Syracuse, Marrone Have "A Plan for Delone"

Every Syracuse football season needs a black cloud hanging over it in order to begin.  That how these things work.  We're still paying for 2007 when we tried to enter the year without the spectre of doom.  See how that turned out?

And so in 2010, along with the paper-thin roster we're got, The Passion of Delone Carter is the giant looming dark shadow that hovers above us.  We have no idea if the shadow will pass over us or if it will descend, take the form of The Angel of Death and kill our first born.  It could honestly go either way.

As you're well aware, Carter is currently suspended from the school and the football team due to an incident last semester when he one-punched a fellow student who may or may not have launched a snowball in his general direction.  A purported deal between Delone and SU that would have allowed him to return by now seemed to fall through when the alleged victim didn't like the terms.

Doug Marrone doesn't discuss people not currently on the roster, so he did not discuss Delone or provide us with an update. So we've been waiting impatiently to hear news about our "Heisman candidate" for 2010.

Leave it to Bob Casullo to quell our fears, at least temporarily.  SU's Assistant Head Coach stopped by ESPN 97.7's Disturbing The Piece today and made some pretty positive comments about DC3's future.

"Trust me, Coach [Doug] Marrone and the administration have come up with a plan for Delone, and in my heart I believe it's going to work out for the best for him and for this football team. ... We'll welcome him back with open arms. ... Once he serves his penance, I'm sure he'll be back."

"He really is a good young man. He has never been a problem for this football program, with either the prior staff or with our staff. He made a mistake, and he paid dearly for it. To his credit, he paid his debt."

Brian Bennett reminds us that Carter can't return until fall semester officially begins, so don't expect to see him back in camp before then.  And stranger things have happened besides a coach saying something that didn't come to happen...but take it as a pretty good sign that Carter will be in uniform this year, at least at some point.

Listen to the audio here.