The Syracuse Orange football spring game took place Saturday. Here's what happened...
First of all, shame on all of us for not helping make George McDonald's dream a reality. He fell 16,178 short of his stated goal of 20,000 SU fans in attendance. Since you're bad at math (and so am I), that means 3,822 people did show up. McDonald remains unfazed...
"I wasn't here last year," McDonald said. "The biggest thing we want to do is create some excitement. We want people to be happy and supportive of our program. The kids work hard and they deserve it. They're out there working in the morning and afternoon when no one's watching. However many that came, I'm happy for the people that came."
Scott Shafer agrees...
"Someday we'll get to 20,000," Shafer said. "Until then, we'll recognize the hard-nosed fans here today."
As for the game itself, the takeaway seems to be that, even if Drew Allen takes his spot this year, this is officially Terrel Hunt's team in 2014. The sophomore completed 19-of-29 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns and led the White Team (primarily made up of expected staters) to a 27-10 win over the Blue Team. Hunt's highlight was a 49-yard touchdown down the sideline to Jarrod West.
While John Kinder played okay and Charley Loeb struggled mightily, Hunt hoped that his performance would open up a bit of a gap in the battle:
"I would hope so," Hunt said. "They don't tell you much, the coaches leave you on edge with who's starting, but I'd hope so. Me and the receivers have a connection, the linemen have a connection. We've been preparing a whole bunch."
Loeb, who was 3-of-8 for nine yards, hopes that his overall body of work stands out compared to this game:
"It's hard to try to take information from something like this," Loeb said. "You don't know what's going through the coaches' head. They'll tell me where I stand in the order and what they envision for the future. I'll have a much better understanding of what it means on Thursday."
The one area that looked particularly strong for Syracuse was the running back spot. Jerome Smith looked his solid self (11 carries, 34 yards), Adonis-Ameen Moore had some good runs and George Morris III really made his mark, finishing with 69 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown scamper.
While West proved he's the No. 1 receiver on the roster, Adrian Flemming has developed into a solid choice as well.
"He's probably done one of the better jobs this spring in terms of creating a role for himself," McDonald said. "Coming in, he hasn't played very much, but he created a role and he's really grown. He's a guy we really can count on in the passing game to execute our base offense. I'm really excited about where he's at heading into the summer."
Some other links for your perusal...
- Syracuse offense shows 'tip of the iceberg' in spring game...Syracuse.com
- Syracuse football spring game: Brent Axe recap...Brent Axe
- Syracuse's spring football game drew a bit less than 20,000, but nobody got hurt...Bud Poliquin
- Julian Whigham, Josh Kirkland are two reserve defensive players to watch come fall...Syracuse.com
- Former Syracuse safety Shamarko Thomas analyzes the current secondary...Syracuse.com
- Shafer family settling in after signing day scramble, spring football season...Syracuse.com
- Hunt, West lead Syracuse’s impressive offensive performance in Spring Game...Daily Orange
There's also this business about Prince-Tyson Gulley's hair and we'll get to that in a seperate post.
