The Bucs announced that they have cut Tanard Jackson, a Safety drafted out of Syracuse as a corner in the 4th round of the 2007 draft after a fail physical related to shoulder surgery. However that seems like an easy out for the new management.

After being drafted, he quickly developed a reputation as one of the biggest hitters in the league (per an SI player poll I read a while back but cant find a link to) and started all 56 games he played in.

"I was a little shocked, but the person I am, I accept how it comes," Jackson told the Tampa Bay Times. "I realize it's a business. It's hard to be too upset with the decision because of what I've been through, and I have no hard feelings toward the organization and wish them the best.

"I really don't know, maybe it was because I wasn't doing rehab here in Tampa after surgery but doing it in New Orleans with trainers up there. They just said they were going in a different direction. That's the way it was given to me."

He has been suspended twice for substances (Im not sure what)

Stats:

Jackson has played in a total of 56 games with 56 starts and compiled 324 tackles, 10 interceptions, 31 passes defensed and one sack.

via media.syracuse.com

Just got this email, thought Id pass it along. Its always fun to see SU at home in MSG.

If its not showing up right, view it in your browser http://content.msg.com/?I4k8ttrcQ09JGJybOEJgexjlNHEGafmQI

Exclusive Presale: Syracuse & Temple in the Gotham Classic! Gotham Classic Syracuse vs. Temple Madison Square Garden Saturday, December 22nd • 12noon Syracuse and Temple, two of the country's elite and historic college basketball programs, face off in the inaugural Gotham Classic. Come to The Garden on Saturday, December 22nd at 12noon to see these two perennial Top 25 teams battle it out. Now is your chance to purchase seats before they go on sale to the general public including access to our exclusive "FEET ON THE FLOOR" seats. Don't wait until the last minute, get the seats you want today! The presale starts TOMORROW, Tuesday, 3/27 at 10am and ends Wednesday, 3/28 at 11:59pm. USE PROMOTIONAL CODE: PREMSG FIND SEATS

While reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell on the train the other day I got to thinking about SU football (as I usually do). The main message of the book is that its not just ability, hard work or potential that creates these great people (though we like to believe so) but much of it has to do with preparation and opportunities.

In his chapter about geniuses, he notes that there is a threshold level (130 iq) where beyond that your IQ has no bearing on how successful you will be. Things like how much guidance and direction you received growing up matter much more than the 60 points between a 130 and a 190. In athletics this is also true to a degree. Treat iq like size and ability. Perhaps some guys have more coming out of high school, but all of these people meet a threshold level that allows them to compete. From there its up to them to capitalize on the opportunities they are given. If you look at the first round of last year's NFL draft, not all the guys were 5 stars coming out of high school. In fact, there are almost as many 3 stars. Now consider how much you changed during college. I know I grew and inch and gained 20 lbs. So a 3 star guy may not be as polished as the 5 star guy, but he does have the same opportunities and is usually at the threshold combination of size and speed. Look at Victor Cruz, who went to UMass and is now staring for the Giants, ability and opportunity. Gladwell even goes so far as to do a basketball comparison where there is a threshold height to play in the NBA (6'-1 or so) and beyond that height helps and improves your chances, but wont be the reason you did or didnt make it.

The other chapter that stuck out was the 10,000 hour rule. This chapter says that it takes 10,000 hours of hard practice to master something. In many cases the difference between a 5star QB or DB and the 3star guy is not physical, its polish. The 5star has been to many more camps and combines. Hes from Florida and plays year round. Its technique. However, these guys make a mistake going to a school like Bama where they cant start right away. In that time they run scout team or 2nds. Where as the 3star kid goes to a school like SU and get the first team reps. This 3star kid closes in on 10,000 hours much faster than the 5star kid because he is getting hard coaching 40+ hours a week. Thats how these 3 star guys crack the first round. Many of them are 3 and 4 year starters who red-shirted a year to get even more coaching.

Am I saying all these 3star guys will be first round draft picks? No. Most wont. Probably none of them will. But if the stars align and they get the right opportunities, many of them could. So we cant write off these kids just yet.

Doug has been getting flamed for his recruiting recently and how that has translated to the product on the field. However, if we could for just a moment step back from our notion that SU is the best college football program in the country and try to take an outside view as to what Doug and the coaches are working with. (a big reason why so many others turned down this job)

Doug does not have a football version of the Melo Center, and JB will be the first to tell you how much that has helped recruiting. Recruits, for the most part, are not blindly passionate fans of a particular team. They don't see the world through Orange glasses. A high school junior cares less about color and more about shine. There is no sense in beating a dead horse and bringing up the weather (while Im sure every coach who recruits against us does.) Our facilities are MAC level (remember that video of Ohio's locker room when they got black unis? so maybe worse than the MAC). It limits the growth of our program and while we are waiting for some rich donor to leave us millions in his (or her) estate, the schools we recruit against are using state dollars to grow their programs.

Our facilities are deeply lacking. Especially when compared to the three other schools that are the best measuring stick of ourselves as a program: BC, Wake and Northwestern. There's a reason we have been scheduling them folks. Its because its a fair fight. They are on our level. These are private, eastern schools where an athletic scholarship cost 40K as opposed to 18K at a state subsidized school.

Continue reading this post »

The Post Standard linked an Otto's Army piece by Dave Cooperman titled The End Is Near For Doug Marrone. Take a second to read it. My first thought was not as to Doug's job security (because he has done nothing to make me question it at this time) but rather what clown would write this? For a blog that is supposed to represent the student fan base? written by members of the class of 2003 and 2006 and has no affiliation with the Student Section. (And all the while without linking anything in his story.) I tried to google him, but the only David Cooperman I found was a comedian, and it cant be the same guy because none of Dave Cooperman's writing is funny.

Doug is the right guy for this job. It is not an easy job or a coveted job. The difference between Doug and everyone else, is that Doug wants to be at this school. I dont think there is another coach out there that wouldnt bolt after a 9 or 10 win season. Doug is in it for the long haul. He has a plan and thats more than you can say about his predecessor. Syracuse is not Auburn where you walk into a program with top 10 talent. Its not even a fixer-upper, its a total tear down and rebuild.

And who should we have hired instead? Turner Gill? Already fired by Kansas. Mike Locksley? Went 2-26 before getting fired. And those guys didnt want this job! Skip Holtz turned us down for USF. Even one of our own, Randy Edsall wouldnt leave UConn for SU.... but he would for Maryland. (by the way, he hasnt been doing too well either going 2-10). A guy who was fired for locking a player in a dark shed? Nancy would never have signed off on that. Another NFL coordinator? What makes you think any of them would have been better than Doug? Certainly none of them would have shared his passion or loyalty. We are not getting a top coach at SU. Not for the money we pay or the support we give them. Its not a desirable position. We are either going to get a retread or an up and comer. Were not going to find someone with the Midas touch. We need consistency and stability.

The Syracuse job is a thankless job and a no win situation. We are a [basketball] school that expects 10 win seasons with only MAC level support. We do not have 10 win facilities, 10 recent history or 10 win grads in the NFL. Any reputable NFL guys are either retired or in the twilight of their careers. Consider this, where other schools are building field houses and practice facilities, we are converting a court used by the volleyball team into a 60 yard practice field. What type of commitment to the team does that show? We cant even put ribbon boards in The Dome, a facility that is essentially the same as it was 25 years ago. Recruits notice these things.

Speaking of recruits, prior to the incoming 2012 class, none of these kids ever saw SU win a bowl game during the period of there lives when they were playing organized football. They never saw a winning season. These are the kids who thought "why should I should I pay to go see a movie about Syracuse? They suck."

Syracuse is never going to be a top recruiter. Our academics are challenging. Its terrible geographically. We have a ton of other schools around us competing for the same kids. We have built a legacy on finding diamonds in the rough and mining for talent. Doug took that to a new level with his first classes. Those kids had no reason to believe in SU besides Doug. They didnt come here to be part of a winner, because they had never seen SU win. Not to go to a school with a packed stadium, because our fans dont turn out. Not to train in the most cutting edge facilities because they are practicing in a building John Thompson declared "closed" almost 30 years ago. Now take a look at the 2012 class. Those kids committed as soon as they got offers. We actually got our top choice kids fresh off a bowl win. But we wont see the true rewards of that game until August.

Doug should not be compared to GRob in recruiting at any time. Firstly, most recruiting is done by assistants and I have personally talked to one of GRob's former assistants who had some horror stories. For instance Greg did not go on the recruiting trail. He was of the opinion that he was the closer and it was up to the assistants to make the house calls. He though of himself as "a closer." Any credit for those guys should go to his assistants. This is also the guy who lost Ray Rice and passed on Knowshon Moreno. And how did his 4 star guys turn out? MOST coaches are better evaluators of talent than recruiting services. Greg was not.

Doug is very respected in the coaching community because of what he has done with so little. When he took over we had the smallest, slowest and weakest athletes since the program started keeping statistics. A walk on was our starting QB. We had almost no one on our OL and no LBs. Consider what Greg did with a sure thing in Andrew Robinson, and what Doug has done with an after thought QB in Ryan Nassib. Type his name into google. The first suggestion is "Ryan Nassib NFL." Doug Hogue was a 3rd string RB. Doug and his staff turned him into a 4th round draft pick.

No one nationally thought we were better than a 7 win team. The homers thought we would go 8-4. Guys on this site were predicting 6-6. 5-7 was thrown out there a lot. Sean called for us to blow out a team we shouldnt beat, and to drop one to a team we should beat. We did that. And Id argue that if you traded the UConn result for the WVU result this season would have played out EXACTLY as the experts predicted it. Even the homers from out own paper.

We didnt regress as a program and our coaches didnt forget everything they knew when we beat KSU. Its college football. There was a lot of turnover. People saw this and expected it. We graduated key defensive players at corner and DT which has forced us into playing much more zone. We also graduated our starting center and our power back. Now we are using a 3rd down back every down and starting a long snapper at center.

The incarnation of SU football we see now is not what Doug plans on doing in the next few years. Kinder, Hunt and Broyld are all dual threat QBs. The backs he has brought in are big strong guys. The OL looks big and mean. And the WRs starting 2 years from now are burners. Expect less mid range crossing routes to possession receivers and screens to the back, and more read option, roll out and deep balls to WRs that can blow the lid off a D.

I know youre young and youre used to seeing winners on ESPN, but if you want to enjoy being a Syracuse fan, learn to temper your expectations and let the team surprise you once in a while.

Looking at the Rivals list of 2012 players committed to PSU, I see 2 guys who also had offers from SU.  With everything thats going on there, there is going to be some turnover and frankly its not a program anyone is going to want to be associated with.  I sure wouldnt want my kids playing for that coach.  Its awful what happened there and these high school kids didnt do anything to warrant the litany of questions they are no doubt receiving. I would like to see HCDM and staff on the phone with the guys and offering them a way out of the situation.

Nyeem Wartman is a 6'3" 220 OLB from Archbald PA.  He had a lot of interest from Big East, Big 10 and ACC schools. He committed in July before SU announced we were going to the ACC.  ESPN said:

Wartman is an impressive looking linebacker prospect with a striking blend of size and straight-line speed. Potential sleeper with the physical tools he presents to develop. Needs to work on his bend and flexibility but has a lot of tools to develop at either the inside or outside position

via vmedia.rivals.com

Here is the black shoes diary report on the guy

JP Holtz is a 6'4 220 TE.  Probably less of a priority as we just added a TE today but you can never have too many good players.  Plus its about taking from PSU and establishing our recruiting.  BlBlack Shoes Diaries also says he plays DE which would be nice to have and that PSU originally recruited him as a defensive ATH then decided he was better suited to FB (a position of need).  Hes another guy who signed up before we were ACC bound.

via www.post-gazette.com

Blue Chip Chat got some gems from him in their inteview

Who has a bigger jaw, you or Bill Cowher? I don't know, but that's a really good question.

Wasn't there a funny story when you met Joe Paterno on a visit to Penn State this summer? He asked if I was related to Lou Holtz.

Highlights

J.P Holtz - Shaler (Pa.) - Junior Highlights (via Lions247Sports)

And he was student athlete of the week!

Clearview Student-Athlete Of The Week: Shaler's J.P. Holtz (via wtaetv)

I revised the top paragraph to better reflect where I was coming from with this.

This was going to be a comment on Sean's front page post, but it got a little long winded. Went to the game and have a lot to say.

Alec had a great game, save for the one HUGE drop that killed the drive.  That one really hurt.

Our Oline got dominated.  Im convinced Macky is not the right guy if we want to keep running up the middle.  If youre going to run to the outside and need a pulling Center or doing a zone blocking scheme in a spread he is fine, but we need to play guys who fit what we are trying to do. 

Add that to AB being more of shifty outside runner who is more suited to catching passes out of the back field - and yeah we are trending towards an O that is not a good fit for our players.

Our ST play was just BAD.  Bad punts.  The missed FG.  Awful tackling.  That really hurt us because they didnt need more yards total O, they had such good field position. 

Its on us for not capitalizing on their TOs. 

I dont get why we play zone on D.  I understand the intent is to help our DBs who cant cover, but let them try (like they did against Rutgers) because our zone gives up wide open 15 yard completions every time.

Ryan has a confidence problem.  I am convinced he is so terrified of throwing a pick that he is afraid to take a risk with the ball.  Ive been trying to say nice thing and boost his ego in hopes he reads this blog.  I commented to my buddy that Ryan needs a little [Aaron Rodgers championship belt gesture]. To get that, he needs is a match up problem.  A Sanu or a Mike Williams.  Someone who can get a jump ball if he floats it up to them.  These little 6'0 WRs who are smaller than the DBs they are against force Ryan to throw darts and fit the ball into tight windows.  Remember the USC game where Barkley just threw floaters and let his guy go up and get it?  It makes a QBs life so easy. Whats southerland doing?  If hes not in the rotation for hoops lets just line him up on the football team. 

This years team was predicted as a 6 win team.  I can see why.  The loss of DC3 was huge and we have no Collier to replace him.  The LBs are actually pretty good and very young.  Cater would have helped though.  I never would have thought our DBs would have been as bad as they are especially with all the hype about their athletic ability.  That is the one position we cant afford sloppy play from because our system is predicated on putting them on an island.

We cant give up an early score.

I dont think UConn is a better team.  My cousin was in the student section and felt lucky they stole that one.  That we outplayed them.  I tend to agree. And they did have a high energy home field and three extra days to prepare.  If we played UConn 10 times, I feel we would win 7 of them. 

UConn has much better tailgating than us (and Rutgers, the only other place Ive seen SU play) even for a noon kick.  I know their guido DJ is corny, but he really got the crowd going.  They also played more modern music and more of it.  My sister and my buddys girl had a blast, just dancing the whole time.  They also serve better beers and larger portions (20oz)

On our coaching, yes HCDM has his guys, but they are very green and many of them were not his first choices recruiting wise.  The class thats coming in Aug is really the first of his hand picked guys as opposed to the mining for talent guys.  This system is frustrating, but look at the guys they are bringing in.  Think of when Kinder (or equivalent) is running it and AAM is in the back field with some serious height/speed combos on the outside and a couple big pass catching TEs.  Its going to stretch the field vertically the open the run, pound the inside and QB option to the edge.  Im ok with running this system now. We saw how it works when its clicking in the PS Bowl.  And these guys need consistency, not 4 different offenses in 4 years. Give Nate and HCDM a chance, they started with jack and sh*t.  We are ahead of schedule and the program has a direction.  Thats more than we could say about the last guy. 

[end rant]

While we are looking ahead to playing FSU in 2014, many of us are overlooking upset minded Toledo who we play in 2011 - this weekend actually.  Im taking a particular interest because Ill be coming up from CT to watch along with my girlfriend who has never been to an SU game.  This game is critical to her fandom!

HCDM echoed my sentiments on crossing the ACC bridge when we get to it (if he gets to it)

“We have a much larger task in our program right now,” he said, explaining, “I would like to make sure that I’m the coach when we bring this team forward into the ACC.”

Many "experts" picked Toledo to win the MAC.  While they are 3rd in their division right now, they probably have the most impressive 1-2 record in the country.  They lost to #4 Boise St after hanging tough for the first half and were a tipped ball in the end zone away from beating THE Ohio State (which by the way should have to drop the "THE" as part of their NCAA punishment. my 2c).  We we just as close to being 0-3.   And dont think Toledo isnt stinging from the losses.  They felt they beat themselves and will be looking to take their frustration out on SU.

 "The thing that really hurts about both of these losses is that we beat ourselves both times," Thomas said. "It just goes to show us that if we eliminate a lot of those mistakes, how good of an offense we could be." - Running Back Adonis Thomas

Continue reading this post »

After watching Saturdays game, I was blown away with Ryan Nassib's play.  Since the pinstripe bowl he has looked like the first team all BE QB, but I expected him to come back to earth against SC. However, after traveling all the way across the country and playing in front of 70,000 hostile fans I can comfortably say position for position, QB (along with maybe TE, MLB, and whatever guard USC was starting that freshman from Vegas) is a position where we have the better player.  Now maybe Ill get flamed with statistics, but the tape tells a different story.  Nassib and Barkley were not playing with the same tools in the same conditions. Barkley was home, with home refs and tall fast WRS.  Nassib, on the road with - well less just say less than what USC had. Call athletic ability even (Nassib showed he can run) and we have seen all season Nassib can throw darts. The kid has a cannon. Maybe he doesn't take it in the looks category, ( hes not a bad looking guy either) but Ill take arm strength over Orange County looks all day.  He throws hard accurate balls. His touchdown pass is a perfect example.  He threaded that ball through the seam in very very good coverage against a D made entirely of 4 and 5 star guys. He runs this offense to very very well and knows when and where his guys will be open.  He started 11-11 and would have been 16 for 20 had it not been for a lot of dropped balls.  No picks agaisnt a D as good as SC is amazing.  Even more so when you consider he had no help from the run game and put the team on his back. He throws a tight hard ball and has a great grasp of this offense, the same offense that NO and GB run.  Nassib will be a pro, even if its just as a back up because any team that runs that system can plug him right it.

Continue reading this post »