The Rejuvenation Begins: Syracuse Preseason Camp - August 21st

Practice was cut short yesterday when Doug Marrone took one look around and his fatigued players and called it a day.  Likely worn down after so many two-a-days, Tremendous took a little pity on his winded warriors.

"Today is the first day I chose to back off. What I mean by that, we went out there today and the players have been putting forth good effort. It looked a little sluggish. We had a competitive period. We brought them back up to the competition level we wanted. Then we cut two periods at the end. We cut conditioning, which today, really, is the first day we haven't run. Since camp has started, we've run every day. The Dome was good and hot, which is wanted."

Marrone mentioned to Donnie yet again that he's not pleased with the WR core.  After Williams its a jumbled mess and no one seems to want to break out.  Yet again though, he does mention Alec Lemon by name. 

Even if the WRs aren't panning out, Marrone is quite pleased with the TE group. Mike Owen even earned a "tremendous" mention:

"In my mind Mike Owen is one of the most improved players from the spring," Marrone said. "I think he's done a tremendous job. To be able to put a true ‘Y’ on the field who can stretch the field vertically is a bonus. I think we have at least two of those players in Mike and Nick Provo."

When Averin Collier came to Syracuse, he was the #1 recruit in New York and one of the top-rated RBs in the nation.  So it was a bit surprising when he was seemingly passed on the depth chart by Antwon Bailey.  Going into this season was considered 3rd on the RB depth chart.  He has made some strides in the off-season and should expect to see some PT, especially on special teams.  But he's hopeful for more, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

"I definitely want to start, and I'm going to do everything in camp to prove I'm the one," he said. "But if I'm not, then the best person will."

The writer on that article does make one very curious set of statements and probably should have run this through the fact-checker before going to print:

Former coach Greg Robinson chose not to play Collier last fall, even though there was no clear-cut starting tailback. Doug Hogue ended up leading the Orange in rushing with a modest 232 yards.

Um...I'm PRETTY sure there was another guy carrying the football who might have run for 1,164 yards last season and was an extremely clear-cut starter.  Can't quite put my finger on who...hmm...it'll come to me, I'm sure.