Syracuse Football: George McDonald Hearts SU's Running Backs

Offensive coordinator George McDonald has been a godsend on the recruiting front ever since joining Scott Shafer's staff. Now comes the hard part...coaching those players (and the ones that came before him) well on the field.

None of the running backs who will play this season came here courtesy of his recruiting but he's pretty impressed with what he's been left to work with.

"That’s part of the strength of our team," McDonald said. "...There’s the young kids, George Morris and Devante [McFarlane], they’re really, really good. I think they could play at a lot of different places in the ACC. That’s one position where Coach [Doug] Marrone and the previous staff -- they did a great job on the offensive line and a lot of different places -- but that depth at running back, I was surprised. I knew Jerome [Smith] and [Prince-Tyson] Gulley were good, but then you get into the spring and see the two freshmen who were redshirted, and you’re like, ‘OK, these guys are good.’ At Miami we had Mike James and Duke, but we didn’t have the depth, four guys who can all step in. That’s a good problem to have."

With a yet-to-be-determined quarterback situation and concerns about depth at at wide receiver, it's a good problem to have, indeed.