sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Actually bulldogs aren't beautiful. They are hideous looking awful monstrosities and they have no reason to live. If they are wearing Hoya gear anyway...
SU News
'MY ESCAPE': How football saved Antwan Cordy's life (DO; Mettus)
Sometimes Antwan Cordy gets caught up reflecting on his life.
He thinks about growing up in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house packed with six people in a high-crime, low-income area near Miami. He thinks about old friends, either in jail or dead. He thinks about the bad decisions he almost made, the ones he easily could have made and the ones he actually did.
Then he looks down at the gold football hanging at the end of the chain around his neck.
“Football,” Cordy said, “that was my escape.”
Football saved Cordy from what his father calls a “war zone,” where he says teenagers roam the streets with AK-47s and other guns shoved down their pants.
The sport carried Cordy away from his hometown of Naranja, Florida — a small town in Miami-Dade County with a poverty rate (37.9 percent) almost triple the national average, according to 2015 American Community Survey data — and moved him more than 1,230 miles north to Syracuse, where he’ll likely start at safety for the Orange in the fall.
The redshirt junior, one of SU’s best defensive players, missed all but the first two games of last season with a fractured left forearm. It was an emotionally excruciating experience for a player who’s relied heavily on the sport and the people and resources it’s brought into his life.
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AS HE SAYS: Moe Neal Jr. driven by his father's mistakes (DO; Mettus)
Moe Neal Jr. pulled back the sleeve covering up part of his right arm to reveal an elaborate design. His mother’s name, Tracy, ranges from just below his elbow down to his wrist, each letter stretching the width of his forearm. His grandmother’s name, Mae, written in script, fits on the inside of his wrist with a large set of clasped praying hands above it.
It’s his family arm, he said. Doves and clouds unite the two names. He’s added a guardian angel with roses and a dove on his bicep, and there’s still enough space for his little nephew’s name and his older brother. He plans to finish the arm soon.
But one person is noticeably missing. Moe Neal Sr. His father.
“I’m saving something for my dad,” Moe Neal Jr. said, smiling and rubbing his arm.
Moe Neal Jr., Little Moe, admits he’s a daddy’s boy. He still sits in his father’s lap like when he was a kid and sometimes stays in the hotel room when his dad visits Syracuse for games. They talk every day about football, school and girls — some conversations lead to secrets that they keep from the rest of the family.
Moe Neal Sr., Big Moe, didn’t miss any of Little Moe’s games in his first season at SU. He stayed with his son in Syracuse for the first week of spring practices this year, observing Little Moe’s position switch from running back to wide receiver. Little Moe is “going to play” next season, SU head coach Dino Babers said, but the coaching staff isn’t sure where.
Little Moe is driven by a desire to be just like his father yet nothing like him at all. The Big Moe of the present, who often drives 12 hours alone from his home in Gastonia, North Carolina, to SU for games, is the goal. The one of the past, who stayed out late and battled drug addictions, is what to avoid. The lessons that Big Moe learned through the good and bad parts of his life are what he’s used to shape his son.
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Steve Ishmael
Syracuse’s wide receivers group are without one of the best in the nation, but they don’t feel any less ready (DO; Langer)
Most of Syracuse’s players walked off the field as their 10th spring practice ended. The defensive players headed straight out of Ensley Athletic Center, while a few of the offensive players lingered.
The wide receivers didn’t join the group heading off. Instead, senior Ervin Philips played cornerback against running back convert Moe Neal. Steve Ishmael and Devin Butler lined up by the JUGS machine and took turns catching some extra passes, alternating sides as they went along.
“Those wide receivers,” someone quipped. “They’re always the last ones to get here.”
The unit is missing a major piece from last year’s team with the departure of Amba Etta-Tawo, who had the second-most receiving yards (1,482) and fourth-most touchdowns (14) among Power 5 receivers. Even without its first Associated Press All-American since 2001, Syracuse’s coaches and players remain confident in the group’s ability to produce.
“We may not have one guy as dynamic as Amba,” head coach Dino Babers said March 28 after the fourth spring practice, “but I think overall it will be a better receiving group from top to bottom.”
SU returns two of its most-used receivers in Ishmael, who was the No. 2 receiver on the outside a year ago, and Philips, the lead inside receiver. The current depth chart has redshirt junior Jamal Custis in Ishmael’s spot from a year ago. Custis missed all of last season with an injury, but in his first two years, he amassed five receptions.
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Syracuse concludes spring on Saturday; Orange ahead of 2016 (espn.com; AP)
With the end of spring ball at hand, Syracuse coach Dino Babers figures his Orange are farther ahead than when he took over the program just over a year ago.
"Anytime you learn a new system, there's going to be difficulties," Babers said as he prepared for Saturday's spring-ending scrimmage in the Carrier Dome. "I think the biggest thing is the guys are being more physical. They know where to go ... and I think they're having a lot more fun doing it."
With quarterback Eric Dungey healthy again and packing more muscle on his 6-foot-3 frame, the offense is poised to become more efficient after an impressive first season under Babers.
"We're able to open up the playbook a little more. Last year was a learning period, a lot of learning," said wideout Ervin Philips, who had 90 receptions for 822 yards and six TDs last season as a junior. "That first year I was still learning. This year I have more knowledge."
Before he was injured two-thirds of the way through what ended as a 4-8 season last fall and sat out the final three games with a head injury, Dungey was near the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference statistics. He averaged 25.6 completions per game and had six 300-yard games. For the season, the Orange racked up 5,290 yards of offense, gaining over 500 yards five times.
Still, the ballyhooed uptempo offense that Babers learned at Baylor and honed while coaching at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green sort of overshadowed perhaps the team's most glaring weakness -- its defense.
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Syracuse University linebacker Parris Bennett talks about the end of Spring football and new defensive back Devin Butler.
2017 Spring Showcase Fan Guide (cuse.com)
The Orange wrap up spring ball on Saturday, April 22 with the at the Carrier Dome. The scrimmage marks the first opportunity for fans to check out second-year head coach Dino Babers and his squad before the fall. For those planning on making the trip to the Dome, the pertinent details for Saturday's festivities are below:
ADMISSION & PARKING
Admission and parking are both free. Fans should park in the surface lots across from the Dome and enter the building through any one of the lower-level gates (A, B, C, D, E, F). Gates open at 9 a.m. Seating is general admission.
TIME AND SCRIMMAGE FORMAT
The scrimmage will start at 10 a.m. and consist of four 12-minute quarters (running clock, except for the final two minutes of the second and fourth quarters). Syracuse will split into two teams – Orange (first offense, first defense) and White (second offense, second defense) – and play a game with traditional football scoring. Special teams will be included, however, there will not be any live kickoff or punt returns. A five-minute intermission will take place after the second quarter.
ROSTER CARDS
Game roster cards will be available at no charge.
SELECT-A-SEAT PROGRAM
Beginning at 9 a.m., fans will have the opportunity to walk the Dome and choose the best available seat locations for 2017 season tickets. A sampling of available seats in each section will be marked and members of the Carrier Dome Box Office staff will be on hand to assist with the selection process and answer questions. This year's season ticket pricing guide is below for reference.
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Other
Utica native Will Smith's killer sentenced to 25 years in prison (PS; Daley)
Will Smith's killer Cardell Hayes was sentenced Thursday to serve 25 years in prison for the April 2016 double shooting that took the life of the former Saints defensive lineman and left Smith's wife Racquel injured.
Hayes, 29, stood silently after the sentence was imposed by Criminal District Judge Camille Buras following his Dec. 11 convictions for manslaughter and attempted manslaughter. Buras sentenced Hayes to 25 years without the possibility of parole for his manslaughter conviction, 15 years for the attempted manslaughter count, and ordered the sentences be served concurrently.
Racquel Smith, surrounded by supporters and family members, left the courthouse sobbing and later expressed deep disappointment with the sentence in a written statement.
"This case has presented a highly unique and emotional set of facts," Buras said. "The jury did reject the state's theory that the defendant had acted with specific intent to kill Will Smith or Racquel Smith. The jury likewise rejected the defense's theory that Cardell Hayes had acted in self-defense.
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