SWC75
Bored Historian
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THE OFFENSE
Syracuse’s offense has been “in the woods” for along time now. It’s not only been hard to see the program decline as it has. But their games have been tough to watch because the offense has been so unproductive and boring. We actually showed some signs at life last year and our recruiting suggests that we might be getting more dynamic in the near future but I think for this year, we are likely to still be looking for daylight. Doug Marrone said that he would spend the off-season looking at what we were doing and what other teams were doing and changes would be made so we could get “more explosive plays”. His offensive co-ordinator recently announced that after all this review, we will be running the same offense this year we did last year. Since the players haven’t changed that much, maybe that’s a good idea. What we need to do is to run that offense better.
Here is our offensive output in yards or points per game and the ranking among NCAA Division 1A, (BCS teams) in those years, out of 114-120 teams, since the end of the Donovan McNabb era:
YEAR 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Rush 164.6 (89) 207.3 (18) 174.7 (41) 188.8 (34) 189.4 (26)
Pass 171.2 (88) 171.0 (92) 154.8 (98) 187.7 (79) 180.3 (91)
Total 335.8 (80) 378.3 (52) 329.4 (93) 376.4 (54) 369.7 (70)
Scoring 25.5 (64) 26.7 (51) 25.7 (69) 28.9 (45) 26.6 (62)
YEAR 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Rush 178.7 (31) 106.5 (105) 106.9 (97) 62.7 (118) 148.7 (55)
Pass 170.1 (100) 150.8 (105) 157.1 (103) 229.2 (55) 121.5 (113)
Total 349.0 (78) 257.4 (115) 264.0 (110) 291.9 (114) 270.2 (114)
Scoring 23.9 (74) 13.8 (114) 17.04 (102) 16.4 (116) 18.1 (108)
YEAR 2009 2010 2011
Rush 126.6 (87) 140.2 (76) 120.4 (95)
Pass 203.8 (78) 182.7 (91) 227.8 (65)
Total 330.4 (94) 322.9 (97) 348.2 (90)
Scoring 21.2 (78) 22.2 (93) 24.2 (84)
We ran the ball fairly well but not wonderfully in the Paqualoni/DeLeone era, not well enough for that to carry the offense as it did at Nebraska and other powerhouse schools. The national leaders in these years averaged 320 yards a game. When G-Rob came in, we couldn’t run it all, which was a big problem. But look at the passing rankings: 88th, 92nd, 98th, 79th, 91st, 100th, 105th, 103rd, 55th, 113th, 78th and 91st. The 55th ranking was in a year when we were the worst rushing team in the country and were passing out of necessity, not proactively. And this is in a fast rack in a Dome, perfect for a modern, wide-open offesne. Last year, the passing attack took a step forward but our running attack was poor.
Our eventual goal, reasonably, is to be a perennial top 25 team with the potential for something more than that when the circumstances are right. I calculated the average numbers that the top passer, runner and receiver had, on average for the teams that finished in the top 25 of last year’s AP poll, (which was done after the bowls: the BCS standings are before the bowls and so not the final poll).
The average quarterback for a top 25 team last year completed 259 of 402 passes, (64.4%) for 3,281 yards and threw 28 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions. Last year, Ryan Nassib completed 259 of 415 passes (.624%) for 2,685 yards, 22TDs and 9 interceptions. He improved his accuracy from the previous season from 56.4% to 62.4% His numbers these last two years have only been matched in SU history by Don McPherson and Donovan McNabb. Yet Nassib is still frequently criticized for his accuracy, especially on long throws and his pocket presence. I compare him to Antonio “Scoop” Jardine, who played point guard for SU the last three years. Jardine’s numbers suggest he belongs on the pantheon of great SU point guards but he, too was the recipient of constant criticism. Some players just seem to be evaluated by what they don’t do, others by what they do. McPherson and McNabb made mistakes, too. But they were regarded as great players so they were forgiven. Nassib is not. There are some chinks in Nassib’s statistical armor. He averaged 10.4 yards per completion and 6.2 yards per attempt. The average Top 25 quarterback averaged 12.7/8.2. Either we weren’t getting the ball downfield or we weren’t getting “YAC”, yards after catch. The low distance numbers makes Ryan’s completion percentage a little suspect. The Top 25 QB was throwing the ball farther downfield but completing more of them. My own evaluation is that Ryan is a good college quarterback who can put up good numbers if the players around him give him the opportunity to do so. He’s not the type of talent than can elevate a team above it’s status, someone who can create something out of nothing. He’s not the cause of our problems but isn’t necessarily the solution, either.
There are several other quarterbacks on the roster or on the way. The big name is Ashton Broyld, who looked like a high school version of Cam Newton two years ago in leading Rush Henrieta of Rochester to the state title. He spent a year in prep school and is now in an SU uniform. He’s big, (6-4 230) and knocks tacklers around like bowling pins. He’s got some speed. He’s not Peyton Manning but he can pass the ball. He seems like the kind of dynamic talent the team desperately needs. They are going to use him as a “slash” type player this year to get him on the field. He could play quarterback in some situations. He’\ll run the “Stallion”, our version of the “Wildcat”. They are going to try him at running back and even receiver. Early reports are that he’s having trouble adjusting to these various roles with botched hand-offs and dropped passes. I think that in his heart, he’s a quarterback and hopes to play exclusively in that role next year. He’s not a jack of all trades and master of none. People may be expecting too much from him this year.
Behind Nassib on the depth chart are Charley Loeb, a three year back up who’s hardly seen any action, John Kinder, a quick runner people compared to Don McPherson when he showed up but who hasn’t made much of a dent in the depth chart and Terrel Hunt, who looked promising a year ago but had his career temporarily derailed with a shop-lifting charge. Marrone has already recruited two highly regarded quarterbacks for next year’s freshman class, Austin Wilson from Pennsylvania and Zach Allen from Texas, whom Tony Romo of the Cowboys said was the best quarterback prospect he had in the camp he runs. The battle to replace Nassib next year will be quite a free-for all. But for this year, Ryan is our quarterback.
The average top running back for a top 25 team last year carried the ball 253 times for 1373 yards, (a 5.4 average) and 14TDs. Last year, Antwon Bailey carried the ball 240 times for 1051 yards, (4.4) and 6TDS. There was a time when those would have been impressive numbers but in this era of 12 game seasons and bowl game numbers counting that’s very average. And the full yard difference in yards per carry, (5.4 to 4.4) is significant. And he’s gone.
Time for my annual rant on the one-back offense. Everything, of course, was better when I was growing up, (isn’t it always?) One of things that was better is that a football backfield had a quarterback, a halfback and a fullback. The quarterback called the plays, took the ball from center and handed it off to the halfback or the fullback or dropped back to pass, protected by the halfback and fullback in what was called a “pocket”. He might throw the ball to a flanker or a split end, (remember those?) or a tight end. Or the halfback might swing out and catch a shot pass and be off to the races. Or the quarterback might hand the ball off to the fullback on a draw play. On a running play, the fullback, the bigger, more powerful runner, would generally get the ball if the run was between the tackles. Or he might be a lead blocker for the halfback. On sweeps, the halfback, with his superior speed and moves, would get the ball. Or the quarterback could fake a handoff to one and then give it to the other, with each going in different directions. Ben Schwartzwalder rode the Syracuse “sissors play” to the national championship. It was an inside reverse. I bet it would work now.
But what he have now is the one back concept, where a single running back does all the work- running inside and out and blocking for the quarterback. This gives the team an extra receiver. But the halfback was a receiver anyway if you wanted him to be one. When a quarterback drops back to pass, the defense doesn’t know who he is going to throw to. But if it’s a running play, everyone in the stadium knows who will get the ball. That one player has to combine all the traits you’d want in a running back: strength, durability, moves and speed. At this level, few do. Two years ago we had Delone Carter, a muscular guy who could move the pile but who lacked break-away speed. Antwon Bailey was used as a change of pace when Carter needed a rest: a guy with some moves and decent speed who could also catch passes. They would have made an ideal fullback-halfback combination but they were never in the game at the same time. Last year Bailey took over as the #1 guy and they ran him like he was Carter. He did a pretty good job running between the tackles but not as good as Carter. Bailey operated best in space where he could make moves and use his speed. But as the #1 back, he was usually between the tackles. He had been a good pass receiver but we didn’t throw to him much last year. And we hardly used anyone else. Our second leading rusher had 134 yards. When we went undefeated in 1987, Robert Drummond and Michael Owens alternated at tailback and gained 1277 yards at 6 yards a carry. Fullback Daryl Johnston rushed for 564 yards at 4.9 per carry. Don McPherson added 199 yards. The one back offense has no versatility at all and demands too much of one back. But it’s what we do now, so we’re gonna keep on doing it!
This year the position is wide open. Jerome Smith, (who gained those 134 yards) showed good power running technique late last year. He’s got good size at 6-0 226. A teammate tweeted that he ran a 4.4 forty yard dash, which would be exceptional at that size. Unusual speed was not detectable in the way he ran last year, although that may have been a factor of the way he was used. Adonis Ameen-Moore was supposed to be the eventual replacement for Carter but came in 30 pounds overweight last year. He’s lost that this year but had been unable to dislodge Smith from the #1 spot. Prince-Tyson Gulley, (at least we’ve got some interesting names), is more of a Bailey “moves and speed” guy but he’s also got a reputation for both fumbles and injuries. Now that we are to be in the ACC, we hope to do a lot more recruiting down south. One early product of this effort is George Morris a 6-0 191 freshman who shows potential both in terms of power and speed. Another contender is Devonte McFarlane, a freshman from Long Island who’s been switched over from defense. I’d love to see Smith paired with Gulley or Moore paired with Morris in an old-fashioned fullback-halfback combination. But we’ll likely never see more than one of these guys in the game at the same time. Each one will have limitations we will just have to live with.
We could have Curtis Dukes. He played for Indian River High School in the north country. His films while playing there make him look like a high school version of Jim Brown, breaking through the defense and out-running everyone to the goal line over and over. But he went to Penn State to play for Joe Paterno. In the wake of the scandal there, he was allowed to transfer and play immediately for another school and was considering coming back here to play for SU. Apparently, Doug Marrone didn’t even contact, possibly as a favor to the new Penn State coach, Bill O’Brien, who is a close friend. Dukes is a 6-1 242 pound monster with the speed to take tit to the downs. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry backing up Silas Redd, (now at USC) last year. He likely would have become an immediate starter and is the kind of talent that could have helped us turn things around. That ship has sailed but will be on the horizon for a while. If no one emerges from Smith, Moore, Gulley, Morris or McFarland and Dukes has a big year for Penn State, there will be talk that Marrone should have gone after him. And we will play Penn State next year. I would have loved to have seen the guy who looked like a high school version of Cam Newton, (Broyld), lining up next to the guy who looked like a high school Jim Brown, (Dukes) but instead they will be on opposite sides of the line.
The average leading pass receiver on a top 25 team last year caught 64 passes for 968 yards and 9 touchdowns. The second best receiver caught 52 for 685 yards and 6TDs.
Last year we had two guys who matched those numbers of catches. Alec Lemon set a school record with 68 catches for 834 yards and 6TDs. Nick Provo set a record for tight ends with 52 catches for 537 yards and 7 TDs. Again the difference is how far down the field these plays got. Lemon is a “possession” type wide receiver, (it’s better than being a non-possession receiver), who averaged 12.3 yards per catch vs. 15.1 for the Top 25 guy. Provo averaged 10.5 vs. 13.2. We either don’t pass the ball far enough down the field or our guys get tackled too quickly- or both.
Lemon is back, although he’s coming off an injury. Marcus Sales, who caught three long TD passes in the Pinstripe Bowl and then got in some legal trouble that caused him to miss last season, is back on the team. Is he as good as he looked in that game? K-State had a notoriously bad defense that year and that game may be deceiving. Hopefully, Sales can be the deep threat we need and could make a good combination with Lemon. (They call them ’X’ and ’Y’ wide receivers now, not flankers and split ends- Oh! For the old days!). Their back-ups are Jeremiah Kobena and Jarrod West. Kobena is a speedster more noted for his drops than his catches, (who for some reason is Lemon’s back-up) and West is a big target type, 6-2 205, (who is backing up Sales). A couple of freshmen, Alvin Cornelius and Ben Lewis have impressed people in camp but I think they are more a part of the future than the present.
We have to replace Provo and have another great name guy, Beckett Wales, (will it be Murder in the Carrier Dome?) , to do it. Wales has “passed the look test” in practice but shed little in games last year, when he caught 6 passes for 37 yards. His back-up David Stevens was actually better with 19 catches for 167 yards and a score. A freshman, Ron Thompson, got rave reviews in camp. Some people even thought he might emerge as a starter. But now he’s hurt and may be red-shirted. Like Cornelius and Lewis, his is a name we’ll hear a lot in the future.
Nobody goes anywhere in football unless the offensive line is opening holes for them or protecting them. It’s been years since I felt the offensive line was a strength of the SU football team. I remember that after we went to the Cherry Bowl in 1985, Dick McPherson used the “bowl credibility” that gave him to recruit five guys: Blake Bednarz, John Flannery, Turnell Sims, Gary McCummings and Mike Bernard, who red-shirted the next year and then took over the O-line for the 1987 season, (there was one hold-over from the previous year’s line, Craig Stoeppel, who was also very good). That new line was a huge reason why we went from a 5-6 team to an 11-0 team. Plays were suddenly being run like they looked on the blackboard. We not only got big plays but we got those consistent 5 yard plays that allow a team to sustain drives, chew up the clock and wear down the opposition. It’s been along time since we looked like that. Even in the 90’s, most of our offense seemed to center around big plays, often improvised by mobile quarterbacks. In recent years, our offense has centered around the punter.
There’s no “Cherry Bowl Group” moving in on the O-line this year. We’ve lost two starters from last year, Andrew Tiller and Michael Hay. Tiller was a monster of as guy (6-6 340), who never quite lived up to his potential- or his potential nick-name, (I wanted to call him “Roto”). Hay was an excitable guy who often was seen arguing with coaches on the sidelines when he wasn‘t committing penalties on the field. Our best returning lineman- and the best one we’ve had in some years, is Justin Pugh. But he’s getting over surgery and won’t be ready for the start of the season. We’re not sure when he’ll be back- or if he’ll be as good as he was. Sean Hickey, who has had some injury problems of his own, now gets a chance. So the only available returnees are undersized, (but under-rated) Mackey McPherson at center and Zack Chibane, who I recall being subject to some criticism last season but who has been spoken of with more respect going into this year. Tiller and Hay will be replaced by Ivan Foy and Lou Alexander, both 6-4 and 311. Right now they are just names, heights and weights. At most positions, talent is obvious from the time a player shows up. The search is for consistency. In the O-Line, is can take a while to see if you’ve got someone good. Hopefully some of our guys will emerge this year. But right now, it’s just a hope.
My gut feeling is that the SU offense will be emerging from the woods in the near future. When we do, we will find ourselves in the ACC.
Syracuse’s offense has been “in the woods” for along time now. It’s not only been hard to see the program decline as it has. But their games have been tough to watch because the offense has been so unproductive and boring. We actually showed some signs at life last year and our recruiting suggests that we might be getting more dynamic in the near future but I think for this year, we are likely to still be looking for daylight. Doug Marrone said that he would spend the off-season looking at what we were doing and what other teams were doing and changes would be made so we could get “more explosive plays”. His offensive co-ordinator recently announced that after all this review, we will be running the same offense this year we did last year. Since the players haven’t changed that much, maybe that’s a good idea. What we need to do is to run that offense better.
Here is our offensive output in yards or points per game and the ranking among NCAA Division 1A, (BCS teams) in those years, out of 114-120 teams, since the end of the Donovan McNabb era:
YEAR 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Rush 164.6 (89) 207.3 (18) 174.7 (41) 188.8 (34) 189.4 (26)
Pass 171.2 (88) 171.0 (92) 154.8 (98) 187.7 (79) 180.3 (91)
Total 335.8 (80) 378.3 (52) 329.4 (93) 376.4 (54) 369.7 (70)
Scoring 25.5 (64) 26.7 (51) 25.7 (69) 28.9 (45) 26.6 (62)
YEAR 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Rush 178.7 (31) 106.5 (105) 106.9 (97) 62.7 (118) 148.7 (55)
Pass 170.1 (100) 150.8 (105) 157.1 (103) 229.2 (55) 121.5 (113)
Total 349.0 (78) 257.4 (115) 264.0 (110) 291.9 (114) 270.2 (114)
Scoring 23.9 (74) 13.8 (114) 17.04 (102) 16.4 (116) 18.1 (108)
YEAR 2009 2010 2011
Rush 126.6 (87) 140.2 (76) 120.4 (95)
Pass 203.8 (78) 182.7 (91) 227.8 (65)
Total 330.4 (94) 322.9 (97) 348.2 (90)
Scoring 21.2 (78) 22.2 (93) 24.2 (84)
We ran the ball fairly well but not wonderfully in the Paqualoni/DeLeone era, not well enough for that to carry the offense as it did at Nebraska and other powerhouse schools. The national leaders in these years averaged 320 yards a game. When G-Rob came in, we couldn’t run it all, which was a big problem. But look at the passing rankings: 88th, 92nd, 98th, 79th, 91st, 100th, 105th, 103rd, 55th, 113th, 78th and 91st. The 55th ranking was in a year when we were the worst rushing team in the country and were passing out of necessity, not proactively. And this is in a fast rack in a Dome, perfect for a modern, wide-open offesne. Last year, the passing attack took a step forward but our running attack was poor.
Our eventual goal, reasonably, is to be a perennial top 25 team with the potential for something more than that when the circumstances are right. I calculated the average numbers that the top passer, runner and receiver had, on average for the teams that finished in the top 25 of last year’s AP poll, (which was done after the bowls: the BCS standings are before the bowls and so not the final poll).
The average quarterback for a top 25 team last year completed 259 of 402 passes, (64.4%) for 3,281 yards and threw 28 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions. Last year, Ryan Nassib completed 259 of 415 passes (.624%) for 2,685 yards, 22TDs and 9 interceptions. He improved his accuracy from the previous season from 56.4% to 62.4% His numbers these last two years have only been matched in SU history by Don McPherson and Donovan McNabb. Yet Nassib is still frequently criticized for his accuracy, especially on long throws and his pocket presence. I compare him to Antonio “Scoop” Jardine, who played point guard for SU the last three years. Jardine’s numbers suggest he belongs on the pantheon of great SU point guards but he, too was the recipient of constant criticism. Some players just seem to be evaluated by what they don’t do, others by what they do. McPherson and McNabb made mistakes, too. But they were regarded as great players so they were forgiven. Nassib is not. There are some chinks in Nassib’s statistical armor. He averaged 10.4 yards per completion and 6.2 yards per attempt. The average Top 25 quarterback averaged 12.7/8.2. Either we weren’t getting the ball downfield or we weren’t getting “YAC”, yards after catch. The low distance numbers makes Ryan’s completion percentage a little suspect. The Top 25 QB was throwing the ball farther downfield but completing more of them. My own evaluation is that Ryan is a good college quarterback who can put up good numbers if the players around him give him the opportunity to do so. He’s not the type of talent than can elevate a team above it’s status, someone who can create something out of nothing. He’s not the cause of our problems but isn’t necessarily the solution, either.
There are several other quarterbacks on the roster or on the way. The big name is Ashton Broyld, who looked like a high school version of Cam Newton two years ago in leading Rush Henrieta of Rochester to the state title. He spent a year in prep school and is now in an SU uniform. He’s big, (6-4 230) and knocks tacklers around like bowling pins. He’s got some speed. He’s not Peyton Manning but he can pass the ball. He seems like the kind of dynamic talent the team desperately needs. They are going to use him as a “slash” type player this year to get him on the field. He could play quarterback in some situations. He’\ll run the “Stallion”, our version of the “Wildcat”. They are going to try him at running back and even receiver. Early reports are that he’s having trouble adjusting to these various roles with botched hand-offs and dropped passes. I think that in his heart, he’s a quarterback and hopes to play exclusively in that role next year. He’s not a jack of all trades and master of none. People may be expecting too much from him this year.
Behind Nassib on the depth chart are Charley Loeb, a three year back up who’s hardly seen any action, John Kinder, a quick runner people compared to Don McPherson when he showed up but who hasn’t made much of a dent in the depth chart and Terrel Hunt, who looked promising a year ago but had his career temporarily derailed with a shop-lifting charge. Marrone has already recruited two highly regarded quarterbacks for next year’s freshman class, Austin Wilson from Pennsylvania and Zach Allen from Texas, whom Tony Romo of the Cowboys said was the best quarterback prospect he had in the camp he runs. The battle to replace Nassib next year will be quite a free-for all. But for this year, Ryan is our quarterback.
The average top running back for a top 25 team last year carried the ball 253 times for 1373 yards, (a 5.4 average) and 14TDs. Last year, Antwon Bailey carried the ball 240 times for 1051 yards, (4.4) and 6TDS. There was a time when those would have been impressive numbers but in this era of 12 game seasons and bowl game numbers counting that’s very average. And the full yard difference in yards per carry, (5.4 to 4.4) is significant. And he’s gone.
Time for my annual rant on the one-back offense. Everything, of course, was better when I was growing up, (isn’t it always?) One of things that was better is that a football backfield had a quarterback, a halfback and a fullback. The quarterback called the plays, took the ball from center and handed it off to the halfback or the fullback or dropped back to pass, protected by the halfback and fullback in what was called a “pocket”. He might throw the ball to a flanker or a split end, (remember those?) or a tight end. Or the halfback might swing out and catch a shot pass and be off to the races. Or the quarterback might hand the ball off to the fullback on a draw play. On a running play, the fullback, the bigger, more powerful runner, would generally get the ball if the run was between the tackles. Or he might be a lead blocker for the halfback. On sweeps, the halfback, with his superior speed and moves, would get the ball. Or the quarterback could fake a handoff to one and then give it to the other, with each going in different directions. Ben Schwartzwalder rode the Syracuse “sissors play” to the national championship. It was an inside reverse. I bet it would work now.
But what he have now is the one back concept, where a single running back does all the work- running inside and out and blocking for the quarterback. This gives the team an extra receiver. But the halfback was a receiver anyway if you wanted him to be one. When a quarterback drops back to pass, the defense doesn’t know who he is going to throw to. But if it’s a running play, everyone in the stadium knows who will get the ball. That one player has to combine all the traits you’d want in a running back: strength, durability, moves and speed. At this level, few do. Two years ago we had Delone Carter, a muscular guy who could move the pile but who lacked break-away speed. Antwon Bailey was used as a change of pace when Carter needed a rest: a guy with some moves and decent speed who could also catch passes. They would have made an ideal fullback-halfback combination but they were never in the game at the same time. Last year Bailey took over as the #1 guy and they ran him like he was Carter. He did a pretty good job running between the tackles but not as good as Carter. Bailey operated best in space where he could make moves and use his speed. But as the #1 back, he was usually between the tackles. He had been a good pass receiver but we didn’t throw to him much last year. And we hardly used anyone else. Our second leading rusher had 134 yards. When we went undefeated in 1987, Robert Drummond and Michael Owens alternated at tailback and gained 1277 yards at 6 yards a carry. Fullback Daryl Johnston rushed for 564 yards at 4.9 per carry. Don McPherson added 199 yards. The one back offense has no versatility at all and demands too much of one back. But it’s what we do now, so we’re gonna keep on doing it!
This year the position is wide open. Jerome Smith, (who gained those 134 yards) showed good power running technique late last year. He’s got good size at 6-0 226. A teammate tweeted that he ran a 4.4 forty yard dash, which would be exceptional at that size. Unusual speed was not detectable in the way he ran last year, although that may have been a factor of the way he was used. Adonis Ameen-Moore was supposed to be the eventual replacement for Carter but came in 30 pounds overweight last year. He’s lost that this year but had been unable to dislodge Smith from the #1 spot. Prince-Tyson Gulley, (at least we’ve got some interesting names), is more of a Bailey “moves and speed” guy but he’s also got a reputation for both fumbles and injuries. Now that we are to be in the ACC, we hope to do a lot more recruiting down south. One early product of this effort is George Morris a 6-0 191 freshman who shows potential both in terms of power and speed. Another contender is Devonte McFarlane, a freshman from Long Island who’s been switched over from defense. I’d love to see Smith paired with Gulley or Moore paired with Morris in an old-fashioned fullback-halfback combination. But we’ll likely never see more than one of these guys in the game at the same time. Each one will have limitations we will just have to live with.
We could have Curtis Dukes. He played for Indian River High School in the north country. His films while playing there make him look like a high school version of Jim Brown, breaking through the defense and out-running everyone to the goal line over and over. But he went to Penn State to play for Joe Paterno. In the wake of the scandal there, he was allowed to transfer and play immediately for another school and was considering coming back here to play for SU. Apparently, Doug Marrone didn’t even contact, possibly as a favor to the new Penn State coach, Bill O’Brien, who is a close friend. Dukes is a 6-1 242 pound monster with the speed to take tit to the downs. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry backing up Silas Redd, (now at USC) last year. He likely would have become an immediate starter and is the kind of talent that could have helped us turn things around. That ship has sailed but will be on the horizon for a while. If no one emerges from Smith, Moore, Gulley, Morris or McFarland and Dukes has a big year for Penn State, there will be talk that Marrone should have gone after him. And we will play Penn State next year. I would have loved to have seen the guy who looked like a high school version of Cam Newton, (Broyld), lining up next to the guy who looked like a high school Jim Brown, (Dukes) but instead they will be on opposite sides of the line.
The average leading pass receiver on a top 25 team last year caught 64 passes for 968 yards and 9 touchdowns. The second best receiver caught 52 for 685 yards and 6TDs.
Last year we had two guys who matched those numbers of catches. Alec Lemon set a school record with 68 catches for 834 yards and 6TDs. Nick Provo set a record for tight ends with 52 catches for 537 yards and 7 TDs. Again the difference is how far down the field these plays got. Lemon is a “possession” type wide receiver, (it’s better than being a non-possession receiver), who averaged 12.3 yards per catch vs. 15.1 for the Top 25 guy. Provo averaged 10.5 vs. 13.2. We either don’t pass the ball far enough down the field or our guys get tackled too quickly- or both.
Lemon is back, although he’s coming off an injury. Marcus Sales, who caught three long TD passes in the Pinstripe Bowl and then got in some legal trouble that caused him to miss last season, is back on the team. Is he as good as he looked in that game? K-State had a notoriously bad defense that year and that game may be deceiving. Hopefully, Sales can be the deep threat we need and could make a good combination with Lemon. (They call them ’X’ and ’Y’ wide receivers now, not flankers and split ends- Oh! For the old days!). Their back-ups are Jeremiah Kobena and Jarrod West. Kobena is a speedster more noted for his drops than his catches, (who for some reason is Lemon’s back-up) and West is a big target type, 6-2 205, (who is backing up Sales). A couple of freshmen, Alvin Cornelius and Ben Lewis have impressed people in camp but I think they are more a part of the future than the present.
We have to replace Provo and have another great name guy, Beckett Wales, (will it be Murder in the Carrier Dome?) , to do it. Wales has “passed the look test” in practice but shed little in games last year, when he caught 6 passes for 37 yards. His back-up David Stevens was actually better with 19 catches for 167 yards and a score. A freshman, Ron Thompson, got rave reviews in camp. Some people even thought he might emerge as a starter. But now he’s hurt and may be red-shirted. Like Cornelius and Lewis, his is a name we’ll hear a lot in the future.
Nobody goes anywhere in football unless the offensive line is opening holes for them or protecting them. It’s been years since I felt the offensive line was a strength of the SU football team. I remember that after we went to the Cherry Bowl in 1985, Dick McPherson used the “bowl credibility” that gave him to recruit five guys: Blake Bednarz, John Flannery, Turnell Sims, Gary McCummings and Mike Bernard, who red-shirted the next year and then took over the O-line for the 1987 season, (there was one hold-over from the previous year’s line, Craig Stoeppel, who was also very good). That new line was a huge reason why we went from a 5-6 team to an 11-0 team. Plays were suddenly being run like they looked on the blackboard. We not only got big plays but we got those consistent 5 yard plays that allow a team to sustain drives, chew up the clock and wear down the opposition. It’s been along time since we looked like that. Even in the 90’s, most of our offense seemed to center around big plays, often improvised by mobile quarterbacks. In recent years, our offense has centered around the punter.
There’s no “Cherry Bowl Group” moving in on the O-line this year. We’ve lost two starters from last year, Andrew Tiller and Michael Hay. Tiller was a monster of as guy (6-6 340), who never quite lived up to his potential- or his potential nick-name, (I wanted to call him “Roto”). Hay was an excitable guy who often was seen arguing with coaches on the sidelines when he wasn‘t committing penalties on the field. Our best returning lineman- and the best one we’ve had in some years, is Justin Pugh. But he’s getting over surgery and won’t be ready for the start of the season. We’re not sure when he’ll be back- or if he’ll be as good as he was. Sean Hickey, who has had some injury problems of his own, now gets a chance. So the only available returnees are undersized, (but under-rated) Mackey McPherson at center and Zack Chibane, who I recall being subject to some criticism last season but who has been spoken of with more respect going into this year. Tiller and Hay will be replaced by Ivan Foy and Lou Alexander, both 6-4 and 311. Right now they are just names, heights and weights. At most positions, talent is obvious from the time a player shows up. The search is for consistency. In the O-Line, is can take a while to see if you’ve got someone good. Hopefully some of our guys will emerge this year. But right now, it’s just a hope.
My gut feeling is that the SU offense will be emerging from the woods in the near future. When we do, we will find ourselves in the ACC.
