Monday, April 21, 2008 | Posted by Darrell Laurant

Spring football games are supposed to answer a lot of questions for the coaching staff, but a couple of key offensive positions remained unsettled after the Blue (offense) beat the White (defense) in Syracuse University's annual scrimmage.

One was quarterback. While there's no reason to think junior Andrew Robinson won't go into fall practice as the incumbent starter, the role of top backup appears to be up for grabs between junior Cameron Dantley and redshirt freshman David Legree.

Dantley, son of former NBA star Adrian Dantley, provided the most spectacular play in an otherwise drab offensive exhibition by hitting junior wide receiver Mike Williams in stride for a 50-yard touchdown. Legree showed excellent mobility, completing a 14-yard pass to tight end Steve Westhafer off a naked bootleg and scrambling for 11 yards on a broken play, and rang up the last points in a 20-13 score with a short TD pass to redshirt freshman tight end Nick Provo.

Robinson was a sitting duck last season, sacked 48 times. If the offensive line doesn't show dramatic improvement in pass protection, head coach Greg Robinson might be tempted to employ the more nimble Dantley or Legree as a change-up to keep the defense honest.

As expected, running backs Delone Carter and Curtis Brinkley sat the game out. Carter, a onetime Mr. Ohio, missed all of last season with a serious hip injury, while Brinkley is still limping slightly from a broken leg suffered last season against Buffalo. That left sophomore Doug Hogue with the majority of the carries, aided by 5-foot-7, 167-pound Ryan Bailey (who produced the day's top run with a 15-yarder).

The game used a modified scoring system that enabled the defense to score points for stopping drives, interceptions, fumble recoveries and sacks. Sophomore linebacker Parker Cantey led the Orange stop unit with a sack and a half.

Be the first to comment on this article!   New user?  Sign Up!