Waiting for Delone at Syracuse

By Darrell Laurant  |   Tuesday, June 20, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Syracuse Orange
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It's rare that Syracuse University goes into a football season without a designated starting running back.

Of course, it's rare that the Orange finishes 1-11. In fact, 2005 was the first time.

And now, with Damian Rhodes having departed, the tailback position is wide open between Kareem Jones, Paul Chiara and Curtis Brinkley. Together, they rushed for 219 yards -- a pretty good game for an individual, but not much of an output for an entire backfield.

Second-year coach Greg Robinson, who went from Orange Heaven (as defensive coordinator for Texas) to Orange Hell in 2005, is saying all the right things about Jones, Chiara and Brinkley. But he had to be excited about the June 17th Big 33 All-Star Game in Hershey, PA, as well.

Playing for the Ohio team against the Pennsylvania all-stars, Delone Carter rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown, broke several tough runs, and caught a 78-yard touchdown pass. And this fall, he'll be an Orange -- or whatever you call individual players at SU these days since the nickname was singularized.

Carter is, to all accounts, the real deal. As a senior at Copley High School, he rushed for 2,556 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also gained 169 yards on pass receptions and 227 yards on kickoff returns.

"He can explode," said Robinson, "he got strength and body balance, and he's competitive."

And, at 5-10, 190, he runs a 4.5.

For his part, Carter said one of the main reasons he came to Syracuse was because of its running back tradition -- Jim Brown, Heisman winner Ernie Davis, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little, Art Monk (yes, he played that position for the then-Orangemen), Joe Morris, Walter Reyes, etc.

"I loved all the history," he said.

Syracuse made Carter a recruiting priority, Robinson said, "and everyone of our staff, from last spring to now, has done a very good job of interacting with Delone and his parents."

Ohio State would have liked to have signed Carter, but they didn't need him. Syracuse needs him badly.

In all fairness to the Orange's current three-headed running back, Rhodes got most of the carries last fall, leaving Jones, Chiara and Brinkley to compete for the leftover touches. Moreover, the offensive line was dreadful.

It is reminiscent, however, of 1995, when the Syracuse Orange entered its upcoming season without a clue who its quarterback would be. Two freshmen and a sophomore were in the mix, and Paul Pasqualoni couldn't say who was the frontrunner.

Fortunately, one of those faceless hopefuls turned out to be Donovan McNabb.

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