The Syracuse Football Roster Does What It Does
by Sean Keeley on Jul 28, 2010 11:08 AM EDT
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PrintSome more folks left SU football. What else is new?
Though to be fair, it's not the shocking news we're used to. Three guys have left the team recently. OL Josh White, special teamer Lonnie Johnson and WR Ollie Taylor are all off to do other things. We already knew about Ollie and I'm not sure if most of us even know who Lonnie was.
White is the only semi-significant loss. A starter last season, the left tackle found himself pushed down the depth chart this year with the arrival of junior college transfer Michael Hay. We can guess he wasn't happy about that but whatever the reason, fare thee well Josh.
That loss means the offensive line is just that much thinner (no pun intended). Each position is two-deep at the moment and SU has three newbies coming in the fall. It's enough to get by but not ideal.
I suppose that's something you could say that about the roster numbers in general.
Right now, it looks like the Orange will have about 87 or so when practice starts Aug. 9. About a dozen of those will be walk-ons.
Marrone wants to raise SU's number of scholarship players back to the NCAA legal limit of 85, but he says the Orange won't get to that level until 2011.
Those freshman and JC folks can't get here fast enough.
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When a team has won 14 games....
….over five seasons, guys shouldn’t be surprised when their starting jobs are usurped. I’m just assuming that’s the case with White. As for the other two guys, well, I had no idea who they were anyway. The beat goes on…
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
right
I will say this, while I’m always inclined to say these were GRob players that were just not up to par/had poor attitude/lacked discapline, etc, its gotta be tough to be an athlete on any college team going through a coaching change. Especially when you’re dealing with two HCs who have a coaching philiosiphies that are polar opposites.
"I'm going through a rough patch in my life right now. Syracuse is 0 and 3" - Adam Sandler
by bloodyyank44 on Jul 28, 2010 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions
Absolutely
I don’t begrudge these kids for leaving…but I do think that there is always a reason beyond the obvious for why they do.
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
by kotite4ever on Jul 28, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Those freshman and JC folks can’t get here fast enough.
You aint kiddin’. On the bright side, that ‘09 recruiting class was small but made a huge impact. Since ’10 is a big class we should see good balance between guys who can step in and make an impact right away and guys who’ll be good to keep on the shelf and redshirt in order to build depth in the future. I just hope the defections and injuries will be kept at a minimum through camp (obviously)
"I'm going through a rough patch in my life right now. Syracuse is 0 and 3" - Adam Sandler
Well, the class coming in is about as big as it can be
And you don’t want like 40 guys graduating at the same time in a few years. Anyway, the team will be a hell of a lot more filled out than it was last year. Wasn’t that one of the excuses for why special teams was so bad? Not enough dedicated special teamers and too little time practicing for guys who never really did it before? Something like that.
Makes sense
When Marrone explained it like that, it was hard not to see his point. Hopefully improved depth will make a terrible special teams unit respectable.
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
by kotite4ever on Jul 28, 2010 11:30 AM EDT up reply actions
Hopefully we can field kickoffs
Without allowing 40+ yards returns. Unsure, but we must have allowed around 9 punts/kickoffs for tds last season
"The Mets have shown me more ways to lose than I even know existed" -Casey Stengel
by cuseindahuse on Jul 28, 2010 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions
With all due respect to ARob
Whenever you have to turn to former starting QB-turned-TE to make plays on the special teams unit you know things gotta be in rough shape.
The good news for ‘10 is the kicking game is in the best shape its been in ages, the return men are good (I def. won’t miss seeing Donte Davis fumble on punts). Overall team speed and depth are two keys to rebuilding the coverage units, which should improve over last season (its hard to do worse than the ’09 unit, anyways). I def. look to this area to see some freshmen step here.
"I'm going through a rough patch in my life right now. Syracuse is 0 and 3" - Adam Sandler
by bloodyyank44 on Jul 28, 2010 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree
Its to be expected when the team has been in the dumps so long. The bloodletting seems to have been staunched for the most part though, and the numbers are back up. I am more excited everyday for the opening game!! This is Morrones first year of no excuses!!!!
Im hopin special teams improves. They were HORRIBLE last year. My father almost got into a fight with a drunk SU student behind us because my father was bad mouthing the special teams so much. Well, when a team like Maine gets the drop on you not once but twice, what do you expect?
Really hoping we get Delone Carter back, but if not -its the new guys time to shine.
The new guy is not necessarily new
I want to forget everything from the G Rob era, but I simply cannot. I remeber in 08, the opening Big east game against Pitt. Holmes ran a punt back for a TD, we played well for most of the game and had the lead heading into the 4th quarter. Brinkley was having a GREAT game up to that point. Pitt scored about halfway thru the 4th to tie the game. So our next drive is critical we do something to get some momentum back. Then Bailey comes running onto the field instead of Brinkley. We were all like what the fuck is going on? Is BB hurt? (No offense to Bailey, we just didn’t know how good he was back then) He proceeds to gain 2 yds up the middle, 2 yds up the middle, then I think Dantley got sacked. 3 and out for probably the first time the whole game. Pitt took over the game from that point on and the snowball caught fire and died!
Anyhow, my point was that Bailey has had some experience in crucial spots and played a lot last season even if it was in the Stallion. I am excited to see Collier play some more though!
by OrangeBlood44 on Jul 28, 2010 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
The Stallion!
Geez I almost forgot about that. I wonder if we’ll see more of that this season. I liked it. Well, when it worked anyway.
"I'm going through a rough patch in my life right now. Syracuse is 0 and 3" - Adam Sandler
by bloodyyank44 on Jul 28, 2010 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions
This isn't news, most people have known about this for months, the PS just didn't report it.
Lonnie actually had a chance to earn a scholarship, he was a good kid that hung around with a lot of bad townies and got in trouble for it.
Latavius Murray
I wonder what he is up to these days. He could have walked on last year (heck, he might have been given a scholarship by the time the fall came around) and might have competed for the outside backer position.
Jermaine Pierce?
If he is still hanging around watching practices in his old jersey and his heart is okay.
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