2010 football guide

FOOTBALL GUIDE 2010

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

s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m2 f r o m w i t h i n | t h e da i ly o r a n g e f o o t b a l l g u i d e

Table of contents

3 4 6 8

10 12 1715

Sports Editor Andrew L. JohnPresentation Director Becca McGovernPhoto Editor Bridget StreeterAsst. Sports Editor Brett LoGiuratoAsst. Sports Editor Tony OliveroAsst. Photo Editor Kirsten CeloAsst. Photo Editor Joe LingemanAsst. Photo Editor Danielle ParhizkaranAsst. Sports Copy Editor Michael CohenAsst. Sports Copy Editor Mark Cooper

General Manager Peter WaackIT Manager Derek OstranderCirculation Manager Harold HeronAdvertising Representative Adam BeilmanAdvertising Representative Eric FormanAdvertising Representative Kelsey HoffmanAdvertising Representative Bonnie JonesAdvertising Representative Adam SchatzAdvertising Representative Jenna SpivackClassifieds Manager Michael KangSenior Advertising Designer Lauren HarmsAdvertising Design Coordinator Lauren GenivivaSpecial Advertising Sections Michelle ChiuDelivery Team Captain Brooke WilliamsStudent Business Manager Rebekah Jones

t h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r o f s y r a c u s e , n e w y o r k

Kathleen Ronayne MAnAGInG EDIToR

Katie McInerney EDIToR In ChIEf

Special thanks to Sue Edson of Syracuse Athletic Communications

C o n ta C t U [email protected]

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The Daily orange is published weekdays during the Syr-acuse University academic year by The Daily orange Corp., 744 ostrom Ave., Syracuse, nY 13210. All con-tents Copyright 2010 by The Daily orange Corp. and may not be reprinted without the expressed written permission of the editor in chief. The Daily orange is distributed on and around campus with the first two copies complimentary. Each additional copy costs $1. The Daily orange is in no way a subsidiary or associ-ated with Syracuse University.

All contents © 2010 The Daily orange Corporation

Special thanks to Brittney Davies

At last

cover photo and folder photo by danielle parhizkaran | asst. photo editor

In the balance The apprentice Two of a kind

The natural Wide open Predictions The next step

Ryan nassib finally gets his chance as SU’s start-ing quarterback after a year behind Greg Paulus.

Delone Carter’s family and faith have a clear mindset he returns from a summer-long 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.

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

A complete look at the orange’s 2010 schedule.

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

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

S P O R T S @ D A I L Y O R A N G E . C O M

At lastTHE RYAN NASSIB FILE

No.: 12Position: QuarterbackHeight: 6-2Weight: 224Year: SophomoreHometown: West Chester, Pa.High school: Malvern Prep

2009 stats9 games422 yards passing52.9 completion percentage116.7 quarterback rating3 touchdowns1 interception

2009 HighlightsNassib’s fi rst noteworthy action in an Orange uniform came at Penn State. He completed his fi rst career college pass, a 19-yard connection to Cody Catalina. He threw two touchdown passes in a loss to West Virginia and made appearances in every game thereafter.


By Brett LoGiuratoASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Here was vindication. Here was transpar-ency, thrill — gushing, even — from Doug Marrone. Here was confi rmation, Round 2.

“Ryan Nassib,” Marrone started, “I’m impressed by not only his play, but his leadership and com-mand 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 defi nitive answer and leaving the door thisfar open.

Then again, Marrone’s fi rst proclamation seemed defi nitive, too. And it was quick. Four spring prac-tices. That’s all Marrone needed to name Nassib his starter last season. Of course, “some guy named Paulus, or something, came in,” jokes Gamp Pel-legrini, 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. Physi-cally drained from the third day of camp. Mentally

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 defi nitely 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 fl ocked to last summer, in awe of celebrity — was Greg Paulus.

Nassib’s honeymoon was over. A quarterback competition began. It was a competition that, even-tually, 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

bridget streeter | photo editor

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

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By Tony OliveroASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Delone 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 inde-pendent. He remained in Akron, Ohio, reacting to what occurred last spring.

Carter was suspended from the team for alleg-edly 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 oppor-tunity for him when he transferred across Akron

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

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

Heading into his fi nal season, Carter is Syra-cuse’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 reac-tion 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 valu-able 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 big-gest 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. Fam-ily leads to faith. And faith is where Carter’s mind-set 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 abili-ties for what would be the best, as opposed to what it would naturally be.

“We put him in natural and unnatural posi-tions.”

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

“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 CarterSU RUNNING BACK

In theTHE DELONE CARTER FILE

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.

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 snowball-throwing 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 fi rst

game back from the suspension.

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

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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, Cart-er 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-specifi c 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 surfi ng 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 train-ing is what they call ‘ground-force contact’: The force given is the force received. Strike a

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 situa-

tions 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 emo-tional points of the past seven years.

The binding force between Delone and his parents has been an obvious one: the tele-phone. 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 sea-son 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 sopho-more 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 infl icted 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.’”

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FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

court hathaway | staff photographer


By Andrew L. JohnSPORTS EDITOR

A rms crossed, eyes intently looking into the camera, he fi res off one answer after another. Despite his youthful appear-

ance, 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 defi nitely 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

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 fi lm sessions. For him, it’s another way to stay sharp, to another way to increase his ever-expanding knowl-edge 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 observ-ing.”

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

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

Majoring in neurobiology, physiology and behav-iors, 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 line-backer 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 recom-mendation. Hackett made his way up to Stanford. Five

Theapprentice A football life has prepared

Nathaniel Hackett for a leading role in SU’s offense

joe lingeman | asst. photo editor

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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-estab-lished. And Hackett’s apprenticeship began.

Hackett stayed on staff as the recruiting coor-dinator 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,” Har-ris said. “But although (Hackett) has a great foot-ball 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 visit-ing 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 quarter-backs 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 learn-ing 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 ath-letes 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 Buf-falo, 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 Jau-ron, 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 Buf-falo 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 posi-tion. 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

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 prepara-tion 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.”

• • •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 Mar-rone to make sure he had the intricacies of the offense perfected. Hackett made sure he and Mar-rone 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

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 calm-ly 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 Syra-cuse. The coaches who have mentored him wouldn’t have it any other way.

From coach’s son to equipment boy, from offen-sive 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 watch-ing 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.”

[email protected]

from previous page

THE NATHANIEL HACKETT FILE

2008-09

Buffalo Bills: Offensive Quality Control

2006-07Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Offensive Quality Control

2005Stanford University: Recruiting Coordinator

2004Stanford University: Offensive/Defensive Coordinator Assistant

2003Stanford University: Offensive Assistant


THE DOUG HOGUE FILENo.: 32Position: Outside linebackerHeight: 6-2 Weight: 226 poundsYear: SeniorHometown: Yonkers, N.Y.

2009 stats12 games played72 tackles (48 solo)16 tackles for losses9.5 sacks1 interception2 fumbles forced

1 fumble recovery

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THE DERRELL SMITH FILE

No.: 25 Position: Middle linebackerHeight: 6-1 Weight: 232 poundsYear: SeniorHometown: New Castle, Del.

2009 stats10 games played82 tackles (60 solo)10.5 tackles for losses6.5 sacks4 fumbles forced2 fumble recoveries

By Mark CooperASST. COPY EDITOR

S yracuse linebacker Doug Hogue’s best friend was on the sidelines watch-ing him play for the fi rst time, so he

couldn’t disappoint.Yes, his teammate Derrell Smith was watch-

ing, 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 fi lled 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-

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. What-ever 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 quarter-back and a young offensive unit overall, SU will rely on its defensive unit to keep pressure off of

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 fi rm 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 specifi c 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 Dono-van 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 fi rst carries of his career in the season opener against Washington, rushing for 19 yards on fi ve carries.

He wasn’t destined to play running back, though. Linebacker was his calling. Two games into that sophomore campaign, he fl ipped 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 benefi cial 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 expecta-tions. 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 transi-tion year. In an effort to get such an athletic player more playing time, he was shifted from running back to linebacker. There were cer-tainly 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 fi rst, coming in to a whole differ-ent 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 success-ful 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 line-backers 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 fi rst got here.”

But even though being a leader is nice, Smith and Hogue know Syracuse needs to start win-ning 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 fi rst 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.”

[email protected]

Two of akind

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


By Michael CohenASST. COPY EDITOR

M 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 Steuben-ville, 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 fl ipped again as Zach is sacked on his fi rst 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 inces-santly 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, Col-laros’ 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 quarter-back Tony Pike pushed Collaros into the spot-light 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 start-ing 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 fl irted briefl y 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 fl uke.

“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 fi rst 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 Pan-thers. “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,


Thenatural

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

brett hansbauer | university of cincinnati sport communications

SEE COLLAROS PAGE 18

S P O R T S @ D A I L Y O R A N G E . C O M f rom w i t h i n | t h e da i ly or a nge f o o t b a l l gu i de 1 1

PITTSBURGH

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

Dion Lewis is back after nearly 1,800 yards on the ground last season. Lewis and fi rst-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.

Strengths: running back, defense

Weaknesses: schedule (travel to Notre Dame, Connecticut and Cincinnati)

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

CONNECTICUT


The Huskies bring back 17 starters from a team that had a strong fi nish 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: rushing attack, defense

Weaknesses: wide receivers, inexperience at quarterback

X-factor: Can the Huskies play big in their fi rst game of the sea-son against Michigan in Ann Arbor?

WEST VIRGINIA


Running back Noel Devine, a unani-mous All-Big East fi rst-team selection in 2009, had more than 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns a season ago. If he can remain on the fi eld, he is one of the most dynamic players in college football. Devine will get help from wide receiver Jock Sanders, the team’s lead-ing receiver last season. Three fi rst-team 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?

CINCINNATI


Dual-threat quarterback Zach Colla-ros 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, nonconfer-ence schedule

Weaknesses: defense

X-factor: How well will the players adjust to Jones’ coaching philosophies?

SOUTH FLORIDA


New head coach Skip Holtz, who led East Carolina to back-to-back Confer-ence 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 fi ve All-Big East players, if they hope to win more than four games in the Big East for the fi rst 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.

RUTGERS


Sophomore quarterback Tom Savage started 11 games last season, setting a conference record for most pass-ing 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.

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

Weaknesses: defense, nonconference strength of schedule

X-factor: Can a second wide receiver step up and help Sanu?

SYRACUSE


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 line-backers 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 com-bines with Antwon Bailey to create a well-rounded SU backfi eld.

Strengths: linebackers, running back

Weaknesses: wide receiver, strength of nonconference schedule

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

LOUISVILLE


For the Cardinals to avoid fi nishing at the bottom of the Big East, they will need to fi nd 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

Big Eastpredictions

11PITTSBURGH1PITTSBURGH

Projected record:1Projected record: 22CONNECTICUT

2CONNECTICUT

Projected record:2Projected record:

The Huskies bring back 17 starters from a team that had a 2The Huskies bring back 17 starters from a team that had a strong fi nish in 2009, winning its last four games. Running back 2strong fi nish in 2009, winning its last four games. Running back Jordan Todman ran for nearly 1,200 yards with 14 touchdowns 2Jordan Todman ran for nearly 1,200 yards with 14 touchdowns a season ago, despite splitting carries with Andre Dixon. The 2a season ago, despite splitting carries with Andre Dixon. The Huskies’ schedule should help them out as well. They play West 2Huskies’ schedule should help them out as well. They play West

33WEST VIRGINIA3WEST VIRGINIA


Running back Noel Devine, a unani-3Running back Noel Devine, a unani-mous All-Big East fi rst-team selection 3mous All-Big East fi rst-team selection in 2009, had more than 1,400 yards 3in 2009, had more than 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns a season ago. If 3and 13 touchdowns a season ago. If 44SOUTH FLORIDA4SOUTH FLORIDA


New head coach Skip Holtz, who led 4New head coach Skip Holtz, who led East Carolina to back-to-back Confer-4East Carolina to back-to-back Confer-ence USA titles over the past two 4ence USA titles over the past two seasons, inherits one of the league’s 4seasons, inherits one of the league’s 55CINCINNATI5CINCINNATI


Dual-threat quarterback Zach Colla-5Dual-threat quarterback Zach Colla-ros takes over for the graduated Tony 5ros takes over for the graduated Tony Pike. His phenomenal stretch as Pike’s 5Pike. His phenomenal stretch as Pike’s replacement last year (4-0 record) has 5replacement last year (4-0 record) has

66RUTGERS6RUTGERS


Sophomore quarterback Tom Savage 6Sophomore quarterback Tom Savage started 11 games last season, setting 6started 11 games last season, setting a conference record for most pass-6a conference record for most pass-ing yards by a true freshman. Rutgers 6ing yards by a true freshman. Rutgers 77SYRACUSE7SYRACUSE


In its second season under head coach 7In its second season under head coach Doug Marrone, the Orange defense will 7Doug Marrone, the Orange defense will again lead the way. Doug Hogue and 7again lead the way. Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith form the best pair of line-7Derrell Smith form the best pair of line- 88LOUISVILLE8LOUISVILLE


For the Cardinals to avoid fi nishing at 8For the Cardinals to avoid fi nishing at the bottom of the Big East, they will 8the bottom of the Big East, they will need to fi nd an answer at quarterback. 8need to fi nd an answer at quarterback. Adam Froman is the starter entering 8Adam Froman is the starter entering

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OPPONENT

Sept. 4

at AKRON

Sept. 11

WASHINGTON

Sept. 18

MAINE

Sept. 25

COLGATE

Oct. 9

at SOUTH FLORIDA

Oct. 16

PITTSBURGH (Homecoming)

Oct. 23

at WEST VIRGINIA

Oct. 30

at CINCINNATI

Nov. 6

LOUISVILLE

Nov. 13

at RUTGERS

Nov. 20

CONNECTICUT

Nov. 27

BOSTON COLLEGE

SCORE

RECORD

------------

------------

— com

piled

by sta

ff writer R

yan

Ma

rfurt

After a favorable slate to

start the season, Syracuse w

ill hit a tough, four-game

midseason stretch that

could ultimately decide its

precious postseason fate

These two program

s met for the fi rst tim

e in 2008 at the Carrier

Dom

e. The Zips beat the O

range 42-28 — giving A

kron only it’s second w

in in program history over a B

CS

school. S

yracuse returned the favor last year as Delone C

arter rushed for a season

-high 170 yards with three touchdow

ns in the 28-14 victo

-ry. H

owever, the w

in was nothing to brag ab

out as the Zips fi nished second to last in the M

AC

East. N

ot only did the Zips have to post

an ad in the school pap

er in search of a third-string quarterb

ack, b

ut they also fi nished with their low

est-leading rusher in more than

50 years (Joe Tuzze, with only 24

4 yards rushing).The exp

ectations are low ag

ain for the Zips this year. They received the second

-lowest num

ber of votes in the M

AC

preseason m

edia poll.

All eyes w

ill be on H

uskies quarterback Jake Locker in this one.

Locker is one of the most hyp

ed pro-prosp

ects this year, and many

draft services have already predicted him

to be the N

o. 1 overall pick in next year’s N

FL Draft.

Making m

atters even worse for S

U is the talented supp

orting cast Locker has on offense. The H

uskies return a 1,000-yard rusher

in sophomore C

hris Polk, and a second

-team A

ll-Pac-10 receiver in

Jermaine K

earse (17 yards per catch, 8 TD

s) The Orange D

will have

its hands full.

Maine and S

U m

et for the fi rst time last year in the C

arrier Dom

e. The B

lack Bears caused som

e concern for Orange fans as M

aine had a four-p

oint lead at halftime. M

aine kept themselves in the

gam

e by executing two onside kicks and tw

o fake punts keeping

the Orange sp

ecial teams on their hands for the entirety of the

gam

e.The B

lack Bears even scored on a defl ected p

ass in a gam

e in w

hich it felt like destiny was on M

aine’s sideline. How

ever, running b

ack Delone C

arter busted the g

ame op

en with four total touch

-dow

ns, three of which cam

e in the second half.

Syracuse sp

ent months w

ithout a fi nal gam

e for the 2010 season and fi nally announced in A

pril that it would face C

olgate. The

problem

with scheduling C

olgate instead of another Footb

all Bow

l S

ubdivision (form

erly Division I-A

) team is that the O

range will now

need a record of 7-5 to b

e bow

l eligible.

Both C

olgate and M

aine are Football C

hampionship S

ubdivision

(formerly D

ivision I-AA

) teams. If an FB

S team

has multip

le victories over FC

S, only one of those w

ins can count toward b

owl eligibility.

This year’s gam

e will b

e the 65th meeting b

etween the tw

o schools and renew

s a once-p

opular rivalry. C

olgate leads the

series, 31-29.

Since joining the B

ig East in 2005, S

outh Florida has gone a p

er-fect 5

-0 against S

yracuse and has won every g

ame by at least 14

points. S

yracuse actually outgained the B

ulls last year, but had

seven turnovers that accounted for 27 of the Bulls’ 34 p

oints. S

outh Florida only loses one starter on offense this year, b

ut the defense is a different story. The unit w

ill be w

ithout six defensive starters from

a year ago, fi ve of whom

are now in the N

FL (George

Selvie, Jason P

ierre-P

aul, Nate A

llen, Jerome M

urphy, Kion W

ilson). H

owever, talented p

layers such as linebacker S

am B

arrington and

defensive end Ryne G

iddins head a promising young defense that

could be even b

etter, despite the major losses.

Last year the Panthers w

ere two quarters aw

ay from a B

ig East

championship and a B

CS

bow

l gam

e. This year they lose the most

starters in the conference, including veteran quarterback B

ill Stull

and Big E

ast co-defensive p

layer of the year Mick W

illiams.

Com

mon know

ledge would tell you to exp

ect a drop off, but the

Panthers should still have the B

ig East’s m

ost talented team this

year. Pittsb

urgh was picked as the preseason favorite to w

in the B

ig East and returns fi ve starters w

ho were A

ll-Big E

ast last sea-son.

Since the last tim

e the Orange b

eat the Mountaineers in 2001,

these programs have taken tw

o very different trajectories. In 2001, S

yracuse fi nished the year with a 10

-3 record and beat K

ansas S

tate in the Insight Bow

l. Since then, the O

range has landed a 30

-65 record with one b

owl app

earance, while W

est Virginia has

won tw

o BC

S b

owl g

ames and nearly p

layed for a national title.This year the M

ountaineers return some d

ynamic p

laymakers in

wide receiver Jock S

anders and running back N

oel Devine. They do

lose their starting quarterback, b

ut highly touted sophomore G

eno S

mith show

ed promise in lim

ited action last year.

The Bearcats have ow

ned the Big E

ast the past tw

o seasons, w

inning back-to

-back conference cham

pionships and going unde-

feated in conference play last season. H

owever, this year C

incinnati is w

ithout head coach Brian K

elly, the pulse of the program

over his three years as coach.

Rep

lacing Kelly is form

er Central M

ichigan head coach B

utch Jones. This is Jones’ second tim

e replacing K

elly, as Jones rep

laced Kelly w

hen he left Central M

ichigan to coach the

Bearcats. In Jones’ three years coaching the C

hippew

as, he won

two M

AC

championships and p

layed three bow

l gam

es.K

elly is a major loss for the B

earcats, but he left the team

in good shap

e and history suggests that a major drop

-off won’t happ

en in the im

mediate future.

Since joining the B

ig East in 2005, the C

ardinals have had quite a roller-coaster ride. The team

has gone from an O

range Bow

l app

earance in 2006 to fi nishing at the bottom

of the conference the p

ast two seasons.

Last year Louisville’s only Big E

ast win w

as over Syracuse, even

though it was outg

ained by 115 yards. This year the Cardinals have

a new head coach, C

harlie Strong, and lose fi ve of their top six

tacklers on defense. The Cardinals w

ill be in reb

uilding mode, b

ut it w

ill be interesting to see if S

trong can get his players to b

uy into a w

inning mentality.

This rivalry has heated up in the past tw

o years, both on and off the

fi eld. When D

oug Marrone took over as head coach of the O

range, he p

laced an imm

ediate emphasis on estab

lishing a recruiting stranglehold over N

ew York state high school footb

all. Syracuse’s

main com

petition over these in

-state prospects has b

een Rutgers,

and last year Marrone m

ade it clear that he wanted to go right after

the Scarlet K

nights.The O

range had their best g

ame of the year, registering nine sacks

and holding Rutgers to only 130 total yards in the 31-13 victory. This

year expect the S

carlet Knights to b

e ready.

Pittsb

urgh, West V

irginia and Cincinnati get m

ost of the atten-

tion for a Big E

ast championship, b

ut by the time this g

ame rolls

around, don’t be surprised if the H

uskies are playing for a shot at a

BC

S b

owl b

erth. Last year, Connecticut quietly had one of the b

et-ter seasons in the B

ig East and had a huge w

in over a formid

able

SE

C foe, S

outh Carolina, in the P

apaJohns.com

Bow

l.The H

uskies return 16 starters from a squad that w

on eight g

ames and lost fi ve extrem

ely close ones by a combined m

argin of 15 p

oints. If the Huskies can get a coup

le of those close gam

es to sw

ing their way this year, a B

ig East cham

pionship won’t seem

so far- fetched.

A lot of the attention in this g

ame —

along with every other

gam

e this season for the Golden E

agles — w

ill go to senior Mark

Herzlich, the 2008 co

-AC

C D

efensive Player of the Year. H

erzlich took last season off after b

eing diagnosed with E

wing’s sarcom

a, a rare form

of bone cancer, and w

ill return for his senior season.B

ut Herzlich isn’t the only E

agle with a story to tell. S

enior offen-

sive tackle Anthony C

astonzo has played every g

ame in his B

C

career and is one of the top offensive line prospects for next year’s

NFL D

raft. Castonzo is also a candid

ate for the Rhodes scholarship

and could becom

e the second AC

C footb

all player to receive the

honor in three years.

s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m1 4 f rom w i t h i n | t h e da i ly or a nge f o o t b a l l gu i de

study the ups and downs of Greg Paulus, from his good accuracy to the mental lapses of a 23-year-old 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

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 mem-ber 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 con-ditioning, 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 differ-ent 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 foot-ball 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

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 Nas-sib after he was named starter. Sometimes, com-petition brings out the best in people. Sometimes the worst. But Paulus never felt awkward, even

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 transi-tion 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 fresh-man 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 mul-tiple 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 intrica-cies 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 experi-ence 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 quarter-back.

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 remem-bers seeing.

And there was the time Malvern was sup-posed 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 lead-ing 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 three-and-out, Greg Paulus would stroll to the side-lines, 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 corner-

back 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 play-er.

“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 dif-ferent than any other freshman. There are fresh-man 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 Northwest-ern. 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-

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 togeth-er 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.”

[email protected]

“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 NassibSU qUarterback

“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 PaulusFormer SU qUarterback

NassIbf r o m p a g e 3


Beat writer predictions

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 any-one who paid attention could see that a foundation was being set. Fast-for-ward to this season and the progress is evident. The defense, which made tremendous strides last year, is now even better, and deeper. Doug Mar-rone has transitioned to an offense he’s more comfortable with, includ-ing a sharp quarterback who could have started last year and one of the top running backs in the Big East. For the casual observer, predict-ing Syracuse to fi nish 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 bet-ter 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 sec-ond 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 sea-son 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 over-all 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 Col-lege) 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 backfi eld is better. The O-Line is better. The defense is bet-ter. The return game is better. But sometimes, better isn’t enough. This season will be one of those times. It will refl ect 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.

John

LoGiurato

Olivero

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CASE KEENUMQuarterbackSeniorHouston

2009: 492-of-700, 5,671 yards, 44 touchdowns, 15 interceptionsConference 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 com-bined with a one- or two-loss season could push the senior to the top of the Heisman list.

MARK INGRAMRunning backJuniorAlabama

2009: 271 carries, 1,658 yards, 17 touchdowns, Heisman Tro-phy winner

Ingram is looking to join Archie Griffi n (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.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PRESEASON TOP 25 POLL

1. Alabama2. Ohio State3. Boise State4. Florida5. Texas6. TCU7. Oklahoma8. Nebraska9. Iowa10. Virginia Tech11. Oregon12. Wisconsin13. Miami (FL)14. USC15. Pittsburgh16. Georgia Tech17. Arkansas18. North Carolina19. Penn State20. Florida State21. LSU22. Auburn23. Georgia24. Oregon State25. West Virginia

In the runningTERRELLE PRYORQuarterbackJuniorOhio State

2009: 167-of-295, 2,094 yards, 25 total touchdowns, 11 interceptionsRose 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 sea-son, capping it off with his MVP performance in the Rose Bowl. If Pryor can exceed his once-again soaring expecta-tions, he may put himself in position for a team champion-ship and for the Heisman.

DION LEWISRunning backSophomorePittsburgh

2009: 325 carries, 1,799 yards, 17 touchdownsBig 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 Heis-man.

KELLEN MOOREQuarterbackJuniorBoise State

2009: 277-of-431, 3,536 yards, 39 touchdowns, 3 interceptionsWAC 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 rank-ing in the AP poll, Moore should get some seri-ous looks as a Heisman candidate. If that hap-pens and the junior continues his mistake-free play, he could become the fi rst non-BCS Heis-man winner since Ty Detmer (BYU) in 1990.

RYAN MALLETTQuarterbackJuniorArkansas

2009: 225-of-403, 3,624 yards, 30 touchdowns, 7 intercep-tionsLiberty Bowl MVP

Mallett set or tied 16 Arkansas passing records in 2009, and his big arm has NFL scouts drool-ing. 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.

Alabama’s Ingram is back to defend his Heisman Trophy, but faces serious competition

f rom w i t h i n 1 7S P O R T S @ D A I L Y O R A N G E . C O M f rom w i t h i n | t h e da i ly or a nge f o o t b a l l gu i de 1 7S P O R T S @ D A I L Y O R A N C E . C O M

By Zach BrownSTAFF WRITER

C 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 confer-ence. 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 deci-sion would be before the offer was fi nally 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 fi ghting 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 mid-majors 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 infl uence on the decision to change conferences.

“I just think the prestige of the (Pac-10) both aca-demically and athletically, their championship reputa-tion, 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 possibil-ity.”

Pac-10 Chief Operating Offi cer 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 fi t all the criteria and then some. One of the biggest assets the Pac-10 saw in the school was its geog-raphy. The school’s proximity to Salt Lake City adds another major market to the conference.

“We felt it was important that the dynamic metro-politan areas be part of the sphere of infl uence 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 offi cially 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 Colo-rado State, San Diego State and Wyoming but instead will have league games with the likes of Oregon, South-ern 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 fi nished 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 coun-terpart 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

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

photo courtesy of utah athletic communications

SEE UTAH PAGE 18

s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m18 f rom w i t h i n | t h e da i ly or a nge f o o t b a l l gu i de

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 quarter-back 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 var-sity team from John Marshall High School, Col-laros 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 Saccoc-cia 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 Col-laros 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 com-mitted 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 quarter-back, he did the same thing as a shortstop.”

Eventually, that football talent paid off, catch-ing 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, some-thing 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

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 two-sport athlete at UC, Collaros said baseball actu-ally helped him improve as a quarterback.

“Footwork especially carries over from base-ball to football,” he said. “Turning a double play is kind of like throwing a quick slant. (You prac-tice) 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 dur-ing the offseason, Collaros can’t wait to return to the field, especially with the Bearcats getting back their leading rusher, two of their top-three receivers and two All-Big East offensive guards.

One of those receivers is the 6-foot-3 Armon Binns, with whom Collaros had special chem-istry 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 hap-pen, 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.”

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collarosf r o m p a g e 1 0

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 hap-pened 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 prob-ably of any conference in the country,” he said. “We enjoy the relationship with each other, and if it’s something that’s not work-ing 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 com-ing 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.”

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utahf r o m p a g e 1 7

f rom w i t h i n | t h e da i ly or a nge f o o t b a l l gu i de 19s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m

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 sus-pension followed.

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 Carter-White, 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

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 Satur-day 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 would-be 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 bet-ter 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 smil-ing 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.”

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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 HicksSU Strength and conditioning coach

carterf r o m p a g e 5

“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 CarterSU rUnning back

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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 Prince-Tyson 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 TEAMSSenior 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.

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

The shakedown

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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, walk-on 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, all-senior rotation that includes Lewis, Bud Tribbey and Anthony Perkins.

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.

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.

s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m2 2 f rom w i t h i n | t h e da i ly or a nge f o o t b a l l gu i de

2010 SYRACUSE FOOTBALL ROSTERNo. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class1 Phillip Thomas FS 6-0 189 So.2 Olando Fisher SS 5-11 198 Jr.3 Delone Carter RB 5-10 215 Sr.4 Malcolm Cater LB 6-1 212 Fr.5 Marcus Sales WR 6-0 177 Jr.6 Da’Mon Merkerson CB 6-1 184 Sr.7 Jonny Miller QB 6-1 210 Fr.8 Cody Catalina TE 6-3 231 Sr.9 Ri’Shard Anderson CB 6-0 185 So.10 Dorian Graham WR 5-11 190 So.11 Marquis Spruill LB 6-2 223 Fr.12 Ryan Nassib QB 6-2 224 So.13 Deon Goggins DL 6-3 280 Jr.14 John Kinder QB 6-2 182 Fr.15 Alec Lemon WR 6-2 196 So.16 Dom Anene CB 6-1 209 So.16 James Jarrett QB 6-2 204 So.17 Charley Loeb QB 6-4 208 So.18 Keon Lyn DB 6-1 188 Fr.18 Nick Raven QB 6-3 218 Fr.19 Ryan Lichtenstein K 5-10 155 So.20 Brice Hawkes LB 6-0 216 Fr.21 Shamarko Thomas SS 5-10 200 So.22 Adrian Fleming WR 6-3 198 Fr.23 Prince-Tyson Gulley RB 5-9 178 Fr.24 Max Suter SS 5-11 191 Sr.25 Derrell Smith LB 6-1 232 Sr.26 Kevyn Scott CB 5-11 207 Jr.28 Jeremi Wilkes DB 5-9 177 Fr.29 Antwon Bailey RB 5-8 192 Jr.30 Steve Rene WR 5-7 167 Fr.31 Clay Cleveland FB 6-0 218 Fr.31 Colin Reno WR 5-10 182 So.32 Doug Hogue LB 6-2 226 Sr.33 Dan Vaughan LB 6-2 214 So.34 Tombe Kose FB 5-9 253 Jr.35 Mike Holmes CB 5-11 182 Sr.36 George Mayes CB 5-8 182 Sr.37 Ross Krautman K 5-7 154 Fr.38 Ryan Ahern FS 6-0 198 Sr.39 Ricky Azzoto RB 5-9 203 Jr.40 Zachary McCarrell S 5-11 195 Fr.40 Joe Nassib CB 5-9 141 Fr.41 Ryan Gillum LB 5-11 219 Jr.42 Shane Kimmel FB 6-1 242 So.43 Mario Tull LB 6-0 206 Fr.45 Jerome Smith RB 6-0 210 Fr.46 Robert Nieves FB 5-11 221 Sr.47 Rob Long P 6-3 190 Sr.48 Carl Cutler FB 6-2 240 Jr.49 Adam Harris LB 6-2 232 Jr.50 Femi Aliyu LB 5-11 204 Fr.51 Andrew Lewis DT 6-2 285 Sr.52 Ollie Haney NT 6-2 292 Sr.53 Chad Battles DE 6-2 230 Jr.54 Mikhail Marinovich DE 6-5 245 Jr.55 Anthony Perkins DT 6-4 282 Sr.56 Cory Boatman DT 6-2 256 So.57 Max Leo LS 5-11 210 Sr.58 Lewellyn Coker LB 6-1 210 Fr.59 Macky MacPherson C 6-2 256 Fr.60 Sean Hickey OL 6-5 292 Fr.62 Andrew Phillips OT 6-6 280 Fr.65 Jarel Lowery OG 6-3 299 So.66 Andrew Tiller OT 6-5 338 Jr.67 Justin Pugh OG 6-5 287 Fr.69 Robert Welsh DL 6-4 259 Fr.70 Ryan Bartholomew C 6-2 298 Sr.71 Adam Rosner OG 6-5 326 Sr.72 Nick Lepak C 6-4 336 Jr.73 Nicholas Pedrotti OL 6-4 296 Fr.74 Michael Hay OT 6-4 290 Jr.75 Zack Chibane OG 6-5 298 So.76 Ian Allport OT 6-4 320 Jr.78 Austin Lane OL 6-6 300 Fr.80 Nick Provo TE 6-4 241 Sr.81 Cody Morgan WR 5-8 182 So.82 Van Chew WR 6-1 170 Jr.83 Kyle Ishman WR 6-1 170 Fr.84 Michael Acchione WR 5-10 164 Jr.85 Jose Cruz TE 6-5 250 Sr.86 David Stevens TE 6-2 219 So.87 Aaron Weaver WR 6-2 220 Sr.88 Jarrod West WR 6-3 190 Fr.89 Thomas Trendowski TE 6-1 238 Jr.90 Jared Kimmel DE 6-6 250 Sr.91 Brandon Sharpe DE 6-2 233 So.92 Charlie Copa TE 6-6 246 Fr.93 Micah Robinson DL 6-3 259 Fr.94 Bud Tribbey DT 6-0 290 Sr.95 Torrey Ball DE 6-3 247 Jr.96 Jay Bromley DE 6-3 273 Fr.97 Beckett Wales TE 6-3 233 Fr.98 Max Beaulieu DE 6-4 255 Fr.99 Chandler Jones DE 6-5 251 So.

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From dailyorange.com...Will Syracuse qualify for a Bowl game this season?

38%

38%

Ha... you’re joking, right?As of Aug. 31

They’ll sneak in, maybe.

Without a doubt. Let’s go Orange!

14%

They’ll get four or fewer wins.

10%

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2010 football guide

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