Think twice | Syracusefan.com

Think twice

Orangeyes

R.I.P Dan
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"What Doug Marrone Thinks: No specific quotes that I can find.There's no proof that Marrone even knows who Acchione is."

The above statement was both ridiculous and hurtful. After I read that I jotted a note to it's author but never heard back. If you're a true Syracuse fan you wouldn't ever knock a kid who at his own personnel expense plays for your team. Someone who sacrifices for the good of his team, teammates, coaches and the school he loves.

Yesterday Mike Acchione made the game winning catch, and yes HCDM knew who Acchione was at the time that piece was written and he had the class to thank all the walkons a number of times in both print and on video.

The coaching staff and the players and namley Ryan Nassib our strating quarterback have great confidence and admiration for the hard work Mike has put in these past four years.

There were other knocks in that article such as, "His size limits his ability to be effective on special teams."

Well he no longer plays special teams because he is too valuable to this team as a wide receiver.

Much of the piece was mocking in nature, such as "Let Us Get A Good Look Atchya: No videos that I can find so here's a photo of Acchione in high school, tearing it up." I found that very condescending in it's tone.

To digress for a minute here is something Bud wrote yesterday about another very special walk-on.

The “we” was the Orange football family, which lost Tim Byrne in the fiery rubble of the South Tower -- the second of the two massive structures to burn and topple on Sept. 11, 2001 -- as a horrified world watched on television.

Then a 36-year-old bond trader up there on the 104th floor, Byrne had once been a walk-on wide receiver at SU, playing for MacPherson (his coach) and with Doug Marrone (his teammate). And just like that, along with some 3,000 others at that charred site where madness reigned, Tim was dead.

The truth of the matter is that Byrne, a 5-foot-10, 175-pounder out of St. Dominic’s High School in Oyster Bay, wasn’t much of a football player for Syracuse, having failed to earn a varsity letter back there in the ’80s. But he did make the roster, he did have an impact, and he did leave an impression.

As it happened, that 1985 campaign did produce seven victories in one nine-game stretch for the Orangemen. And it did yield a Cherry Bowl berth for them. And while that club had its Doug Marrones and Tim Greens, its Don McPhersons and Markus Pauls, its Daryl Johnstons and Ted Gregorys . . . it also had Tim Byrne.

And later this afternoon, when SU takes to the Carrier Dome turf to play Rhode Island on Patriot Day -- or one day shy of the 10th anniversary of Byrne's death -- it will be Tim who’ll be remembered over all the starry rest of them.

“Guys who were with us were physically strong and mentally awake,” said MacPherson. “They were headed for great things in life. And Tim was like any of them. He asked no quarter and he was given no quarter. And like all the walk-ons, he was respected for the sacrifices he made to be on that football team.

To sum things up the walk-on program at Syracuse University is vital to the success of the football team and it's rejuvination. HCDM has great respect for these players as we all should, if we are true fans.
 
well said OE!!! Those individuals who make the effort to walk on deserve special recognition; they work just as hard and are just as committed as the scholarship players. They just seldom even get into a game to enjoy the fruits of all that work. I am pleased that Coach Marrone's plan includes this focus upon walk-on's.
 
So far 25% of our touchdowns scored have been by former walk-ons.
 

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