind of put yourself in an unnatural position in a controlled environment,” Hicks said. “So that’s what happens in competition when you are in an uncontrolled environment: You’ve been there before.”

Been there before. Delone, White and Delone’s mother, April Carter-White, have been there before. Many times. Together.

But together is not where they were when Delone reacted to his lowest spiritual and emotional points of the past seven years.

The binding force between Delone and his parents has been an obvious one: the telephone. And conversations over the course of the time since Hoban tell the stories of how and when Delone has been in unnatural situations before.

How he has given a force back after being negatively exerted upon.

Through that medium, Robert, April and Delone have maintained and strengthened the bond forged through Delone’s football career. A

bond conceived all the way back in 1992, when Delone was a 5-year-old about to be hooked on a game he was meant to play.

That game Delone was meant for was almost taken from him prior to his sophomore season at SU in 2007. Via phone, White informed Delone’s Akron football family that that game was perhaps ripped from his son forever due to the injury.

The force had been exerted.

“It’s not good. I just got the phone call I didn’t want to get,” White said to Delone’s coach at Copley, Dan Boarman.

It was the worst-case scenario. Looking back, it was a stark contrast to the cold call Boarman received when Delone was a high school sophomore in 2003. White’s number was unknown, but the outcome was undisputed success for Boarman.

It was that natural physics answer to the strife Delone was facing as a backup running back at Hoban. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and the reaction to Delone’s lack of playing time at Hoban was a transfer. It was an answer to the force Hoban inflicted on Delone.

It was a 16-year-old, 5-foot-10 force Boarman received.

Said Boarman: “(Delone) called me up and he said, ‘I would like to come to Copley.’ I said, ‘Do you live in the district?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘All I can offer you is a fair shake.’”

SEE CARTER PAGE 19

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The

apprentice A

By Andrew L. John SPORTS EDITOR

rms crossed, eyes intently looking into the camera, he fires off one answer after another. Despite his youthful appearance, fall camp is just another familiar routine for Nathaniel Hackett.

For the second time in three days, Hackett is in front of a television camera answering questions about camp and what led him to Syracuse. He’s visibly fatigued from the long day, but answering questions about his new role as quarterbacks coach and offensive play caller at SU keeps his adrenaline pumping.

The dog days of camp haven’t fazed him. Not after all these years.

“Camp has been great,” Hackett calmly says with a smile. “It’s exciting. I would definitely say this is one of the better camps I’ve been involved with.”

For Hackett, that’s saying something. The son of longtime college and NFL coach Paul Hackett, camp is now second nature. Whether it was intently watching the likes of Tom Landry or Joe Montana as a boy or Jon Gruden as a member of his staff in Tampa Bay, Hackett hasn’t missed a camp since he

joe lingeman | asst. photo editor

A football life has prepared Nathaniel Hackett for a leading role in SU’s offense

was 5 years old.

Along the way, he’s been mentored under the tutelage of some of the most brilliant and successful men in football. From his youth to coaching stints of his own, Hackett, now 30, has been exposed to the game his entire life. And now he hopes to put all of it together as he prepares to take over the reigns of the Syracuse offense.

Hackett isn’t fazed by the long hours or the mentally draining rigors of strategizing and film sessions. For him, it’s another way to stay sharp, to another way to increase his ever-expanding knowledge of the game he grew up with.

Each year, Hackett keeps mentally downloading additional information. He adds to the personal database inside his mind. The mind that has drawn rave reviews from his peers.

“With his exposure to the profession at such an early age, he can really observe the game,” said Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens, who worked with Hackett at Stanford. “He’s a really intelligent guy who watches and listens. He’s always observing.”

Despite growing up around the game and playing linebacker at UC Davis, he had aspirations of eventually going to medical school.

Majoring in neurobiology, physiology and behaviors, and inspired by his grandmother, a nurse in Haiti, Hackett endured the grueling task of juggling football and 10-hour labs.

Said Hackett: “If you would have asked me eight years ago when I was in college if I would go into coaching, I’d say, ‘Heck no.’”

It wasn’t until his longtime mentor and linebacker coach, Mark Johnson, prodded Hackett to come and “hang out” while voluntarily coaching the linebackers during the spring of his senior year. The opportunity sparked some intrigue.

“Here was this guy that I worshiped and now here I was coaching with him,” Hackett said. “I got to see this whole other side that I had always seen, but it was as a coach’s kid. I was now a part of it. And it was awesome.”

When an entry-level position opened up at Stanford, a member of the UC Davis staff called then-Stanford head coach Buddy Teevens and made the recommendation. Hackett made his way up to Stanford. Five

For Hackett, coaching wasn’t always in the plan.

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•••

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from previous page minutes later, Teevens said, “I want to hire you.”

“Sometimes you see these guys who you think are going to go a long way in the profession for any number of reasons,” Teevens said. “He’s definitely one of them. He’s got a good sense of people and what needs to be said at the right time, and he impressed me as a young guy with that.”

From there, a passion for football re-emerged.

Connections in the coaching world were re-established. And Hackett’s apprenticeship began.

Hackett stayed on staff as the recruiting coordinator for a year after Stanford transitioned from Teevens to Walt Harris. And it didn’t take long for Harris to see some of the same things Teevens saw in his star pupil.

“With his father, he’s had a great mentor,” Harris said. “But although (Hackett) has a great football background, and mind for the game, I think the biggest thing about him is his enthusiasm and his work ethic. That’s really how he’s been able to continually add to the knowledge he grew up with.”

•••

A dark office. Candles burning. Six computer screens. Headphones on.

Tyrone Wheatley couldn’t hold back. After visiting Hackett scheming in his office in Tampa, the nickname “the mad scientist” was born.

“My first reaction is, ‘What is he cooking up now?’” said Wheatley, now the running backs coach at SU. “The guy has always got something brewing.”

After three years at Stanford, Hackett was now in the NFL. His father, Paul, was now the quarterbacks coach in Tampa Bay under Jon Gruden. As the offensive quality control coach, Hackett was the behind-the-scenes man, the low man on the totem pole. But he didn’t care. The opportunity to be reunited with his father and to be mentored at the right hand of Gruden was too good to pass up.

And the apprenticeship continued.

“Being with a guy like Gruden, who really, really bombards you with a lot of stuff, he was the one who had to decipher a lot of it,” said Wheatley, SU’s running backs coach. “He was in the room drawing up plays and had to decipher exactly what Gruden wanted. For someone to do that, his learning curve had to be steep, but also fast.

“Really fast.”

Hackett fit in seamlessly because of his ability to communicate with and instruct the world-class athletes he associated with every day, his father said.

“Nathaniel’s strength is his ability with people,” Paul Hackett said. “His ability to get along with all kinds of people, particularly athletes and the really, really talented football players and coaches that he’s been around his whole life.”

Hackett said the teaching tools he gained from both Gruden and his father are tools he expects to carry with him to Syracuse.

But eager to learn a new system after two years in Tampa, Hackett moved his young family to Buffalo, N.Y., where he worked for two seasons in the same capacity with the Buffalo Bills.

“He’s always motivated to learn,” Teevens said.

“And when you see a curious mind, that’s the nature. He will always try to expand and increase his awareness and understanding of the game and find different ways to do things.”

•••

In Hackett’s words, the past year had been “one of the roughest years of my life.” It was his second year in Buffalo. The environment, Hackett said, was “really bad.”

The Bills had fired their head coach, Dick Jauron, in the midst of a losing season. The rest of the coaching staff was called to a 9 a.m. meeting on Jan. 4, during which the front office informed them that they too were being replaced.

“I guess some other people are looking for a job, too!” Hackett recalls the notoriously outspoken Terrell Owens saying, as his one-year stint in Buffalo had also abruptly come to an end.

The future for Hackett, his wife and two kids was uncertain. But not for long.

“I sat there and, no kidding, I’d say an hour and a half or two hours later I received a phone call from (Doug Marrone),” Hackett said.

Marrone had received a similar cold call from the New York Jets in 2002, where Hackett’s father was the offensive coordinator. Marrone came to New York to fill the open offensive line coach position. Eventually, he became acquainted with the younger Hackett.

Now, eight years later, it was Marrone making calls as the Syracuse head coach. Marrone had dismissed his spread offense whiz and offensive coordinator, Rob Spence, in late November. For more than a month, Marrone had yet to find the right guy to complement the version of the West Coast offense he had come to know working in New York and with Sean Payton in New Orleans.

With his knowledge of the offense that his father has run throughout his coaching career, along with his two-year experience tossing offensive ideas back and forth in a similar scheme with Gruden in

••• When spring practice began in March, Hackett took control of the quarterback position. Gone was Greg Paulus. Returning were the unproven pair of Ryan Nassib and Charley Loeb.

For weeks, Hackett constantly referred to Marrone to make sure he had the intricacies of the offense perfected. Hackett made sure he and Marrone were inseparable in their philosophies about how the offense would run.

The results were evident during SU’s spring game, when Nassib and Loeb totaled 400 yards and four touchdowns through the air with Hackett calling the plays. The cohesiveness with which Marrone and Hackett now orchestrate the offense was on full display. “(Hackett) and Coach Marrone are really close in their idea of what the system should be,” Nassib said. “So Coach Hackett does a great job of teaching us exactly what Coach Marrone is looking for in his offense. There’s really no gray area there.”

When fall camp opened on Aug. 9, Marrone officially handed the play-calling duties to Hackett indefinitely. And with it, Marrone also handed his trust to his ever-perfecting young protégé.

“He may be a young guy,” Loeb said, “but he has an extensive amount of football knowledge. He’s

THE NATHANIEL HACKETT FILE 2008-09 Buffalo Bills: Offensive Quality Control 2006-07 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Offensive Quality Control 2005 Stanford University: Recruiting Coordinator 2004 Stanford University: Offensive/Defensive Coordinator Assistant 2003 Stanford University: Offensive Assistant Tampa, Hackett appeared to be a natural fit. There was commonality there.

As the two became reacquainted and exchanged pleasantries over the phone, the conversation quickly turned to football.

“He’s like, ‘I don’t know what your situation is there, but why don’t you come in and just talk football,’” Hackett said. “It was such a great feeling because it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, I want to interview you for this.’ It was just, ‘Let’s talk some football. Let’s get to know each other on a different level other than Paul Hackett’s son.’”

Two days later, Hackett was in Syracuse talking football with Marrone, discussing his coaching philosophies, his vision for what a good, successful program should be, and his approach to teaching the game. It was here where his years of preparation really paid off.

“It was great because the things I was saying were the same things he felt,” Hackett said. “And we just kind of clicked.”

And suddenly, after two months of Marrone searching for a play caller, a connection was made.

Hackett was offered a position to coach the SU quarterbacks the next day. Soon after, Hackett made the move from Buffalo to Syracuse to start a new apprenticeship under Marrone.

“You’re talking about someone who’s highly intelligent, both from an academic background and a football background,” Marrone said. “And he has the ability to call plays, so now that’s one aspect of the offense I don’t have to worry about.

“It was a natural fit.”

constantly showing us things that help to simplify and improve upon what we’re doing as an offense.

He wants everything to be done perfectly, done the right way.”

On just the sixth day of fall camp, Hackett was leading the offense through its progressions when he witnessed a glitch. With his hands resting calmly on his hips, he instructed the offense to run the play over again, temperately shouting, “It’s gotta be perfect! I need three perfect plays in a row!”

That’s the mentality Hackett’s bringing to Syracuse. The coaches who have mentored him wouldn’t have it any other way.

From coach’s son to equipment boy, from offensive assistant to low man on the NFL totem pole, Hackett’s football apprenticeship now comes full circle at Syracuse as he embarks for the first time as a full-time position coach. With the pedigree and tutelage he’s had, Hackett’s now ready for the next chapter: From apprentice to master.

“He wanted to move up and become a full-time coach,” Gruden said, “and now that he has this opportunity at Syracuse, I look forward to watching him to see how he responds.”

A student of the game his entire life, after 25 years, the reigns come off Saturday.

“Up until this point in my life, it has definitely been a ride, and it has been a great ride,” Hackett said. “It’s an exciting time in my life, and I’m very excited for the opportunity I have here.” aljohn@syr.edu

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THE DOUG HOGUE FILE No.: 32 Position: Outside linebacker Height: 6-2 Weight: 226 pounds Year: Senior Hometown: Yonkers, N.Y.

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2009 stats 12 games played 72 tackles (48 solo) 16 tackles for losses 9.5 sacks 1 interception 2 fumbles forced 1 fumble recovery

bridget streeter | staff photographer

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Two kind of a

S

By Mark Cooper ASST. COPY EDITOR

yracuse linebacker Doug Hogue’s best friend was on the sidelines watching him play for the first time, so he couldn’t disappoint.

Yes, his teammate Derrell Smith was watching, not playing. He was a spectator seated behind the linebackers bench versus Rutgers, nursing an injured knee. The Orange’s middle linebacker and centerpiece of the defense, Smith got a message from his best friend before the game began.

“Yo ‘Rell, this is for you,” Hogue said.

Hogue filled Smith’s shoes — and then some — as the defensive leader against the Scarlet Knights, setting a new Syracuse single-game record with 6.5 tackles for loss along with 3.5 sacks. His performance earned him a national defensive Player of the Week award.

The performance helped Syracuse to a 31-13 win that showed the potential for what the foot-

THE DERRELL SMITH FILE No.: 25 Position: Middle linebacker Height: 6-1 Weight: 232 pounds Year: Senior Hometown: New Castle, Del. 2009 stats 10 games played 82 tackles (60 solo) 10.5 tackles for losses 6.5 sacks 4 fumbles forced 2 fumble recoveries ball program could become under second-year coach Doug Marrone.

“I’ve never seen (anybody) in person play that well in my life,” Smith said. “It was crazy what he did.”

Best friends, teammates, roommates. Whatever you’d like to call them, Smith and Hogue are the foundation of a Syracuse defense that is expected to be the strong side of the team in 2010. The Orange defense ranked 13th against the run last season, but looks to improve its 85th-ranked pass defense. With a new quarterback and a young offensive unit overall, SU will rely on its defensive unit to keep pressure off of

Both converted running backs, Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith now anchor SU on the other side

the offense.

That starts with Smith and Hogue. They were two of the 51 players named to the Butkus Award watch list, which recognizes the top preseason candidates for the best linebacker in the country.

Said Hogue: “Seeing guys coming back again, with another year on the defense and a firm grip on how the defense is run, we expect to do a lot of big things.”

Smith and Hogue’s strong bond comes from their similar backgrounds. Both linebackers were originally recruited by Syracuse to play running back. Smith wasn’t widely recruited coming out of New Castle, Del. Most big schools only recruit in Delaware when they key on a specific player, said Mike Farrell, a football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. Smith wasn’t that player. With spread offenses and small, fast backs becoming the new fad, Smith had trouble getting noticed with his goal-line back body.

But Syracuse wanted to take a chance on him, and Smith liked SU. Smith is a big Donovan McNabb fan — he wore No. 5 when he played for Hodgson Vo-Tech High School. Soon enough, he was a member of the Orange. In 2007, he got the first carries of his career in the season opener against Washington, rushing for 19 yards on five carries.

He wasn’t destined to play running back, though. Linebacker was his calling. Two games into that sophomore campaign, he flipped over to linebacker. It was tough to move from offense to defense in-season, but Smith’s work ethic made the transition less rocky.

“He did anything that was beneficial to help out the team,” said Frank Moffett, Smith’s high school coach. “I always joke with him that I was grooming him for linebacker. He was a cornerback, and his senior year we changed our scheme and moved him to outside linebacker.”

Hogue was a much more acclaimed recruit out of high school. It was a big recruiting win for the Orange when he chose Syracuse over Penn State. Thus, he came in with high expectations. Those high hopes were validated when he broke off an 82-yard touchdown run against Rutgers in 2008.

Last year was supposed to be Hogue’s transition year. In an effort to get such an athletic player more playing time, he was shifted from running back to linebacker. There were certainly some early struggles, but Smith was there to help ease the transition. He took Hogue under his wing.

“When (Hogue) came over, obviously it was a

little rough at first, coming in to a whole different side of the ball,” Smith said. “(But) I really didn’t help him. He helped himself. You see what he did last year.”

Hogue disagrees. Having Smith as a mentor was one of the contributing factors in a successful 2009 for Hogue. Here was a guy who had been through all of the same situations two years earlier that Hogue was going through now.

Hogue was a quick learner. He made positive strides every week, culminating in his banner day against Rutgers — the same team he burned on the other side of the ball a year earlier.

“I remember Derrell telling Doug, ‘Now you can be the man’ (after Smith’s injury),” SU linebackers coach Dan Conley said. “He was kind of teasing him a bit, but (Doug) had a lot of support from Derrell. I think they’re both going to be leaders of the football team.”

With six freshman linebackers on the squad, it’s obviously important to have leaders like Smith and Hogue. They are mentors for the players who will replace them a year from now.

But it’s not like there was any doubt that these best friends could step up as leaders.

“When we came in, we felt the same way they felt,” Smith said. “We went through the same things (they’re) going through. It’s easy to try and help them out and to teach them the ropes so that they don’t have to go through the troubles we went through when we first got here.”

But even though being a leader is nice, Smith and Hogue know Syracuse needs to start winning now. A long-term plan to build up the program is of no use to Smith and Hogue. Smith is a redshirt senior who has already graduated and is now going for his master’s degree. This is Hogue’s senior year.

They plan on going out with a bang. Whether the season ends in a bowl game or not, Smith and Hogue will be giving it their all to help the Orange reach that stage for the first time since 2004. And even if it may seem like a longshot, these two have beaten the odds their entire career.

“Everyone’s got to catch on fast,” Smith said.

“As leaders, that’s our job — to bring the young guys along to where we think they are right now. To build the whole culture of the program in (the) tune that we don’t give up. We don’t quit. And that you do everything to perfection.

Perfection is the goal.

“Even though it’s probably not attainable, perfection is the goal.” mcooperj@syr.edu

9

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The

natural

Having proven in 2009 he has what it takes, Zach Collaros is aiming for even more in year two

brett hansbau er | university of cincinn ati sport commun ication s

M

By Michael Cohen ASST. COPY EDITOR

ichelle Collaros prepared to put her youngest son, Dimitrios, to bed when he came running into a back room yelling, “Mommy, Zach’s in! Zach’s in!”

She was uneasy. With her stomach in knots, she trudged into the living room of her Steubenville, Ohio, home and looked at the television.

It was Oct. 15, 2009, and her eldest son, Zach, had taken over at quarterback for Cincinnati against South Florida.

“I can’t watch when he’s on TV like that,” Michelle said. “I’m very nervous.”

Seconds later, her stomach flipped again as Zach is sacked on his first play.

Wait a few more seconds, though, and the scene has changed completely.

Michelle’s younger brother, Zach’s uncle, was yelling to her frantically through a cell phone. The Collaros’ home phone rang incessantly in the next room.

Michelle was nervous, but considering her son’s winning pedigree, she shouldn’t have been.

Facing third-and-11, Zach darted up the middle on a quarterback draw and broke away from the Bulls defense, racing 75 yards for a touchdown to put the Bearcats ahead for good.

“I knew from the very beginning that he was going to be a winner,” said Reno Saccoccia, Collaros’ high school football coach. “All he needed was an opportunity.”

Now, less than a year later, Collaros looks to continue his remarkable success as UC’s starter.

An injury to the forearm of starting quarterback Tony Pike pushed Collaros into the spotlight during the heart of the Big East schedule.

Collaros led the Bearcats to a 4-0 record and the No. 5 national ranking during his time as Pike’s replacement. His name may have been new to teams and households across the country, but his success wasn’t. Collaros has been a winner his entire life, boasting a 41-1 record as a starting quarterback in high school.

He showed few weaknesses a year ago and frustrated opposing defenses with his ability to make plays with his arm and his legs. A dual threat in football, yes, but Collaros is also a dual athlete. He flirted briefly with a career as a baseball player in high school and at Cincinnati. Collaros comes in as the clear No. 1 quarterback for the Bearcats and using the athleticism honed through both sports, he is looking to prove his four-game tear last year was no fluke.

“Those four games really helped me into this offseason with people on the team looking to me

in adverse situations,” Collaros said.

Adverse situations often brought out the best in Collaros. Each of his first three touchdowns in 2009 came on third down. In all he posted six scores on third or fourth down.

“I don’t know if it will make a difference whether you can game plan for him or not,” Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone said. “The guy is a playmaker. … I don’t know what he can’t do. I think he’s a heck of a quarterback.”

In his best game as the starter last season, Collaros threw for 480 yards and ran for 75 more against Connecticut on Nov. 7 with three combined touchdowns. The passing total ranks second in school history, and his 555 total yards is now the school record.

Over the course of his four games at the helm, Collaros put up staggering numbers: 1,233 yards passing, eight touchdowns and just one interception and a 78 percent completion rate. The Bearcats beat each opponent by an average of 14 points per game.

“Zach did a great job getting himself ready,” said Pike, now with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. “His performances from last year spoke for themselves. … Zach’s a winner.”

Perhaps Collaros was destined to have that breakout moment. Mark Glaser, his uncle, SEE COLLAROS PAGE 18

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from w i t hin | t he da ily or a nge foo t ba ll guide

Big East predictions 1 2 PITTSBURGH

CONNECTICUT

Projected record: 10-2 (6-1 Big East)

Projected record: 9-3 (5-2 Big East)

Dion Lewis is back after nearly 1,800 yards on the ground last season. Lewis and first-team All-Big East wide receiver Jon Baldwin are the two major options for the offense. The Panther defense should be one of the strongest in the conference after leading the nation in sacks last season and returning defensive end Greg Romeus, who shared Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2009.

The Huskies bring back 17 starters from a team that had a strong finish in 2009, winning its last four games. Running back Jordan Todman ran for nearly 1,200 yards with 14 touchdowns a season ago, despite splitting carries with Andre Dixon. The Huskies’ schedule should help them out as well. They play West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati at home, where they have dropped only three games in the past three years.

Strengths: running back, defense

Strengths: rushing attack, defense

Weaknesses: schedule (travel to Notre Dame, Connecticut and

Weaknesses: wide receivers, inexperience at quarterback

X-factor: Can Tino Sunseri play well at the quarterback position?

X-factor: Can the Huskies play big in their first game of the season against Michigan in Ann Arbor?

Cincinnati)

3

WEST VIRGINIA Projected record: 10-2 (5-2 Big East) Running back Noel Devine, a unanimous All-Big East first-team selection in 2009, had more than 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns a season ago. If he can remain on the field, he is one of the most dynamic players in college football. Devine will get help from wide receiver Jock Sanders, the team’s leading receiver last season. Three firstteam All-Big East defenders return for West Virginia on a unit that brings back 10 starters from last year.

Strengths: running back, defense Weaknesses: quarterback, depth at

wide receiver

X-factor: Could sophomore Tavon

Austin have a breakout season as the slot receiver?

6

RUTGERS Projected record: 6-6 (2-5 Big East) Sophomore quarterback Tom Savage started 11 games last season, setting a conference record for most passing yards by a true freshman. Rutgers also returns its leading rusher from a season ago, Joe Martinek. He and wide receiver Mohamed Sanu will be the two main weapons Savage has to work with. Last year’s defense held opponents to fewer than 20 points per game, but that unit lost its four leading tacklers.

4

SOUTH FLORIDA Projected record: 6-6 (3-4 Big East) New head coach Skip Holtz, who led East Carolina to back-to-back Conference USA titles over the past two seasons, inherits one of the league’s best quarterbacks in B.J. Daniels. The dual-threat runner and passer became the Bulls’ starter in the fourth game of the season last year and ranked second in the league in total offense per game (211.9 ypg). The defense has to replace five All-Big East players, if they hope to win more than four games in the Big East for the first time in school history.

Strengths: quarterback, offensive line

Weaknesses: running back, defense, schedule (games at Florida, Miami and Cincinnati) X-factor: Can the Bulls put together a complete season? They’ve started 5-0 in each of the past three years.

7

SYRACUSE Projected record: 5-7 (1-6 Big East) In its second season under head coach Doug Marrone, the Orange defense will again lead the way. Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith form the best pair of linebackers in the conference. On offense, Ryan Nassib replaces Greg Paulus at quarterback and running back Delone Carter, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season with 11 touchdowns, returns from suspension. Carter combines with Antwon Bailey to create a well-rounded SU backfield.

Strengths: skill positions, schedule (seven games at home)

Strengths: linebackers, running back

Weaknesses: defense, nonconference strength of schedule

nonconference schedule

X-factor: Can a second wide receiver

step up and help Sanu?

Weaknesses: wide receiver, strength of

X-factor: Which wide receiver can step up to fill the hole left by Mike Williams?

5

CINCINNATI Projected record: 9-3 (5-2 Big East) Dual-threat quarterback Zach Collaros takes over for the graduated Tony Pike. His phenomenal stretch as Pike’s replacement last year (4-0 record) has set high expectations in 2010. UC also returns its leading rusher from a year ago in Isaiah Pead and two of its top three receivers in Armon Binns and D.J. Woods. New head coach Butch Jones will use his own version of the spread offense to guide a unit that wants to put a lot of points on the board.

Strengths: skill positions, nonconference schedule Weaknesses: defense X-factor: How well will the players adjust to Jones’ coaching philosophies?

8

LOUISVILLE Projected record: 3-9 (1-6 Big East) For the Cardinals to avoid finishing at the bottom of the Big East, they will need to find an answer at quarterback.

Adam Froman is the starter entering the season, but backups Justin Burke and Will Stein each started at least one game a season ago. A healthy Victor Anderson, the 2008 Big East Rookie of the Year, should be the go-to guy on the offense from the tailback position.

Strengths: coaching staff, running

back

Weaknesses: defense, quarterback X-factor: Can a wide receiver step up and become a consistent threat?

— compiled by Michael Cohen, Asst. Copy Editor

11

Oct. 9

Sept. 25

Sept. 18

Sept. 11

Sept. 4

DATE

PITTSBURGH (Homecoming)

at SOUTH FLORIDA

COLGATE

MAINE

WASHINGTON

at AKRON

OPPONENT

After a favorable slate to start the season, Syracuse will hit a tough, four-game midseason stretch that could ultimately decide its precious postseason fate

Oct. 16 at WEST VIRGINIA

SPORTS@ DA ILYOR A NGE.COM

RECORD

-

-

SCORE

Oct. 23 at CINCINNATI

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Oct. 30

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Maine and SU met for the first time last year in the Carrier Dome.

The Black Bears caused some concern for Orange fans as Maine had a four-point lead at halftime. Maine kept themselves in the game by executing two onside kicks and two fake punts keeping the Orange special teams on their hands for the entirety of the game.

The Black Bears even scored on a deflected pass in a game in which it felt like destiny was on Maineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sideline. However, running back Delone Carter busted the game open with four total touchdowns, three of which came in the second half.

LOUISVILLE

0C 0:A>= All eyes will be on Huskies quarterback Jake Locker in this one.

Locker is one of the most hyped pro-prospects this year, and many draft services have already predicted him to be the No. 1 overall pick in next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NFL Draft.

Making matters even worse for SU is the talented supporting cast Locker has on offense. The Huskies return a 1,000-yard rusher in sophomore Chris Polk, and a second-team All-Pac-10 receiver in Jermaine Kearse (17 yards per catch, 8 TDs) The Orange D will have its hands full.

?8CCB1DA67

Nov. 6

These two programs met for the first time in 2008 at the Carrier Dome. The Zips beat the Orange 42-28 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; giving Akron only itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second win in program history over a BCS school.

Syracuse returned the favor last year as Delone Carter rushed for a season-high 170 yards with three touchdowns in the 28-14 victory. However, the win was nothing to brag about as the Zips finished second to last in the MAC East. Not only did the Zips have to post an ad in the school paper in search of a third-string quarterback, but they also finished with their lowest-leading rusher in more than 50 years (Joe Tuzze, with only 244 yards rushing).

The expectations are low again for the Zips this year. They received the second-lowest number of votes in the MAC preseason media poll.

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Last year the Panthers were two quarters away from a Big East championship and a BCS bowl game. This year they lose the most starters in the conference, including veteran quarterback Bill Stull and Big East co-defensive player of the year Mick Williams.

Common knowledge would tell you to expect a drop off, but the Panthers should still have the Big Eastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most talented team this year. Pittsburgh was picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big East and returns fi ve starters who were All-Big East last season.

at RUTGERS

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Since joining the Big East in 2005, South Florida has gone a perfect 5-0 against Syracuse and has won every game by at least 14 points. Syracuse actually outgained the Bulls last year, but had seven turnovers that accounted for 27 of the Bullsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 34 points.

South Florida only loses one starter on offense this year, but the defense is a different story. The unit will be without six defensive starters from a year ago, fi ve of whom are now in the NFL (George Selvie, Jason Pierre-Paul, Nate Allen, Jerome Murphy, Kion Wilson).

However, talented players such as linebacker Sam Barrington and defensive end Ryne Giddins head a promising young defense that could be even better, despite the major losses.

;>D8BE8;;4

Nov. 13

Syracuse spent months without a final game for the 2010 season and finally announced in April that it would face Colgate. The problem with scheduling Colgate instead of another Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) team is that the Orange will now need a record of 7-5 to be bowl eligible.

Both Colgate and Maine are Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) teams. If an FBS team has multiple victories over FCS, only one of those wins can count toward bowl eligibility.

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game will be the 65th meeting between the two schools and renews a once-popular rivalry. Colgate leads the series, 31-29.

28=28==0C8

Since joining the Big East in 2005, the Cardinals have had quite a roller-coaster ride. The team has gone from an Orange Bowl appearance in 2006 to finishing at the bottom of the conference the past two seasons.

Last year Louisvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only Big East win was over Syracuse, even though it was outgained by 115 yards. This year the Cardinals have a new head coach, Charlie Strong, and lose five of their top six tacklers on defense. The Cardinals will be in rebuilding mode, but it will be interesting to see if Strong can get his players to buy into a winning mentality.

CONNECTICUT

F4BC E8A68=80

The Bearcats have owned the Big East the past two seasons, winning back-to-back conference championships and going undefeated in conference play last season. However, this year Cincinnati is without head coach Brian Kelly, the pulse of the program over his three years as coach.

Replacing Kelly is former Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones. This is Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; second time replacing Kelly, as Jones replaced Kelly when he left Central Michigan to coach the Bearcats. In Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; three years coaching the Chippewas, he won two MAC championships and played three bowl games.

Kelly is a major loss for the Bearcats, but he left the team in good shape and history suggests that a major drop-off wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen in the immediate future.

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Nov. 20

Since the last time the Orange beat the Mountaineers in 2001, these programs have taken two very different trajectories. In 2001, Syracuse finished the year with a 10-3 record and beat Kansas State in the Insight Bowl. Since then, the Orange has landed a 30-65 record with one bowl appearance, while West Virginia has won two BCS bowl games and nearly played for a national title.

This year the Mountaineers return some dynamic playmakers in wide receiver Jock Sanders and running back Noel Devine. They do lose their starting quarterback, but highly touted sophomore Geno Smith showed promise in limited action last year.

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A lot of the attention in this game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; along with every other game this season for the Golden Eagles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; will go to senior Mark Herzlich, the 2008 co-ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Herzlich took last season off after being diagnosed with Ewingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, and will return for his senior season.

But Herzlich isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the only Eagle with a story to tell. Senior offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo has played every game in his BC career and is one of the top offensive line prospects for next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NFL Draft. Castonzo is also a candidate for the Rhodes scholarship and could become the second ACC football player to receive the honor in three years.

BOSTON COLLEGE

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Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Cincinnati get most of the attention for a Big East championship, but by the time this game rolls around, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be surprised if the Huskies are playing for a shot at a BCS bowl berth. Last year, Connecticut quietly had one of the better seasons in the Big East and had a huge win over a formidable SEC foe, South Carolina, in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

The Huskies return 16 starters from a squad that won eight games and lost fi ve extremely close ones by a combined margin of 15 points. If the Huskies can get a couple of those close games to swing their way this year, a Big East championship wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem so far- fetched.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; compiled by staff writer Ryan Marfurt

This rivalry has heated up in the past two years, both on and off the field. When Doug Marrone took over as head coach of the Orange, he placed an immediate emphasis on establishing a recruiting stranglehold over New York state high school football. Syracuseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main competition over these in-state prospects has been Rutgers, and last year Marrone made it clear that he wanted to go right after the Scarlet Knights.

The Orange had their best game of the year, registering nine sacks and holding Rutgers to only 130 total yards in the 31-13 victory. This year expect the Scarlet Knights to be ready.

Nov. 27

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nassib from page 3

study the ups and downs of Greg Paulus, from his good accuracy to the mental lapses of a 23-yearold quarterback who was still inexperienced.

And an opportunity to gain game experience in various packages of Marrone’s offense last season.

“It’s tough to have something like that happen when it’s so important and you worked so hard for

sports@ da ilyor a nge.com

decision. Though admittedly “bummed” about the situation, Nassib took it in stride.

“I trusted in Coach’s decision, and whatever he wanted me to do I was going to do,” Nassib said. “Whatever role he wanted me to have, I was going to take on.”

Nassib’s cerebral attitude is a description that’s echoed by everyone — including Paulus.

Paulus didn’t know what to expect from Nassib after he was named starter. Sometimes, competition brings out the best in people. Sometimes the worst. But Paulus never felt awkward, even

“Man, it feels good. You’re told not to think about it, but it’s definitely a little monkey off your back to know you’ve got your coach behind you. It’s a pretty good feeling.”

Ryan Nassib

SU quarterback

it and then someone else won it out,” said Charley Loeb, SU’s current backup quarterback behind Nassib. “But that’s how it goes sometimes. I think Ryan did his job phenomenally last year. I think he handled the situation really well, even though it didn’t turn out how he wanted it to.”

To current and former players alike, Nassib’s demotion was a surprise. A quick decision from Marrone that had many members of the team skeptical, said Donte Davis, a former Orange receiver who transferred to Hampton at the end of last season.

Working with the first-team offense, Davis had seen almost unlimited potential from Nassib as an unknown redshirt in 2008, when as a member of the scout team he would repeatedly torch the first-team defense.

“From that point on, all the talk was, ‘OK, next year when he’s able to play, he’s going to be pretty damn good,’” Davis said. “He had a great arm and a great feel for the game. That whole offseason going toward the spring, I remember Ryan was one of the hardest workers on the team.”

Then Davis saw Nassib that winter, looking like a player hungry for a quarterback spot that was suddenly wide open with a new coach and a new system.

He saw a quarterback. The first time Syracuse ran its two-minute drill that spring, Nassib drove the offense down the field in three plays.

He saw a leader. One day during winter conditioning, in sub-freezing conditions, Nassib finished strong on the last sprint of the day.

“Give me some more!” he yelled. “We want to run more!”

To Davis, it was simple. Not only was Nassib in charge, but he was also a quarterback that had excelled in the system in the spring and established a rapport with his receivers. Davis said a large contingent of current veterans felt the same way.

“Most definitely, we thought he should have been the guy starting against Minnesota since the spring,” Davis said. “Coach Marrone wanted to do something different, I guess. He had different plans. Ryan was the better fit. He was ready to play. Greg — it wasn’t like he wasn’t good enough, but it was him coming on after not playing football for four years. Ryan had a clear advantage over him. Ryan was closer to the receivers and to the team, and he proved himself during the spring. I feel like he should have had the starting job.”

Still, Davis never saw any adverse reaction from Nassib toward Marrone or Paulus. Day after day, Nassib prepared just like he always had. He still made the throws that drew a wide mouth from Davis and still went about taking an active role in the team. The only thing that had changed was his position on the depth chart. And Nassib himself still doesn’t question Marrone’s

if all the symptoms were there. On the first day, Nassib was working with Paulus and helping him learn the system, no different than before.

“It would be a natural thing where, on some teams, you wouldn’t help out your teammate,” Paulus said. “Some guys wouldn’t do that. But Ryan reached out to me. ‘Anything I can do for you? Need help learning anything?’ That’s the type of guy he is, and those are the types of guys you want to play with.”

Part of the reason Nassib took the transition so well, in fact, was that he had been there before.

‘Oh, that’s Nassib’ Flash back to the fall of 2004. The name of a kid — Nassib — a freshman at Malvern Prep, is already making its way up to head varsity coach Gamp Pellegrini.

He zings throws into tight spots with ease.

He can throw the ball 70 yards. He picks up the system with ease. He forces a fellow freshman quarterback, Nolan Kearney, to transfer to nearby Downingtown High, knowing that he’ll never get a chance to start at Malvern.

Ian Mitchell, then a junior quarterback slated to be the starter at Malvern in 2006, first notices the kid when partaking in the tradition of the varsity team watching the freshman team’s games. Mitchell sees the kid tower over his high school-skinny offensive linemen.

Mitchell sees a quarterback. There’s the time when Nassib flung a 15- or 20-yard out pattern for a touchdown with “unbelievable” precision.

He sees a leader. After that same touchdown, Mitchell remembers the first thing Nassib did.

Cerebral as always, he walked to the sideline and thanked his offensive line. Another quarterback might run up and hug his wide receiver in the end zone. But not Nassib.

“Who is this kid?” Mitchell asks a teammate.

“Oh, that’s Nassib.”

And so, a quarterback competition is born the following year. Nassib impresses in camp, to the point where former teammate and running back Chris Layne says he should have started.

But Mitchell is no slouch. He’ll go on to set multiple program records at Division-III Dickinson College. Eventually, experience and familiarity with the offense wins out, as Pellegrini chooses Mitchell for the job.

And Nassib doesn’t complain. He studies Mitchell, a scrambler. At the beginning of the year, he is worried about memorizing routes and checks. At the end, he is learning little intricacies like protection schemes.

“He wanted to start sophomore year,” said Phil Congialdi, a former linebacker at Malvern who was a co-captain with Nassib and Layne.

“But he just took all the advice and the experience that the quarterback in front of him — being

either Paulus or Mitchell — he took what they said and absorbed everything he saw from what they did right and what they did wrong.”

So Nassib waits and bides his time. There are little lessons he picks up along the way that he takes with him, that make him a better quarterback.

There was the first day of camp in 2006, when Mitchell had departed and Nassib was the unquestioned starter. Still, as Pellegrini showed up to camp, Nassib was the first one he remembers seeing.

And there was the time Malvern was supposed to kill Episcopal Academy. They were down by at least two touchdowns at halftime, Congialdi recalls, and players from both sides of the field pointed fingers at each other in blame.

Not Nassib. No, Nassib, always cerebral, calmed everyone down. Come the second half, he was poised, throwing two long touchdowns and leading Malvern back, keeping his team undefeated.

“One thing I saw at Malvern his sophomore year was that even though he was willing to take the backup role and willing to learn, he was always itching to play,” Mitchell said. “And I feel like he was probably itching to play a lot last year when Paulus was the starter. It was the same situation. That willingness to just be a great quarterback and put everything on the line is going to turn him into a great Division-I quarterback.”

‘The first guy I spoke to’ After every possession last season, whether it ended in a touchdown, interception or a threeand-out, Greg Paulus would stroll to the sidelines, looking for the same person.

Not a player that was on the field with him.

Not then-offensive coordinator Rob Spence. Not even Doug Marrone.

He would look for Ryan Nassib.

“It happened after every possession,” Paulus said. “He was the first guy I usually spoke to. “‘Hey, what’d you see?’ He’d say, ‘This cornerback was off. This linebacker was blitzing. This guy was dropping.’ He was always the first guy I’d talk to, just to see what he saw. Then I’d get on the phone and try to figure out different ways to combat what the defense was doing.”

The maturation of Nassib continued through a season as Paulus’ backup. Nassib and Paulus bounced ideas off each other, corrected each other, made suggestions after each series in practice and in games, even roomed together on each of SU’s road trips.

Over time, Nassib realized he and Paulus were more similar than meets the eye. Nearly four years separate the two signal callers. But to Nassib, he and Paulus were both freshmen on the field, as Nassib got his first taste of more than the scout team and Paulus got his first taste of football since high school.

So while Nassib took notice of Paulus’ strengths — his accuracy and his locker room management — he also noticed the weaknesses, the “freshman mistakes” from a fifth-year player.

“He was a five-year college guy,” Nassib said of Paulus, “but he was a freshman on the field.

He hadn’t played football in a while. … It’s no different than any other freshman. There are freshman mistakes. There are growing pains that really any quarterback thrown in that young and inexperienced has to go through.”

And Nassib got experience. Marrone placed him in certain offensive sets, believing Nassib was a better fit for certain packages. He played against Big Ten foes Minnesota and Northwestern. He got experience versus the upper echelon of the Big East against West Virginia. He was placed in a hostile road environment at Penn State.

And when he came off the field, Paulus would seek him out.

“I think us being together allowed him to see the preparation, allowed him to really under-

“It would be a natural thing where, on some teams, you wouldn’t help out your teammate.

Some guys wouldn’t do that. But Ryan reached out to me. ‘Anything I can do for you?

Need help learning anything?’ That’s the type of guy he is, and those are the types of guys you want to play with.”

Greg Paulus

Former SU quarterback

stand that you can always push yourself and you can always stretch your limits,” Paulus said.

“I’m hoping that I did teach him a lot, whether that was how to handle a little bit of adversity or some time of leadership or something I did that might help him down the road. … I think that we will see a more confident Ryan Nassib coming into this year.”

Just like he had once before, Nassib attempted to carry the lessons learned into the offseason.

His summer was spent in Syracuse, learning a somewhat altered playbook with the arrival of new quarterbacks coach and offensive play caller Nathaniel Hackett, to the point where, already, Nassib corrects Hackett on the most specific elements of certain plays. He filled his body out through long days in the gym, to the point where running back Antwon Bailey saw strength and conditioning coach Will Hicks telling Nassib to go home. He organized captain practices with his wide receivers and defensive backs, so routes and timing would be second nature come camp.

Last year, Nassib was a first-year full of jitters.

This year, no more. With Paulus gone, it was his turn. And he wasn’t taking any chances.

“I think we’ve got a great chance of being a very, very good team here,” Hackett said. “And it’s going to start, and end, with Ryan. So he’s got to be the guy that has to get it going and play.

He understands the pressure that’s there. That’s what that position asks for. It’s a high-pressure position, and he loves it. He’s wrapped his arms around it, and he’s running with it.” *** The game of football, Nassib has noticed, has a tendency to weave elements together to create a whole.

Play calls, audibles of “Red 80!” “Red 80!” blocking, route running and throws come together to create a pass play. Plays come together to create the outcome of games. Games come together to create seasons.

And experiences come together to create the player — the Ryan Nassib preparing for his first start at Akron. Experiences from his time bided at Malvern to his time bided behind Paulus, all the way to the monkey off his back, the exhale, as Marrone sang his praises.

“I love how everything intertwines,” Nassib said. “Pay attention to everything. It all just comes together.” bplogiur@syr.edu

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from w i t hin | t he da ily or a nge foo t ba ll guide

Andrew L. John (6-6)

Brett LoGiurato (5-7)

Tony Olivero (5-7)

Four wins a year ago may not have been impressive on paper, but anyone who paid attention could see that a foundation was being set. Fast-forward to this season and the progress is evident. The defense, which made tremendous strides last year, is now even better, and deeper. Doug Marrone has transitioned to an offense he’s more comfortable with, including a sharp quarterback who could have started last year and one of the top running backs in the Big East.

For the casual observer, predicting Syracuse to finish at .500 might sound a little optimistic. Not so fast.

If one thing has been evident at fall camp, it’s that the players not only understand Marrone’s concepts better than they did a year ago, but that there’s also a sense of urgency. So in Year Two under Marrone, expect this squad to inch its way closer to that elusive bowl bid.

The deciding four games in the second year of the Doug Marrone era will come after Syracuse likely has built a 3-1 cushion to start the season.

Four straight games — three on the road — against the conference’s top four teams. Marrone’s second season on the job should be another of marked improvement and increased contention in the Big East, leading to an ever-important third year that may make or break Marrone’s job.

But this year? Syracuse does not have a Heisman candidate in Pittsburgh’s Dion Lewis or a dynamic playmaker in West Virginia’s Noel Devine, and it does have an alarming lack of overall depth at certain positions that will keep it from competing in a bowl game and for the Big East crown.

There will be expected wins. There will be some surprises (Boston College) and near-upsets along the way.

But in the end, it’s still a process — a plan — and it’s not complete.

Better? Oh, yes. Bowl bound? No. The offensive backfield is better. The O-Line is better. The defense is better. The return game is better. But sometimes, better isn’t enough. This season will be one of those times. It will reflect in just one more win from 2009, and that may put fans back on edge. You can thank the road trips for that. Akron, Maine and Colgate will be the easiest wins the Orange has had in a long time. This is a legitimate BCS conference team and teams of that trio’s caliber will not challenge the 2010 Orange. But the Orange will still be just an average team in this conference. A lack of depth is a lack of depth. With just one failed block, this team could fall to the bottom of the Big East … once again. But the good news is, with its A-squad, this team is bowl-capable.

Very bowl capable. But they won’t get there because they are too thin depth-wise.

W LoGiurato W Olivero W John

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Beat writer predictions

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In the running

Alabama’s Ingram is back to defend his Heisman Trophy, but faces serious competition TERRELLE PRYOR Quarterback Junior Ohio State

2009: 167-of-295, 2,094 yards, 25 total touchdowns, 11 interceptions Rose Bowl MVP It has taken some time for Pryor’s quarterback skills to catch up with his athleticism, but the junior seemed to turn a corner toward the end of last season, capping it off with his MVP performance in the Rose Bowl. If Pryor can exceed his once-again soaring expectations, he may put himself in position for a team championship and for the Heisman.

DION LEWIS Running back Sophomore Pittsburgh

MARK INGRAM Running back Junior Alabama

2009: 271 carries, 1,658 yards, 17 touchdowns, Heisman Trophy winner Ingram is looking to join Archie Griffin (Ohio State) as the only person to win two Heismans, and he starts out as the clear favorite for the award. But his biggest obstacle may be his own teammate, sophomore running back Trent Richardson. An increased role this year for Richardson means fewer touches for Ingram.

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Alabama Ohio State Boise State Florida Texas TCU Oklahoma Nebraska Iowa Virginia Tech Oregon Wisconsin Miami (FL) USC Pittsburgh Georgia Tech Arkansas North Carolina Penn State Florida State LSU Auburn Georgia Oregon State West Virginia

RYAN MALLETT Quarterback Junior Arkansas

2009: 325 carries, 1,799 yards, 17 touchdowns Big East Offensive Player of the Year Lewis may have had better numbers than Mark Ingram in 2009, but Alabama won the national championship while Pittsburgh didn’t even win the Big East. The Panthers appear poised to ride their workhorse to a conference title, which could set Lewis up as the fourth consecutive sophomore to take home the Heisman.

2009: 225-of-403, 3,624 yards, 30 touchdowns, 7 interceptions Liberty Bowl MVP Mallett set or tied 16 Arkansas passing records in 2009, and his big arm has NFL scouts drooling. If the Michigan transfer can navigate his way through an SEC schedule that includes a home matchup with No. 1 Alabama, he could propel himself to serious Heisman contention.

CASE KEENUM Quarterback Senior Houston

2009: 492-of-700, 5,671 yards, 44 touchdowns, 15 interceptions Conference USA MVP Barring injury, Keenum will become the NCAA’s career leader for passing yards, which will give him more national attention than a quarterback from an unranked mid-major typically receives. If his higher-ranked competition falters, Keenum’s video game-like numbers combined with a one- or two-loss season could push the senior to the top of the Heisman list.

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KELLEN MOORE Quarterback Junior Boise State

2009: 277-of-431, 3,536 yards, 39 touchdowns, 3 interceptions WAC Offensive Player of the Year Now that Moore’s Broncos have a more than realistic opportunity to crash the national championship game thanks to their No. 3 ranking in the AP poll, Moore should get some serious looks as a Heisman candidate. If that happens and the junior continues his mistake-free play, he could become the first non-BCS Heisman winner since Ty Detmer (BYU) in 1990.

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The nextstep

pho to cou rtes y of utah athl etic com mun icat ions

Moving on up in a summer full of conference realignment, Utah shifted into a BCS conference after years of knocking on the door

C

By Zach Brown STAFF WRITER

hris Hill already knew his decision.

Hill, Utah’s athletic director, knew it even when the rest of the country was honing in on the Big 12 and rumors were swirling around the conference. He knew it even after Boise State had joined the Mountain West, adding another quality mid-major to the conference. And Hill certainly knew what the decision would be before the offer was finally on the table.

So when the Pac-10 did turn to Utah and extend an invitation to join the conference on June 16, Hill knew the Utes would say yes. The university’s board of trustees had already given him and Utah President Michael Young the power to make the decision, and that decision would be to join.

“Prior to (the offer), we knew that if we were invited, we were going to accept unless there was something that came in the way that we didn’t anticipate,” Hill said.

Starting in 2011, Utah will no longer be a member of the non-BCS Mountain West Conference. Instead, it will be fighting to earn an automatic BCS bowl birth by winning what will become the Pac-12. For the past decade, Utah has been one of the upper-echelon midmajors and has managed to break into BCS bowls with undefeated seasons in 2004 and 2008. But starting next year, simply winning its conference gives the Utes at least a BCS birth while an undefeated season could

mean a shot at a national championship, something that had a major influence on the decision to change conferences.

“I just think the prestige of the (Pac-10) both academically and athletically, their championship reputation, being a part of an automatic BCS league, all those things added up,” Hill said. “Winner of the Pac-12 now goes to the Rose Bowl. That’s a huge, huge thing for any university to have in front of themselves as a possibility.”

Pac-10 Chief Operating Officer Kevin Weiberg said that the conference looked at a number of factors in adding a new school, including academic compatibility, connections with Pac-10 schools and the strength of the athletic programs.

Utah fit all the criteria and then some. One of the biggest assets the Pac-10 saw in the school was its geography. The school’s proximity to Salt Lake City adds another major market to the conference.

“We felt it was important that the dynamic metropolitan areas be part of the sphere of influence that these institutions have, and we think in both Salt Lake City and Denver, those are two dynamic metropolitan areas that are very much part of the mix,” Weiberg said, referring to Utah and the Pac-10’s other new member, Colorado.

And even though Utah isn’t officially a member of the conference yet, Hill said the move is already paying dividends for the university. Utah’s yearly schedule

will no longer include conference matchups with Colorado State, San Diego State and Wyoming but instead will have league games with the likes of Oregon, Southern California and UCLA. That will mean more prime-time games and, in turn, will help the recruiting process. Some of the coaching staff have told Hill that they can already see changes, despite the news being just 2 months old.

“Some of our coaches have expressed the fact that they feel that there’s more interest in athletes that they didn’t see it in before,” Hill said. “One of the challenges we’ve always faced is that in the Mountain West, we’re a non-BCS league and going to the Pac-10, we would be. We think that it’s made an affect already and will continue to.”

But the Mountain West may only be a few years away from earning recognition as a BCS conference itself. Its membership already includes No. 6 Texas Christian and a Brigham Young team that finished ranked No. 12 last year.

No. 3 Boise State, another school considered among the upper-echelon mid-majors, accepted an invitation to the Mountain West on June 11. Nevada and Fresno State followed their Western Athletic Conference counterpart and joined the MWC in August.

Despite all the changes made by the Mountain West, Hill said none of it would have changed Utah’s move into the Pac-10. There was nothing the MWC could do

SEE UTAH PAGE 18

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collaros f rom page 10

remembers high school coaches sitting up on a hill, intently watching Collaros when he was only in the seventh grade.

While at Steubenville High School in Ohio, Collaros broke every major passing record and won back-to-back state titles in his junior and senior seasons. And he never left the field. When he wasn’t under center, Collaros was a starting cornerback for his final three years. When he wasn’t on offense or defense, he was returning kicks on special teams. He took three kicks back for scores in his senior year alone.

The way Collaros became Steubenville’s quarterback had Saccoccia thinking déjà vu while watching that long touchdown run against South Florida.

“He was in a playoff game, and our quarterback went down,” Saccoccia said. “Zach came in and the third play he took it for a 72-yard touchdown run on a draw, the same as he did against USF.” “It was eerie the way that happened.”

His 41-1 record in high school includes one season as quarterback of the freshman team.

It was during that year, 2003, to be exact, that Collaros suffered his last loss as a starting quarterback.

Playing as a freshman against the junior varsity team from John Marshall High School, Collaros vividly remembers that feeling of defeat.

“They scored on a trick play, and they beat us (on the final drive),” he said. “It still hurts.

Me and my friends still talk about that stuff.

That was our only loss in any sport.”

It’s not surprising for that one loss to be firmly planted in Collaros’ mind. After all, it’s his only blemish in more than six years.

How is that possible?

Anyone who knows him chalks it up to his unparalleled competitive nature.

“Ever since he was young he had such a drive to win,” Collaros’ uncle, Mark Glaser said. “It was unbelievable. You’d have to almost tell him that it was OK to lose. He didn’t get that.”

This wasn’t just true for sports, Glaser said.

Any card game with his family had the same stakes as football.

“Handling losses is not something you want to be good at,” Collaros said, smiling.

Saccoccia said Collaros gets his competitive streak from his mother. Her assessment of her son’s lone high school defeat shows that Saccoccia is probably right.

“In this house we didn’t count that game, because they were junior varsity and our kids were just freshmen,” she said.

Despite all the accolades and awards Collaros was earning on the football field — he was the Ohio Division III Player of the Year in 2006 and named an EA Sports All-American Third Team — baseball presented the more likely path for him to follow.

As a talented high school shortstop, he committed to play baseball at Kent State like a number of former Steubenville players.

“He was playing a position where he stood out,” said Scott Stricklin, the Kent State head baseball coach. “Everything you see him do in the pocket and then scrambling as a quarterback, he did the same thing as a shortstop.”

Eventually, that football talent paid off, catching the eye of coaches in the Big East such as former UC head coach Brian Kelly and his staff.

That led to a better-late-than-never scholarship offer to play quarterback in the Big East, something that couldn’t be passed up. So he backed out of his commitment to Kent State.

“We recruited him out of high school and we

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missed on him,” Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said. “You talk about intangibles and being a winner. …They don’t come any better than Zach Collaros.”

Sweetening the Cincinnati offer was the chance to play baseball at the school as well.

Collaros went out for the Bearcats baseball team in the spring of 2009, playing in 36 games and hitting .204.

Besides the pure enjoyment of being a twosport athlete at UC, Collaros said baseball actually helped him improve as a quarterback.

“Footwork especially carries over from baseball to football,” he said. “Turning a double play is kind of like throwing a quick slant. (You practice) different arm angles, too. You might have to sidearm it sometimes instead of throwing it over the top. There’s a lot of things that help out in football.”

Most people already had an idea that his time as a two-sport athlete would be brief, UC head baseball coach Brian Cleary said. But that breakout run against South Florida cut it even shorter than he anticipated.

“As I’m watching him break that 75-yard run, I’m cheering for him to get in the end zone,” he said. “And as soon as he does, I kind of realize, ‘Holy cow, there goes his baseball career.’”

Collaros opted not to play baseball in the spring of 2010 in order to learn the football playbook under new head coach Butch Jones.

With all of his time focused on improving during the offseason, Collaros can’t wait to return to the field, especially with the Bearcats getting back their leading rusher, two of their topthree receivers and two All-Big East offensive guards.

One of those receivers is the 6-foot-3 Armon Binns, with whom Collaros had special chemistry a year ago. Binns was on the receiving end of half of Collaros’ passing touchdowns and 30 percent of his passing yards.

“The guy has got eyes in the back of his head for me,” Binns said. “He can see me no matter where I’m at on the field.”

In Collaros’ mind, a successful season would be winning all 13 games. If that’s going to happen, the connection with Binns must flourish once again.

Not one coach denied Collaros’ talents as a player. Now it’s time to see if they can come up with a game plan to stop him.

“Now he is ready for the team to be his this year,” Pike said. “He has done all of the work to get himself there, and I expect big things from him this year.” mjcohe02@syr.edu

utah

f r o m pa g e 17

to prevent it.

“We knew where we felt would be the best fit for us, and we needed to move in that direction,” Hill said. “Our decision is really independent of anything that would’ve happened with the Mountain West.”

MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson said that once a team decides to leave, there’s not much the conference would or could do to prevent it.

“We have the most liberal exit policy probably of any conference in the country,” he said. “We enjoy the relationship with each other, and if it’s something that’s not working for whatever reason, you simply give us notice, we wish you the very best, you finish up the upcoming academic year and you move forward, as Utah did.”

So next season, it’s on to the Pac-10, where Weiberg expects the Utes to be competitive immediately based on their recent history, which includes a Fiesta Bowl win in 2005 and a Sugar Bowl win in 2009 that led to the school’s No. 2 ranking in the season’s final poll.

But even with that success, Weiberg also added that it would be somewhat surprising to see Utah come in and run through the conference.

“I think it’s always surprising if a team is able to come into a conference and excel at the absolute highest level,” he said. “They certainly are capable of doing that kind of thing, but I think it would be a surprise just because everything’s new about it. You’re traveling to new places to play, and it’s a new experience across the board. It’s just hard in that environment to have an expectation that you’re going to come in and run the table.”

In addition to the new atmospheres, Hill acknowledged that the spotlight would be shining a little brighter on the Utes in coming years. They have to prove themselves in a BCS conference week in and week out.

Hill is optimistic, though, that if the team can just focus on itself instead of worrying about external factors, it can finally shed that dreaded label of “mid-major” and, at the same time, become a factor in a major conference.

“Pressure, as most coaches would tell you, they put more pressure on themselves than anybody else,” he said. “We’re going to feel some pressure, but mainly from within so that we can perform. I think we’ve had some good background in doing well against BCS schools.

“The reality is, we wouldn’t be doing this unless we felt that we could compete. Our goal is always to have the best teams we can have and not worry about anything else.” zjbrown@syr.edu

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carter from page 5

With that, Delone’s career attained security at Copley. It took off, as he became Ohio’s Mr. Football in 2005. A freshman All-American year at SU in 2006 followed.

Then came the injury, and the continuation of the bond forged via phone communication.

The kid who had now grown into a man — the kid Boarman himself proclaims he wishes was his own son — was hurt.

Delone was down and out. But because of the unity between the Akron football family, Delone bounced back. He became SU’s starting running back once again in 2009, eliciting fear out of opposing Big East defenses. Louisville’s defense took a poll at the end of the year to choose the toughest opposing running back to face in the conference. They chose Carter.

But on April 14, Carter hit his lowest point yet. Carter and teammate Ryan Gillum were questioned by the Syracuse Police Department about the alleged incident, and Carter was charged with misdemeanor assault. The suspension followed.

from w i t hin | t he da ily or a nge foo t ba ll guide

Soon, he was back in Akron. Back home, searching for his reaction again.

But what Carter found as the force which helped him recover this last time was actually the closest thing to himself.

Pap Pap and Mi Mi were there for Carter when he returned to Akron in April. They were there with the person responsible for those nicknames for Robert White and April CarterWhite, respectively — Caden.

Caden, Delone, Pap Pap and Mi Mi were back together. No telephone needed.

But a telephone was needed on Aug. 9, shortly after noon. That is when Delone called White to inform his father that he was officially reinstated.

Delone was back, and White needed to inform one person. An inaugural member of the phone chain: Doug Marrone.

“The reason that I felt to call Coach Marrone as quickly as I did was because Marrone was very, very supportive of my son,” White said.

With the phone call, Carter was on his way back to Syracuse, leaving Caden behind once again. But it came after an impromptu summer of balance, of father and son home in Akron.

If you ask White, despite the uncertainty around the suspension, his son was at his most

“There will be no more butterflies.

I’m too old for that. I am going to be so prepared that I can’t even get nervous. I’m not taking chances.

I have to be all the way ready.”

Delone Carter

SU running back

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“You kind of put yourself in an unnatural position in a controlled environment. So that’s what happens in competition when you are in an uncontrolled environment: You’ve been there before.”

William Hicks

SU strength and conditioning coach

stable with his son.

In any bout between an action and a reaction, balance is everything. The stability was a silver lining for Delone with Caden.

“No one could take that bond from him,” White said. “(Before the summer) it was a lot about Pap Pap and Mi Mi. Now, when Delone gets up to move, Caden is in his footsteps.”

Caden turns 3 on Oct. 2, the same Saturday his father will be off on an SU bye week.

The birthday celebration will come about a month after Carter’s homecoming Saturday, when Akron hosts Syracuse.

Caden, Pap Pap and Mi Mi will get to see their father and son return from the suspension just a mile and a half down Akron’s East Exchange Street from Hoban.

Carter will have come full circle, reacting subconsciously to the sudden actions of wouldbe tacklers on an Akron football field, just like he did seven years earlier as that 16-year-old at Hoban.

“Akron is King,” Carter said, pointing to a tattoo of Ohio on his arm. “That is where my heart is… somewhere I always feel safe going.”

But for Carter, now, he is able to grasp everything

that has occurred within these last seven years better than he could have as a 16-year-old. Everything that has happened is a small part of it all.

With his last go-around at SU starting, it will be more of the same for Carter.

He has done it before. He does it every day in the weight room with Hicks and Luther. The ground is where it starts. And again, Carter has recovered from the initial blow of that “ground force contact,” which divulges his story.

But, come Saturday, Carter believes he is done letting chance creep back into his life. He knows dads have to take fewer chances as time goes on.

And once it’s all over Saturday, the ground will be the place Carter will look toward to find his solution to it all. Anew.

There, Caden Carter will assuredly be smiling up at Dad. It’s the one reaction Dad is looking forward to the most.

“There will be no more butterflies. I’m too old for that,” Carter said. “I am going to be so prepared that I can’t even be nervous. I’m not taking chances. I have to be all the way ready.” aolivero@syr.edu

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The shakedown Movement seen within varying units across depth chart as Orange prep for Zips

QUARTERBACK Ryan Nassib played sparingly behind starter Greg Paulus a year ago, but now he’s the clear-cut starter heading into Week 1. Some thought Nassib should’ve started last year and now, the junior feels even more confident in Doug Marrone’s offense. Sophomore Charley Loeb looks as if he has solidified himself as the No. 2 quarterback, but don’t be surprised if Marrone puts together a few packages for freshman John Kinder, too. He has the speed and athleticism to create defensive headaches.

RUNNING BACK After leading the team in rushing a year ago (1,021 yards and 11 touchdowns), Delone Carter returns for his senior season and will be called upon to lead the backfield.

Joining him will be junior Antwon Bailey, whom Marrone said will be expected to provide a huge portion of the offensive production as well.

Bailey is a shifty back who offers a change of pace from Carter’s classic running back style. Freshman PrinceTyson Gulley impressed in fall camp and should get time as the third back.

OFFENSIVE LINE There should be a lot of improvement from this unit as it enters a second season under Marrone, an expert on offensive line play. Sophomore Justin Pugh and junior Michael Hay will likely be the starters at the tackle positions, while Zack Chibane and Andrew Tiller head up the guard positions. Look to see a more mobile Tiller, who lost 70 pounds during the offseason. Solidifying the middle will be the returning All-Big East offensive linemen Ryan Bartholomew, who will transition to the center position.

TIGHT END Heading into the season, this position looks to be Marrone’s deepest. As many as five tight ends, led by seniors Nick Provo and Jose Cruz, are expected to see playing time this season. Provo was the starter last year before going down with an injury. Junior David Stevens, freshman Beckett Wales and walk-on Thomas Trendowski have had a solid camp session and should play a role this season. Expect Wales and Cruz to catch a lot of passes and Trendowski and Stevens to help with the bulk of the blocking.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Senior All-Big East selection Rob Long is SU’s punter, again.

Long returns for his final go-round as one of the best punters in the conference. The placekicking spot, on the other hand, may be in question. Returning starter Ryan Lichtenstein has had some competition from freshman Ross Krautman in camp. Max Leo will handle long snapping duties this year while freshmen Prince-Tyson Gulley and Steve Rene should handle punt returning duties. The kick returning situation is a little murky, but both Mike Holmes and Dorian Graham should receive some reps.

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from w i t hin | t he da ily or a nge foo t ba ll guide

WIDE RECEIVER The top three wideouts appear to be set with Alec Lemon, Van Chew and Hofstra transfer Aaron Weaver. During fall camp, Marrone kept his eyes open for that No. 4 receiver, but nobody has claimed it yet. Marcus Sales, walkon Cody Morgan and blazing fast converted safety Dorian Graham are all in the mix for the final spot, as are a few tight ends that are expected to shift out wide from time to time.

DEFENSIVE LINE Despite the loss of Art Jones, who’s now with the Baltimore Ravens, this unit is expected to be one of the most improved on the team this year. New defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh, a former All-SEC lineman, has three starters returning in ends Chandler Jones, Mikhail Marinovich and tackle Andrew Lewis. Jones and Marinovich combined for 20 starts and 13.5 tackles for loss last season. At tackle, it’s likely going to be a three-man, allsenior rotation that includes Lewis, Bud Tribbey and Anthony Perkins.

DEFENSIVE BACKS The Orange is set with experienced talent here, with multiple players at both cornerback and safety with starting experience. Senior Mike Holmes has been switched back to cornerback after playing safety a year ago.

Da’Mon Merkerson will likely get the start at the other corner position, while Kevyn Scott is expected to see time as well. Sophomores Phillip and Shamarko Thomas will get the nod at the safety positions after impressive freshman campaigns, while returning starter Max Suter, who is recovering from an elbow injury, will see time as well in varying packages. Freshman Jeremi Wilkes and junior Olando Fisher will provide additional depth in the secondary.

LINEBACKERS This year, five Big East players were named to the Butkus Award watch list, which honors the nation’s top linebackers. Two players, seniors Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue, were from Syracuse. Smith and Hogue combined for 154 tackles, 26.5 tackles for loss and six forced fumbles in 2009. At the third starting spot, freshman Marquis Spruill has impressed enough to be named the starter, with senior Ryan Gillum providing additional depth. Most of the reps for this unit will be spread among these four, though multiple youngsters have shown promise, including Malcolm Cater and Brice Hawkes.

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No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 16 17 18 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 40 41 42 43 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 62 65 66 67 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 78 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

Name Phillip Thomas Olando Fisher Delone Carter Malcolm Cater Marcus Sales Da’Mon Merkerson Jonny Miller Cody Catalina Ri’Shard Anderson Dorian Graham Marquis Spruill Ryan Nassib Deon Goggins John Kinder Alec Lemon Dom Anene James Jarrett Charley Loeb Keon Lyn Nick Raven Ryan Lichtenstein Brice Hawkes Shamarko Thomas Adrian Fleming Prince-Tyson Gulley Max Suter Derrell Smith Kevyn Scott Jeremi Wilkes Antwon Bailey Steve Rene Clay Cleveland Colin Reno Doug Hogue Dan Vaughan Tombe Kose Mike Holmes George Mayes Ross Krautman Ryan Ahern Ricky Azzoto Zachary McCarrell Joe Nassib Ryan Gillum Shane Kimmel Mario Tull Jerome Smith Robert Nieves Rob Long Carl Cutler Adam Harris Femi Aliyu Andrew Lewis Ollie Haney Chad Battles Mikhail Marinovich Anthony Perkins Cory Boatman Max Leo Lewellyn Coker Macky MacPherson Sean Hickey Andrew Phillips Jarel Lowery Andrew Tiller Justin Pugh Robert Welsh Ryan Bartholomew Adam Rosner Nick Lepak Nicholas Pedrotti Michael Hay Zack Chibane Ian Allport Austin Lane Nick Provo Cody Morgan Van Chew Kyle Ishman Michael Acchione Jose Cruz David Stevens Aaron Weaver Jarrod West Thomas Trendowski Jared Kimmel Brandon Sharpe Charlie Copa Micah Robinson Bud Tribbey Torrey Ball Jay Bromley Beckett Wales Max Beaulieu Chandler Jones

Pos. FS SS RB LB WR CB QB TE CB WR LB QB DL QB WR CB QB QB DB QB K LB SS WR RB SS LB CB DB RB WR FB WR LB LB FB CB CB K FS RB S CB LB FB LB RB FB P FB LB LB DT NT DE DE DT DT LS LB C OL OT OG OT OG DL C OG C OL OT OG OT OL TE WR WR WR WR TE TE WR WR TE DE DE TE DL DT DE DE TE DE DE

Ht. 6-0 5-11 5-10 6-1 6-0 6-1 6-1 6-3 6-0 5-11 6-2 6-2 6-3 6-2 6-2 6-1 6-2 6-4 6-1 6-3 5-10 6-0 5-10 6-3 5-9 5-11 6-1 5-11 5-9 5-8 5-7 6-0 5-10 6-2 6-2 5-9 5-11 5-8 5-7 6-0 5-9 5-11 5-9 5-11 6-1 6-0 6-0 5-11 6-3 6-2 6-2 5-11 6-2 6-2 6-2 6-5 6-4 6-2 5-11 6-1 6-2 6-5 6-6 6-3 6-5 6-5 6-4 6-2 6-5 6-4 6-4 6-4 6-5 6-4 6-6 6-4 5-8 6-1 6-1 5-10 6-5 6-2 6-2 6-3 6-1 6-6 6-2 6-6 6-3 6-0 6-3 6-3 6-3 6-4 6-5

Wt. 189 198 215 212 177 184 210 231 185 190 223 224 280 182 196 209 204 208 188 218 155 216 200 198 178 191 232 207 177 192 167 218 182 226 214 253 182 182 154 198 203 195 141 219 242 206 210 221 190 240 232 204 285 292 230 245 282 256 210 210 256 292 280 299 338 287 259 298 326 336 296 290 298 320 300 241 182 170 170 164 250 219 220 190 238 250 233 246 259 290 247 273 233 255 251

Class So. Jr. Sr. Fr. Jr. Sr. Fr. Sr. So. So. Fr. So. Jr. Fr. So. So. So. So. Fr. Fr. So. Fr. So. Fr. Fr. Sr. Sr. Jr. Fr. Jr. Fr. Fr. So. Sr. So. Jr. Sr. Sr. Fr. Sr. Jr. Fr. Fr. Jr. So. Fr. Fr. Sr. Sr. Jr. Jr. Fr. Sr. Sr. Jr. Jr. Sr. So. Sr. Fr. Fr. Fr. Fr. So. Jr. Fr. Fr. Sr. Sr. Jr. Fr. Jr. So. Jr. Fr. Sr. So. Jr. Fr. Jr. Sr. So. Sr. Fr. Jr. Sr. So. Fr. Fr. Sr. Jr. Fr. Fr. Fr. So.

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from w i t hin | t he da ily or a nge foo t ba ll guide

From dailyorange.com...

Will Syracuse qualify for a Bowl game this season?

They’ll get four or fewer wins.

Without a doubt. Let’s go Orange!

They’ll sneak in, maybe.

10% 14%

38%

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