Dear Readers,
The ending of Syracuse’s 2022 season overshadowed a historic beginning. Yes, SU lost five of its last six games, but it jumped out to a 6-0 start and reached a bowl game for the first time since 2018. Yes, the year culminated with a defeat to Minnesota, but numerous gems were unearthed along the way.
Heading into 2023, all eyes will be on the defense. Rocky Long, a pioneer of the coveted 3-3-5 defense, has been ushered in as SU’s new defensive coordinator. Justin Barron, who fills the “rover” position, serves as a key piece in Long’s fly-around, chaos-inducing style of play while Marlowe Wax, the self-proclaimed leader of Syracuse’s defensive line, will lead the charge at middle linebacker. Offensively, fresh off of 969 yards and six touchdowns in his breakout season, Oronde Gadsden will be SU’s No. 1 option.
The Daily Orange’s 2023 Football Guide holds all you need to know about a team ready to break through.
Thanks for reading,
Tyler Schiff sports editor
football guide 2023 3
By Henry O’Brien senior staff writer
parents signed him up for football, baseball, wrestling, soccer and basketball.
Marlowe Wax loves ice cream.
So much so that in April 2022, he signed a name, image and likeness deal with The Ice Cream Stand in downtown Syracuse.
In this partnership, Amanda Hughes, the shop’s owner, said Wax invented his own
“The first thought was, let’s do something with this energy,” Ryan said. “He didn’t want to sit still. He was never the TV type of kid or video game type of kid. He always wanted to play outside.”
Wax didn’t become a power back until his sophomore year at Mount Saint Joseph. On Sept. 8, 2017, the Gaels played local powerhouse Our Lady of Good Counsel, but lost their starter to injury. Wax had received carries in previous games and got local high school coaches talking to recruiters.
One of those watching was then-Syracuse assistant Reno Ferri. Tasked with fi nding recruits in the Baltimore area, he’d been told by a rival coach about Wax. But Ferri arrived after Mount Saint Joseph and Our Lady of Good Counsel. He missed Wax rushing for 236 yards.
to prevent an Eagles’ running back from scoring. Not only did the running back fail to score, but Wax snatched possession and ran 99 yards for a touchdown.
McCloud said the Gaels used a 3-4 formation, putting a lot of responsibility on Wax to play various defensive roles like being a pass rusher and knowing why He learned to blitz, play o the ball, which is exactly what he’s doing now, and how a running back would make a certain cut or move.
“That’s one thing I love about the defense, it gave me an opportunity to do that,” Wax said. “... But I definitely grew my game in that form — pass rushing and also dropping in coverage.”
flavor — vanilla ice cream with caramel and cookie dough. They called it “Marlowe’s Mix.”
Wax brought teammates and local fans to visit that October. When doing events with Wax — he once appeared as a celebrity scooper — Hughes saw how approachable he was. When she watched Wax play for Syracuse, Hughes noticed the same presence.
“You can see him game day on the sidelines, he is that mentor, that other coach for his teammates and certainly the defense,” Hughes said. “You can see him being vocal.”
Like at The Ice Cream Stand, Wax has become the center of attention on SU’s defense. A star high school running back turned All-ACC linebacker, Wax is equally proficient at rushing the quarterback as he is at stopping running backs. He’s the self-proclaimed head of the “mob,” a nickname used to describe Syracuse’s defense. It’s also the title of the podcast he co-hosted with Caleb Okechukwu and Ja’Had Carter last season, a shock to his high school coaches that remember him as a quiet kid.
When Richard Holzer, Wax’s head coach at Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore, first met him, he wasn’t playing on defense. Or running back. Wax was an o ensive lineman because of his height — he’s SU’s second shortest linebacker, at 6-foot-1, right now.
Dara Ryan, Wax’s mother, remembered Bring Your Child to Work Day. Wax was much larger than her coworkers’ children. Because of his size and how he acted as an energetic child, Wax’s
Ferri said he envisioned Wax and other local recruit Sean Tucker as a “thunder and lighting duo” at Syracuse. Tucker was the smaller, quicker rusher while Wax was bigger and more powerful. The two backs played each other fi ve times in high school. Wax’s Gaels went 4-1 against Tucker’s Calvert Hall College High School. In their senior seasons, Wax ran for a school-record 1,330 yards and 18 touchdowns while Tucker recorded 1,204 yards.
“He was really big for a high school running back. I think his senior year at 220 pounds,” Holzer said. “He had an uncanny ability to make something out of nothing.”
By the time Wax arrived at SU though, Wax had moved his focus to being a linebacker. Still, Ferri recalled a practice where many of the Orange’s running backs were injured, and Wax was used in a goal-line set. He made a quick cut and lowered his pads for a touchdown.
Ferri joked that the assistant coaches didn’t want head coach Dino Babers to see because he would have immediately made Wax switch positions.
With Wax’s knowledge as a prolific running back, Holzer and his defensive coordinator, Rob McCloud, knew Wax could read certain o ensive protection and burst through a gap.
In Wax’s junior season against McDonogh, he ran clean through the A-gap at the goal line
With the Orange, Wax used his pass rushing to also contribute to the scoring as well. Against UConn last season, the linebacker forced a fumble from quarterback Zion Turner before picking up the ball and running for a touchdown. On Oct. 22 against Clemson, he engulfed thenTigers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei at the goal line leading to a scoopandscore
for former teammate Ja’Had Carter.
“He did it all. He was in coverage, pass rushing, blitzing… He covered up everything,” McCloud said. “He’s just that kind of guy.”
Wax used his versatility to become Syracuse’s leading tackler in 2022 while recording the
During Wax’s senior season at Mount Saint Joseph, he rushed for a school record 1,330 yards. The total eclipsed local rival, and future SU
of 1,204
1,330 4 football guide 2023
Marlowe Wax is primed to command SU’s new-look defense. The ‘Mob’ boss is back.
teammate, Sean Tucker’s tally
yards.
second-most sacks on the team. Ex-Syracuse linebacker Mikel Jones said that these attributes of being a pass rusher and ability to know where a running back will go made Wax a playmaker. But, Jones realized Wax was very quiet. It was one aspect he had to change. Jones told Wax how he was one of the best playmakers on the team. So, any time the team would need to get a boost from someone, Jones always encouraged Wax to speak out.
“I give a lot of things to Mikel,” Wax said about being more vocal. “He was born a leader…So me just being around him and to see how he did things. He definitely helped me and pulled it out of me.”
In a 19-9 loss to Pittsburgh, Jones saw Wax’s game elevate. As the offense struggled, Wax had a career-high 14 tackles and three quarterback hits. But Jones was impressed by Wax who voiced his dissatisfaction during halftime, talking to the whole team.
Syracuse know about his quickness. They know about his ability to rush the passer. They know about how he can track down a running back and anticipate where he will go. But this training camp, linebacker Derek McDonald saw Wax showcase his catching ability for the fi rst time.
Syracuse begins its 137th season on Saturday at home against Colgate, ushering in the eighth season of the Dino Babers era. Here is how our beat writers think the Orange will fare this season.
Anthony Alandt
transition year
Record: 5-7
MVP: Rocky Long
X-Factor: O ensive line
Syracuse stunned the college football world through six games last season. It started 6-0 and reached No. 14 in the AP Top 25 poll while introducing the country to Shrader and Gadsden’s improvisational link-up play. But then, it buckled under the realities of a 12-game season and an ACC schedule that included three top-25 teams and a series of substantial injuries. Taken as a whole, it’s hard not to view last season, and the ensuing o season, as a success for Babers.
The assistant coaching hires, highlighted by Long, show a commitment to bringing in experience to a roster with plenty of turnover. They’re the best crop of coaches I’ve ever seen under Babers.
I love Gadsden’s potential to blossom into a top receiving threat in the league but Shrader coming o elbow surgery gives me pause that he can work in other receivers down field. I’m given further pause when looking at a mostly new o ensive line and a secondary that lost top-end talent like Ja’Had Carter, Duce Chestnut and Garrett Williams.
This team, like last year, is going to have to walk a fine line to get to a bowl game. The Orange have shown nothing that says they can pluck wins against top opponents. The new faces boast promise for Syracuse, but I just don’t see this team getting over the hump consistently. anthonyalandt29@yahoo.com @anthonyalandt
Henry O’Brien
just enough to squeak in Record: 6-6
MVP: Oronde Gadsden II
X-Factor: O ensive depth
On Aug. 23, with the hot practice field empty aside from a few receivers, Wax took his shoulder pads o and put his helmet back on to go to the jugs machine. McDonald didn’t think anything of it because he knew that’s how Wax, the Orange’s first defensive captain, operated.
“He’s really honest and practices the way he plays games,” Babers said. Maybe this season, along with his blitzing, run stopping and tackling, that late August work will lead to an interception too. henrywobrien1123@gmail.com @realhenryobrien
Injuries are inevitable in college football and they have always exposed Syracuse’s lack of depth. After starting 6-0 in 2022, the Orange’s injuries started to catch up with them as they faced a tougher schedule and dropped five straight. This year, however, the defense should have the depth to deal with players going on the injury reserve. Babers said the defensive line is as deep “as we’ve been in a long time.” Though many of the key linebackers are returning, questions remain for the o ense. Can Shrader deal with injuries? Can Carlos Del Rio-Wilson or Braden Davis take a step up? If Allen goes down, can Juwuan Price or Ike Daniels fi ll the void? Gadsden will be an NFL draft pick but will a No. 2 wide receiver emerge? These questions remain unanswered for now, but I think the Orange squeak by when the time comes. After a projected 3-1 start, SU will have a tough stretch at the end of September and start of October. It faces three straight preseason top-25 teams (No. 9 Clemson, No. 21 North Carolina and No. 8 Florida State). Yet, Syracuse has a chance to finish with a bowl berth if they can conquer Babers’ achilles heel — November. There are winnable games against Boston College and Georgia Tech. A postseason appearance will likely come down to road matchups against the Yellow Jackets or Virginia Tech in October, but Syracuse will have enough to make back-to-back bowl appearances. henrywobrien1123@gmail.com @realhenryobrien
Wyatt Miller same old syracuse
Record: 5-7
MVP: The Secondary X-Factor: Garrett Shrader
Syracuse gave up the 19th fewest passing yards per game in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season, ranking second in the ACC. Now, they’ve hired Long, the creator of the 3-3-5 scheme that has been so successful over the past three seasons. That’s a recipe for success on defense.
Long’s scheme is all about deception and Syracuse has the athletes to cause it consistently. Justin Barron is proficient all over the field, Isaiah Johnson is quietly one of the top tackling cornerbacks in college football and Marlowe Wax can drop in coverage just as well as he can dip past 300pound linemen. Despite losing multiple starting pieces in the o season, this defensive backfield has a chance to expand on their success from last season.
The questions, as usual, are on o ense. Syracuse ranked 123rd out of 131 FBS schools in sack rating last year at 13.3% (once in every seven-anda-half plays), according to Football Outsiders. Plus, Shrader ranked 15th in the FBS in average depth of target last season (min. 304 dropbacks).
“It was the final moment where I realized, ‘Yeah, he’s at that point where he’ll be just fine when I leave,’”
said of Wax.
Wax’s teammates at
Assuming there’s no magical fi x for Syracuse’s o ense, the adjustment will fall on Shrader and Beck. Beck was the quarterbacks coach last season, so he’s had a year of experience with Shrader to pull from. If this o ense is to succeed, they’ll need to hold the ball less and get playmakers in space more. That hasn’t been the formula for the past few seasons, making it di cult to predict another bowl appearance with a tough schedule in 2023.
wbmiller@syr.edu
@wymiller07
Jones
He did it all. He was in coverage, pass rushing, blitzing… He covered up everything. He’s just that kind of guy.
football guide 2023 5
Rob McCloud WAX S HS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
By Anthony Alandt senior staff writer
With time winding down in a packed JMA Wireless Dome, Oronde Gadsden II had a chance to put himself — and Syracuse football — at the forefront of the conversation early in college football. And he appeared to hardly break a sweat.
The Orange had 12 seconds, down four points, to go 25 yards and pick up a second nonconference win against Purdue. Quarterback Garrett Shrader, fading back to avoid the six-man blitz, never broke his gaze from Gadsden.
He initially had a one-on-one, then ran a 10-yard out route to draw off a second defender. On a corner route to the front left pylon, Gads- den shook him off with a simple move and took off, creating enough separation for Shrader to dump an off-balance pass over his right shoulder.
“He looked like he was moving in slow motion,” said Anthony Queeley, Gadsden’s former teammate. “Just because of his technique, he was able to get over him and score that touchdown.”
The fi nal play of Syracuse’s miracle win over Purdue en route to its fi rst 6-0 start since 1987 catapulted Gadsden into the national spotlight. It was the beginning of a First-Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference season, letting the secret out on the 6-foot-5 swiss army knife positioned to be the Orange’s fi rst fi rst-round receiver selection since Marvin Harrison in 1996.
Gadsden’s ridden the rocketship to stardom with the same quiet grace that he entered SU with. He was marked 247Sports as the 184thranked wide receiver out of Florida. He helped American Heritage (Florida) fi nish 10-2 and make the third round of 3A state playo s, earning o ers from 10 Power Five schools before landing at Syracuse.
“I couldn’t believe he was a freshman. He looked so poised and ready to go,” former Syracuse receiver Ethan Fischler said.
Fischler thought Gadsden was a transfer the fi rst time he saw him at practice and wasn’t surprised that his father had played with the Miami Dolphins. Playing under former NFL cornerback Patrick Surtain in high school allowed him to seamlessly transition from his father’s rigorous approach to football and the speed expected of college athletes.
Former Syracuse receivers’ coach Lanear Sampson was introduced to Gadsden when he was a junior. Then an o ensive quality control coach for Central Florida, Sampson began scouting a big receiver with the makings of a top o ensive weapon. His biggest knock on Gadsden was his lack of speed, something an up-tempo o ense like the Knights, and eventually the Orange, wouldn’t usually utilize. But Sampson was tantilized by his ability to “fit the big receiver mold.”
“We knew he had a lot of upside and he had a lot of talent just talking to the kid,” Sampson said.
“He’s a big receiver that can go up and get the ball. He’s a smart guy ... he had that pedigree as well.”
Sampson, who was hired as the receiver’s coach that spring, said Gadsden was in shape for summer workouts. He frequently sped off to the front of the pack during drills, keeping
up with some of the more seasoned Syracuse players. “It was great seeing a kid that had a 22-year old mindset,” Sampson said of Gadsden as a freshman.
Buried on the Orange’s depth chart, it took Gadsden a year of grinding through special teams units to leap onto the scene. Former SU receiver Devaughn Cooper said Gadsden meticulously reviewed film and frequently stayed late with the quarterbacks to run routes he messed up on during practice.
“He was mature. With some freshmen that come in, they’re not as mature yet. They don’t know what it takes to get to that level that they want to be at,” Queeley said. “Oronde, having his dad that was in the league, being around people that’s been in the league, he’s already got that mindset and that maturity level to be a pro.”
Sampson said Gadsden quickly perfected his ball skills and had “sure hands,” earning him a second-string receiver role and turning him into a viable option in the red zone. Then, before Syracuse’s Week 6 matchup against Wake Forest, he su ered an injury, sidelining him for a month.
Coaches kept him close to the team while he was out, hoping to keep him ready for when he was healthy. Gadsden used that time to put on more weight and strengthen himself, a formula that continued into the o season.
Though he was recruited as a wide receiver, Gadsden moved to the tight end room in 2022, placing him directly under the watch of incoming o ensive coordinator Robert Anae. Gadsden, now up 26 pounds from his freshman year, had the size to physically control his routes like he did in high school.
A typical Syracuse receiver under head coach Dino Babers fits the mold of a faster, smaller recruit that Babers and the o ensive sta feel they can morph into a top-end talent. “Oronde was big,” Fischler said, and allowed the Orange to open up their o ense when he maintained a quick speed despite being heavier.
Before last season, Gadsden spent all o season cleaning up his game. Sampson, who left to become Austin Peay’s pass-game coordinator and wide receivers coach in June 2022, spent the spring session of workouts with Gadsden and said he was primed to be a key contributor.
When Babers brought in Anae, Gadsden began working as a gadget receiver. “I’m whatever Syracuse needs me to be,” Gadsden said last season. He began working inside more, set in motion from the outside and finding himself on routes over the middle.
The marriage between Anae’s dynamic o ense and Gadsden’s ability as both a tight end and outside receiver meshed into 969 receiving yards and six touchdowns. His breakout year included two multi-touchdown performances and four games with at least 100 receiving yards.
“It was no surprise to me, especially when coach Anae got there,” Sampson said. “That flex slot position that Oronde plays now, I knew that he was going to have a big year. He fits that mold very well. He’s not a robot. Being in the middle of the field helped his game so much more.”
The o season was a whirlwind. Gadsden was thrust into the spotlight of preseason awards, while being discussed as a fi rst-rounder by NFL draft experts. Name, image and likeness deals began fl owing his way from other Power 5 schools, enticing him to leave for a more successful program. He told syracuse. com that “promising six fi gures and up” in payments if he transferred were on the table. He turned them all down, stating he wanted to fi nish his career in Central New York.
Once last season ended, Babers said he and Gadsden worked on how to handle double-team matchups moving forward. The biggest thing the Orange need to do with Gadsden, Babers said, is to teach him multiple positions. “We can’t line him up at one position and we won’t,” Babers noted.
O ensive coordinator Jason Beck, the coaching brainchild of Anae, took over the o ense last year and will plan to use Gadsden as a fluid tool who can open up other receivers when he’s not exploiting defenders himself. Syracuse, for the first time in a generation, has a clear No. 1, NFL-ready talent.
“It wouldn’t surprise me (if he’s a top 10 pick). He’s that type of player,” Sampson said.
anthonyalandt29@yahoo.com
@anthonyalandt
football guide 2023 6
Equipped with a league-ready skillset and poised for another breakout season, Oronde Gadsden II is Syracuse’s No. 1 option
football guide 2023 7
In Schine Center
Located
8 football guide 2023
By Wyatt Miller senior staff writer
Justin Barron’s transition from a two-way athlete to full-time safety his freshman year at Syracuse didn’t involve much playing time. But midway through the 2020 season, a fumbled field goal snap led head coach Dino Babers to search for a backup holder.
Barron seized the opportunity, telling Babers he had the hands for the position — the head coach just needed to give him the opportunity.
“I just went up to him and was like, ‘coach, just let me do something,’ because I wasn’t playing much that year as a receiver,” Barron said. “I just wanted a way to get on the field.”
While his soft hands and prior special teams experience won Barron the backup role, kicker Andre Szmyt had a hard time accepting a nonspecialist as his holder, Babers said. The two had limited practice time together.
“I said, ‘Andre, you understand that there are people on this team that have better hands than the punter,’” Babers said.
In his senior year, Szmyt let Babers pick the team’s holder. Without hesitation, he chose Barron, who successfully held every field goal last season.
But, his versatility isn’t confined to special teams. Barron has played at every level of the defense during his football career and he’ll continue to circulate the Syracuse secondary as its starting “rover,” an extra defensive back that plays all over the field.
least four pass deflections in each of his two seasons. During the last play of his high school career, Barron went up to Gamere and said he had his man on a hitch-and-go.
“I don’t listen to players a lot, but he’s one that’s almost like a coach on the field,” Gamere said. “He caught a 35-yard touchdown to seal the deal in the championship.”
Barron rarely asked for the ball, but he understood the defense and recognized that he had the mismatch.
“His versatility is as good as anyone I’ve been around,” Gamere said.
In elementary school, Barron was one of the biggest and fastest kids on the field, so he was inserted at nose tackle to blow past interior linemen. On o ense, he played fullback, clearing rushing lanes with superior power and speed.
In middle school, Jason said nobody could throw the ball, so Barron stepped in at running back and wildcat quarterback, “taking the direct snap and running all over the place.” Defensively, he played linebacker and started playing his current position, hybrid safety.
“I think you just gotta put him in positions where he can make plays,” Gamere said. “He’s a guy that could certainly fi ll the box on run downs and be physical in that sense, and when you’re seeing teams that are throwing the ball, he can take out a team’s best receiver but also can cover a ton of ground playing safety.”
Barron’s success attracted a slew of distinctive college options, including a defensive o er from Michigan and a tight end o er from Boston College. In the end, Barron chose Syracuse because he felt it gave him the best chance to play soon and consistently, no matter the position. He said the program felt like home.
Syracuse recruited him as an athlete, so his position wasn’t determined. Jason, who was a wide receiver at UConn in the 90’s, wanted Barron to play o ense in college. But once he heard how passionately Barron spoke about SU, it reminded him of another conversation from years prior.
A two-way starter all four years of high school, Barron was recruited as an “athlete.” He garnered Division-I o ers as a tight end, wide receiver, linebacker and safety. While he didn’t receive o ers for the positions, he also played as a long snapper and holder in high school. At each school he attended, he played both ways at all times.
At Kingswood Oxford (Conn.) High School, Barron played running back, receiver and safety on varsity as an 8th grader and freshman. As a sophomore at Lawrence Academy (Mass.), he helped the team go from 6-2 and 5th in the Independent League a year prior to 9-0 and a first-place finish.
The talent in their area just wasn’t challenging enough, his father Jason said, so Barron committed to Su eld Academy in Connecticut. The elevated level of play didn’t slow him down. Barron’s senior year culminated in another perfect season and title run.
There wasn’t much depth, or many specialists, in the Central New England League where Su eld Academy competed. Su eld Academy head coach Drew Gamere said all the best players played two ways, but Barron played three. Gamere didn’t ask Barron to play special teams – he did it purely out of necessity, just like at Syracuse.
Gamere said there were games when Barron never came o the field. He played slot receiver, wide receiver, linebacker, safety, long snapper, holder and even took some kicko s and kick returns. Long snappers are almost exclusively specialists or centers, but Gamere said Barron didn’t miss a single snap.
Barron racked up over 500 yards receiving, 35-plus tackles, two interceptions and at
Barron’s versatile history on both sides of the ball made him an obvious choice to be SU’s rover under Rocky Long’s 3-3-5 and have signal-caller duties. On Tuesday, Syracuse announced that Barron will also be one of the team’s six captains. With his new leadership role on the team, Barron will need to completely understand Syracuse’s defense as well as the opposing o ense.
“Last year I was kind of just sitting back and doing my job,” Barron said. “I had Garrett (Williams), I had Mikel (Jones) and I could feel comfortable doing that because I knew those guys were going to do their job and be vocal. Now that they’re gone, I need to be the guy. The younger guys need me to step up.”
Last season, Barron took at least 132 snaps in the box, in the slot and over the top, with 47% coming in the box, according to Pro Football Focus. This year, his positional snap count could be more evenly split with the addition of Long and loss of starting safety Ja’Had Carter.
The basis of Long’s defense is to cause confusion with his extra defensive backs, Gonzales said. Based on Barron’s training camp, he figures to be at the center of the deception.
Tony White coached and played under Long, so their schemes are similar. But Long has a reputation for being especially creative, and Barron’s been the beneficiary during camp, picking o Shrader multiple times.
“You guys are gonna see some stu that you haven’t really seen from us before,” Barron said. wbmiller@syr.edu
@wymiller07
Justin Barron’s limitless versatility and devotion is perfect for SU’s unorthodox rover position
I don’t listen to players a lot, but he’s one that’s almost like a coach on the field.
9 football guide 2023
Drew
Gamere
BARRON S FORMER HS COACH
By Anthony Alandt and Wyatt Miller senior staff writers
Before heading to the New Mexico airport in the early 1980s, David Williams and Rocky Long sat down at Ned’s Uptown Bar and Grill for lunch. The pair of college friends quickly began trading ideas back and forth about a better scheme for a prevent defense. Williams, a defensive-minded head coach at Eldorado (New Mexico) High School, watched Long, then an assistant at the University of Wyoming, pull out a napkin. He began drawing up what would become known as a Cover 5 defense, a simple combination of man and zone.
“That’s Rocky,” Williams said.
It was a simple concept, Williams said, nobody wider, nobody deeper. Williams used Long’s quick-sketch defensive formation until he gave up coaching in 2007.
“He loves sitting around and talking about it and getting his turn with the marker and getting to the board,” Williams said.
Long, now 73, later created the 3-3-5 defense after stints in the Canadian Football League, New Mexico and TCU. He made his mark as the calm professor of the revolutionary set, becoming the winningest head coach in San Diego State history. Now, he’s in charge of the 3-3-5 at Syracuse, who has used it for the past three seasons.
Long needed to figure out how to stop opposing o enses in 1986. At the time in the CFL, teams were allowed five receivers running toward a line of scrimmage on a field 15 yards wider than college football’s. As the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the British Columbia Lions, Long wanted to counteract these high-powered o enses which constantly had players in motion.
He landed on using tough players who ran fast and were comfortable shooting gaps and sprinting around with quick pre-snap motions. The Lions were always attacking, former defensive back Kevin Konar said.
“We blitzed. Guys were always bringing pressure on the quarterback,” Konar said. “If we gave up a big play, so be it.”
The disruptive defensive scheme helped the Lions to two straight 12-6 seasons. It spawned the eventual defense that Long trademarked and used for the next 35 seasons across five di erent schools. The time in professional football also shaped Long into a player’s coach.
“He really knew what we were all going through. He respected us, and he knew how hard to push players,” Konar said.
Jerry Pettibone needed a new defensive coordinator when he became the head coach at Oregon State. Calling connections from his coaching career, Pettibone talked to Reed Johnson, who was on New Mexico’s sta when Long played quarterback.
“I told him what I was looking for and he said, ‘Jerry, you need to get Rocky Long,’” Pettibone recalled. “He said, ‘[Long] is the smartest football coach you’ll ever be around.’”
Johnson also told Pettibone about a particular game when Long received a blow to the head, opening a gash above his eyebrow. Blood gushed down into his eyes and nose as then-head coach Rudy Feldman ran onto the field. When he asked Long if he was okay, Long looked up and said “just give me the next play and point me toward the huddle.”
“That’s my kind of guy,” was Pettibone’s first thought, hiring Long soon after. But his first season in 1991 was rocky — the Beavers didn’t win until the last game of the season. After four games, he had seen enough.
“Rocky came up to me and said, ‘coach, the players that we have at Oregon State, we can’t play a normal style defense,’” Pettibone said. “‘We have to play a reckless defense, it’s either going to be feast or famine, but it’s the only kind of defense that will give us a chance.’”
That was when the 3-3-5 was born. They called it the “voodoo” defense. On every play, OSU either rushed 4-plus in a zone or played man-to-man all over the field. They blitzed most plays. After putting up dreadful numbers all year, they held Oregon to three points.
By adapting that scheme and recruiting creatively, Long catapulted the program to new heights. In 1993, the Beavers went 4-7, but had the seventh-best total defense nationally, ranking top 10 in almost every statistical category, Pettibone said. It was just the third time in 20 years the Beavers reached four wins.
Pettibone said Long specialized in recruiting overlooked players that fit his defense. One day, he called Pettibone from a recruiting visit in Honolulu, Hawaii. They had one scholarship left, and Long wanted to use it on a defensive end from Damien Memorial High School who was smaller than any lineman on this year’s Syracuse roster.
Inoke Breckterfield was a 5-foot-11, 225-lb edge rusher with great bend and burst off the line. Pettibone trusted Long, and brought Breckterfield to Oregon State. He won Pac- 10 Defensive Player of the Year in consecutive seasons and is now a defensive line coach at the University of Washington.
In 1996, Terry Tumey was in charge of recruiting the Central Valley in California and Los Angeles as the defensive line coach at UCLA. Tumey typically found “tweener athletes,” recruits that were too traditionally small for the defensive line, but not quick enough to play as a defensive back.
Tumey’s fi rst meeting with Long, who was defensive coordinator, covered how the Bruins defense were going to overcome their drastic size discrepancy in the Pac-12. Whether it was USC or Washington, teams had monopolized the “behemoths” inside that allowed them to play “smash mouth football.”
Long and Tumey decided that they had to keep their players moving — creating chaos, just as Long did against CFL opponents and in his first defensive coordinator job at Wyoming. Gap cancellations on the move, Tumey said, that played o similar setups to a 4-3 or a 5-2 led to motion prior to the snap, disrupting the o ense.
“He constantly made it to where you were the aggressor and you were having fun by attacking,” Tumey said. “It’s basically Rocky’s personality.”
One of the most successful formations Tumey saw under Long with the Bruins was a go Cover 3. The formation epitomized Long’s tenure. The down linemen would line up in their 2- or 3-techniques and slant to the strong side in their gap cancellations.
It ended up being known as over defense, a simple way to keep UCLA’s defenders moving and cause the o ense to audible out of a play. The reverse was called away Cover 3 and tasked the defense to slant away from the strong side of the o ensive formation. Having all of the front line moving in one direction tended to work, but it left them susceptible to getting beaten on run-pass options, end around plays or reverses.
Long was aware of the holes, and had been since he began coaching. One time on vacation in San Diego, Williams asked Long if he was prone to the trap when rushing the quarterback. Williams said Long looked like he’d been insulted and snapped back.
“When he talks like that, he pierces his lip and goes ‘well try that goddamn trap. Try to trap us,’” Williams said. “He’s got an answer for all the things that can happen against that defense, and he’s very proud of it.”
After three years at UCLA, Long got his first head coaching job at New Mexico. Now-head coach Danny Gonzales was a safety for the Lobos at the time, and Long offered
10 football guide 2023
Rocky Long invented the 3-3-5 defense on a napkin and perfected it at Oregon State. Now, he’s ready to pit his version of the scheme against the ACC’s best.
him a graduate assistant role out of school.
From there, Gonzales became the video coordinator for two seasons before Long promoted him to safeties coach. They’ve coached together at New Mexico and San Diego State in all but two seasons since 1999. This year will be the third.
“We’ve been able to be very successful with really good athletes, oftentimes undersized, and you teach them to play as hard as they can, what to do and when to do it. And then you get them to do it a million miles an hour,” Gonzales said. “That formula has led to great success everywhere we’ve been.”
The whole point of the 3-3-5 was to keep people guessing. They could get into every standard defensive front, Gonzales said, but the offense never knew how they would get there. Defensive backs had to know their role on every play, which shifted from snap-
to-snap, while linebackers were expected to be proficient against the run and pass.
post-snap reactions, Gonzales said. The goal was to confuse opposing linemen by throwing out di erent looks and pass rush patterns. And Long knew how to adjust to every opposing o ense.
“I mean, he’s got an unbelievable, impeccable memory for that stuff, and it’s almost like he makes the adjustment for the offensive guys before they do,” Gonzales said.
As his defensive coordinator in San Diego State, Gonzales helped Long become the winningest head coach in Mountain West history. They won three conference championships over nine seasons, going 81-38 with nine consecutive bowl game appearances.
his wife, Debby, bought a sprawling ranch with horses in Albuquerque. Debby had taken an interest in horses, and the pair were content on spending the next part of their lives in the same place. The moving was over; Long was ready to hang it up.
Then a month later, the itch returned. Long called Gonzales and asked if there was a job on staff for him. “We’ll make one for you,” Gonzales responded.
The announcement of Long’s return provided a “shot in the arm of Albuquerque,” Williams said. Shirts bearing “Rocky’s Back” started circulating through New Mexico.
has seen the last 20 years. He doesn’t study a lot of data or analyze statistics. Instead, Gonzales said Long has likely watched every Syracuse defensive snap from last season. After that, he would’ve established the best 11 players on this year’s team and figured out how he can put each one in the best position.
New Mexico was not a gap-controlled team because of the distinct size disadvantage at the line. It “canceled” gaps with movement and
“It was partly because we had great players,” Gonzales said. “But you have to put them in position to be successful and Coach Long has had great success at always doing that.”
Long retired from being the head man with the Aztecs in 2019. He and
Long served as the Lobos’ defensive coordinator for three seasons. But he yearned for an opportunity to test the east coast. Specifically, he told Williams he wanted to stymie the top offenses this season in the ACC.
His process attacking ACC o enses will be similar to what Gonzales
