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With SU’s spring game just five days away, the story lines really start to heat up for Orange football. The Fizz caught up with CuseNation.com’s Mike McAllister on Orange Fizz Radio over the weekend to preview Syracuse’s biggest day of the spring season.
Rather than exploring the playmaker position battles, McAllister’s eye will be on SU’s production up front offensively. He thinks it’s the number one storyline heading into Saturday’s inter-squad matchup:
“It’s got to start up front with those offensive and defensive lines. You lose Macky MacPherson of the O-line, so you are looking to figure out who can slide in there and they’ve tried Rob Trudo there and the JuCo transfer from a year ago John Miller. He seems to be gaining more steam as someone who could be the guy. You’ve got Nick Robinson out with an injury and Ivan Foy out with a suspension so you have a lot of turnover up front when you didn’t think you were necessarily going to have that. Sean Hickey does come back who can stabilize that line and was an NFL prospect last year.”
Cannot disagree here, as the Orange has plenty of depth at offensive line, but right now it’s not as healthy as Scott Shafer and company would like it. The line significantly impacts George McDonald’s plan to speed up the offensive attack. In the grand scheme of things, the line plays a cause and effect game with the run and the pass. NFL draft-bound Jerome Smith departs the backfield, but Prince-Tyson Gulley holds down the fort to keep the running game solid. As for the pass, Terrell Hunt is not officially “the guy,” but he knows it’s his job to lose. McAllister said he’ll be watching Hunt’s accuracy with intermediate and deep ball throws.   
Onto some other nuggets, sometime last week Shafer was on record that Syracuse has the mentality to gut out eight wins in the 2014 campaign. Seems pretty reasonable to McAllister: 
“It certainly helps to have a goal to take that next step. Clemson is going to take a bit of a step back. You’ll have Florida State coming to the Dome so there’s that. Every other game seems winnable.”
The Fizz will get around to its pre-season predictions as the regular season schedule approaches closer and closer. Can’t complain that just two games are doubtful for the win column. SU begins the year at home against ‘Nova followed by a trip to Central Michigan. The annual MetLife game also falls later in September, which is more beneficial so fans can grasp a better sense of the season’s outlook. 
McAllister also is very high on the Orange’s incoming 2014 recruiting class to help and compete right away. Which players is he watching out for?
‚ÄúSteve Ishmael has always been a guy I liked. I‚Äôm really looking at a guy like an AJ Long. I am interested to see how he‚Äôs coming along with his progression. Also let‚Äôs see if he can challenge Austin Wilson for the backup position. Hunt is going to take a stranglehold on the job because of his experience and his improvement. Guys like Corey Cooper, Corey Winfield and Sean Avant, you‚Äôre looking to see what type of impact they can make. The wide receiver position didn‚Äôt give Syracuse a lot of playmakers last year, so can those guys step up to make plays this year.”¬†
McAllister remains offense-minded. The receivers and backup quarterbacks are keys to keep an eye on. The WR position was at best adequate all of last season. Now with some highly-sought recruits on board and sophomores ready to step up, it’s hard to not be excited about who could be catching passes from Hunt. AJ Long’s received a boat load of attention since he committed to Syracuse. His Twitter takeover and strong words regarding SU’s new direction for recruiting really sparked some heads in Central New York. Let’s see if his words produce on the gridiron.
To round things out, The Fizz asked McAllister if there was any cause for concern with the 2015 class. A big fat goose egg lays in the commitments column for the Orange. However, not time to worry just yet:
“They are slightly behind from where they were last year. This Syracuse staff has taken a very patient approach and they are very diligent during their film study. You like to see some commits down the pipeline. By the time summer comes around we’ll start to see some commitments. I wouldn’t panic just because they don’t have any commits yet.”
Hopefully he’s right on the money. The spring game and summer visits should influence some recruits’ decisions. Both men’s and women’s lacrosse have given Syracuse fans a lot to keep their minds off of football. This Saturday’s spring game though should be a pleasant reminder that football season is awfully close by.
Posted by: Brendan Glasheen 
215 responses to “Syracuse Football’s Spring Storylines Focus on Offensive Production”
Syracuse on its way to national relevance. LSU vs Syracuse to happen in a home & home series in 2015 and 2017.
Great for the program.
Another piece that makes interesting reading.
http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/index.ssf/2014/04/4-star_ohio_state_safety_jayme_thompson_to_transfer_and_syracuse_football_is_lis.html#incart_river
Go CUSE.
And we picked up a verbal yesterday…
lawdy lawdy..our heads be spinnin’!!
@orangeinva;
N/R 6’0″ 190 lb RB Tyrone Perkins out of Friends Academy Locust Valley NY became Syracuses first commit for the class of 2015.
Watched his tape and he looks pretty good. Should make people like Terry somewhat happy knowing that we got a commitment from a NYS kid. Is he a 4* recruit? NO!!! 247 sports say’s Syracuse got a steel on this very high 3* athlete. Could he be another Jerome Smith? I think maybe!!!
The other tid bit of recruiting news is the 4* Safety transferring from Ohio State and has Syracuse on his list of schools to visit. That would be a big fish in the pond if he did indeed decide to come here.
One of the problems with recruits signing early is they have a lot of time to think about what they have done and some end up decommitting from the school. for example
5* 6’3″ 310 lb OL Josh Waniboko decommitting from Oklahoma and reopened his recruiting. It happens to the best I guess.
Patience my friend,people need to be patient.
@Ron…
Allen Iverson…”Patience..we’re talkin’ patience??”
LSU’s coming in 17 months and I’ve got nothing to wear!!!!!!!!!!
Heee heee.
But seriously, because we must be serious here, Perkins has size and speed. My concern is the level of competition he has played against as his high school has less than 400 students. What type of skill/athletic ability/talent has he encountered on the “other side of the ball.” Has he faced that 220 lb LB backed up by a strong safety being recruited a by a few D1 schools?
I need to know more about this guy….but glad we have a verbal.
Ron yes he’s a NYS player but I have not heard a thing about him until now. There is only about 6 NYS players worth a look and the top one won’t even sniff at SU. So will see?? He has decent size!! so he might fit in at many different places!! But HCSS and SU is far behind early commits. I know its early, but still that’s the way recruiting is moving along and HCSS is playing the old school method. It could kick him in the ass and it has already!!
DO NOT FORGET THE KIDS OF PSABUSEDU!! THE NCAA DID!
@orangeinva;
Everyone needs to read the latest article about Tyrone Perkins posted on syr.com
http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/index.ssf/2014/04/syracuse_football_recruiting_tyrone_perkins_first_commit_in_2015_says_he_can_mak.html#incart_river
He’s a very good athlete that has played against weak competition. It may take a season or 2 to get up to the physicality/talent of the carolina/georgia/ florida/texas boys.
@orangeinva;
After reading the article a couple of things stood out for me. (1st) he wasn’t rated by the recruiting sites until after he committed to Syracuse,the reason being that he didn’t attend any of the football camps over the summer to get noticed. It kind of looks like the camps are nothing but a money grab and students/recruits are paying for the amount of stars that gets put after their names. (2nd) The new TE coach Bobby Acosta has come through getting a highly rated 3* RB considered to be the 3rd best at the RB position in the state out of the Long Island area. let’s hope he continues to have good luck recruiting the NJ areas as well.
In his first year recruiting for the Orange Bobby Acosta has already out done Rob Moore. Maybe just maybe he rebuilds the bridges/connections to the high schools in the NYC area and he starts bringing some of that talent upstate to Syracuse.
Good point about Acosta..and Moore’s lack of recruiting success…
There is a lot of good talent in the NJ/Maryland area…as evidenced by PSU tearing it up with their new head coach.
yes OrangeinVa..he’s putting a hurtin on RU and Md too as a saving grace but remember its leaving us in an even tougher position there? PSU shouldve gotten the DP!! I put them now in the same company as the Bama’s,Auburn’s and UNC’s JUST a cultishunfeeling FB factory and as much as i like winning our reputation as a academic hwt is more important…I’m sure Malone and Ron will agree!?!
edit above///cultish,heartless(unfeeling) FB factory.Too bad we don’t have an edit option?
Ron where has Acosta out shined Moore in recruiting. One 3 star NYS RB come on now-Ron. I do think that Moore was not up to the recruiting thing(many successful college coaches leave because of recruiting)but I do believe him about the prima donna’s that he talked about. From around the NYC/LI or NJ areas he talked about!! I’ll wait until Feb 2015 LOI day before I give him passing grades on recruiting let alone his coaching skills!! GEZZZZ!!
@Terry;I really don’t remember ever reading about Rob Moore getting a recruit this early in the season.
The question that should be asked is,do you honestly believe that Rob Moore would have even given Tyrone Perkins a good hard look or even a peak? It would have been another one of those NYS players overlooked by the staff that ended with him going to another school and succeeding making Syracuse look like idiots. And fans asking what’s happening with the fooball program? How did we let that slip through our fingers? We have to get rid of the coaching staff because none of them know what the hell is going on.
Bringing in a recruit in his first month on the job from an area that Moore didn’t like and have a chance of landing any recruit is why I feel he’s head and shoulders above anything Rob Moore accomplished.
@Terry;
I think the reasons for Rob Moore leaving the team were;(1st) he stuck his foot in his mouth in an article published in the Post Standard and (2nd)he was probably told by Shafer that he was losing his position and was being replaced by George McDonald as the WR’s coach.
I think he see the writing on the wall and realized that he wasn’t going to have a job and left.
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