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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3490396, member: 289"] Last year I suggested of our tight ends that "there wasn't much there" because the returnees had only 5 career catches. I was contacted by the father of one of the returnees, who suggested that my fund of knowledge wasn't as large as I thought it was - and he was right. Father Knows Best! The fact that our returning tight ends didn’t have very many catches didn’t mean that there “wasn’t much there”. In fact, we will be depending on a lot of guys on this team proving that there’s plenty there and Aaron and Luke Benson certainly showed that last year. They were much more reliably productive than our wide-outs and slots and should be a big part of our offense this year. Aaron caught 23 balls for 205 yards and 6TDs while Luke, a high school track star, had 176 yards and 3 scores on only 8 catches, (that’s 22 yards per catch!). It’s true that Dino has not historically used his tight ends a lot but he needs to use them this year because they are our most proven performers among the receivers. Nunes: “Hackett won Syracuse’s Bill Maxwell Award as the team’s most improved player on offense, and his numbers back up his well-deserved accolade. Hackett is the leading returner in touchdowns and the second leading returner in receiving yards. The Orange need to make up 1,540 receiving yards and 13 receiving touchdowns lost to the graduations of Jackson, Sean Riley, and Moe Neal. That should pave the way for Hackett to have a more prominent role on the offense, but he can’t get complacent. Backup tight end Luke Benson lurks in the shadows, and his numbers were just behind Hackett’s with 176 receiving yards and three receiving TDs. Syracuse does like to run two tight end setups, so expect to still see Benson feature periodically here and there. However, don’t underestimate his offensive value.” Chris Elmore is listed as a tight end but he’s really just a blocker for short-yardage situation and was being tried on defense late in the season. He’s a big bowling ball of a guy but seems to lack technique on either side of the ball and is no threat to do much with the football if he gets it. He just tends to throw his body into the mosh pit: a tough, game kid but not a big force on the field. Ethan Fischler was a preferred walk-on two years ago who “did not participate in athletics” last year but “rejoined the team in the spring”. He might see some special teams action. Sam Warren and Nate Wellington, (from Skaneateles) are also preferred walk-ons in the same boat. Zach Lesko and Jesse Connors were transfers from Chattanooga and Holy Cross who never played here and have been dropped off the roster so I guess they left the team. [/QUOTE]

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