Syracuse Football Camp: And So It Begins...

Forget all the media whatnot, the Syracuse Orange football team actually took the field and participated in drills on Monday. There was yelling and running and grabbing and more yelling and all that good stuff. And we're only getting started.

While we didn't learn a not, we did learn enough that things are off to a good start.

Kristofer Curtis was noticeably absent from the new depth chart. According to Marrone, "it was just an oversight." Curtis was at practice, though he did not participate as he recovers from an injury.

Marrone referred to Sean Hickey, who has the all-important job of replacing Justin Pugh in September, is a "work in progress." Oh.

While Ashton Broyld might still play at quarterback at some point, he's working out with the RBs and he's listed as an RB on the depth chart.

Nolan says freshmen Ron Thompson and Josh Parris pass the look test. So that's a nice start.

Practice ran about 17 minutes too long and Doug Marrone noticed:

"I think that’s a good indication to show you we have a long way to go," Marrone said. "We got a lot of hard work ahead of us because to become a good football team you have to finish the practice in the amount of time, that’s the first thing you have to do."

Marrone praised the strength and conditioning staff for keeping his players in shape but recognizes that that's not the same as "football shape."

"There's a difference between being able to go out there and run, have endurance and sprint and then to go out on the football field and do it with X amount of pounds put on your body," Marrone said. "I really think that Will Hicks and Hal Luther did an excellent job from what I have seen out there by just looking at the players physically, not necessarily on performance. Now, it's our responsibility as coaches to make sure that we're ready to play the game of football."

The point is, as it always is on the first day of practice...we've got a ways to go.