Doug Marrone has added a respectable amount of girth to the recruiting class of ’11 recently, and it looks like that weight will mostly impact the offensive side of the ball.

With the additions of offensive linemen Rob Trudo (who plays both ways but by my judgment seems like a better offensive prospect) and Kristofer Curtis, Syracuse football now has all the makings of a deep 2011 class.

Let’s take a brief look at who Doug Marrone has convinced to join his program.

• Marrone has added to his growing list of young quarterbacks with Terrell¬†Hunt.
• Secured verbal commitments from the aforementioned offensive¬†linemen.
• Brought in DBs to compete for spots that will be vacated by the three¬†seniors starting this year, in Dale Peterman and¬†Jaston George.
• Landed a trio of three-star linebacking prospects: Cameron Lynch,¬†Oliver Vigille, and Myles Davis.
• Grabbed some lengthy wide receivers, including Dyshawn Davis and¬†Jeremiah Kobena.

Now he’s hot on the trail of a couple of highly touted running backs, Adonis Ameen-Moore and Allan Wasonga.

Hell, he’s even found his Rob Long replacement – albeit with a far less impressive name for a punter than “Long” РZachary Fisher.

What’s missing from that list? Defensive linemen. Syracuse looks like it will have a reasonable amount of depth at every position next year, except for defensive tackle.

The Orange gets juniors Chandler Jones and Mikhail Marinovich back for one more year to play the ends, but Marrone has to be concerned about the interior. Bud Tribbey, Andrew Lewis, and Anthony Perkins, who constitute the top three guys in the tackle rotation, will graduate after the season. Beyond them, there’s not much.

Their presumed replacements for next fall have made a combined eight tackles so far this season.

Regardless of how much faith you have in Torrey Ball to singlehandedly clog the gaps against backs like Ray Graham and Jordan Todman in 2011, you’d have to think that Syracuse needs reinforcements.

So far, the load would fall on Eric Crume, a middle-of-the-road defensive lineman recruit from Detroit. With respect to Crume, if the Orange can only manage to sign him and no other DLs, that would be borderline disastrous. Not only would SU be lacking talent up front, there would be a shortage of bodies period.

There’s still time left for Doug Marrone to land some more linemen, though.

Reportedly, Syracuse is in serious contention for Kevin McReynolds, a run-stopping defensive lineman from Washington, D.C., with the strength and agility to “see some playing time early.” He’s rated four stars by Rivals and would be a huge get.

Otherwise, SU has offers out to a bunch of other DLs, but the Orange is competing with other top-tier schools. While Crume had his sights set on Syracuse the entire time, SU doesn’t enjoy that advantage with its remaining DL recruits.

The good thing is, maybe Syracuse isn‚Äôt fighting such an uphill battle anymore. With last weekend’s¬†upset of #20 West Virginia, a 5-2 record, and 2nd place in the¬†Big East, Doug Marrone and his staff should find it easier to sell the program.

The attitude and honesty of the SU coaching staff was already enough to convince Rob Trudo to commit and peak the interest of Adonis Ameen-Moore.

Just imagine what a few more W’s could do.

Posted: Andrew Kanell