Greg Robinson stood in the media work room of Monday’s men’s basketball game and started an impromptu press conference with the same unbridled optimism he’s shown before spring practice started the last two Marches – before Syracuse finished 1-10 and 4-8, respectively.

‘Fired up,’ the head football coach said. ‘Can’t wait.’

Year 3 of the Greg Robinson era opens with spring practice today. SU will practice 15 times before the annual spring game on April 21. Then it’s summer break before preseason practice begins in August. The whole team, including the freshmen, will participate in those practices, whereas the spring roster is almost entirely returning players.

Rising redshirt freshman offensive lineman Tucker Baumbach is the only player Robinson mentioned who will be limited because of injury. Baumbach had offseason shoulder injury and will be held out of live drills. Running backs Derrell Smith and Jeremy Sellers are both switching to linebacker, Robinson said. Those are the only two position changes for the spring.

Still, the storylines are plentiful for Robinson. As SU tries to climb back to respectability, spring practice will be where SU will start filling its starting quarterback spot, replacing three starting linebackers and figuring out how to fix a leaky offensive line, among other issues.

Quarterback, as usual, is the center of attention. Perry Patterson started for much of three seasons. His spot will likely be filled by sophomore Andrew Robinson. The only other quarterback on SU’s spring roster is rising junior Cameron Dantley, who is now a scholarship player after two seasons as a walk-on.

Dantley will receive snaps and Greg Robinson continues to throw his name into the mix. But Andrew Robinson was the No. 2 quarterback last season and the player favored to fill Patterson’s spot.

‘We’ve invested a lot of time and effort in Andrew,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘He just needs to continue to worry about things he can control. Andrew’s a very competitive guy, a team guy. In our offense, the quarterback situation is like making others work better. He understands it and now he has to go back and get it.’

But any quarterback needs a stable offensive line in front of him. Last season, SU’s offensive line was anything but stable. Syracuse tried five different starting lineup combinations in 12 games and fired offensive line coach Bob Wylie in January. Chris Wiesehan was hired in February as the new offensive line coach. In addition to all five starters returning, Syracuse has a group of redshirt freshmen who will fight for the job.

‘There’s five offensive linemen who’ve started football games, but behind them there are seven young players that we have a lot of years of eligibility with them,’ Robinson said. ‘With some experienced players and some very talented young players, it makes for a competitive spring practice.’

The opposite is true for the linebacking corps. Syracuse doesn’t return any of its three starting linebackers, a unit that was mostly productive last season. Robinson mentioned Jake Flaherty, Ben Maljovec and Vincenzo Giruzzi as three returning players with a lot of repetitions in practice and experience on special teams.

‘It’s their turn,’ Robinson said. ‘They got to step up and perform.’

But Robinson continued to cite the younger players in the mix, too. The competition for jobs is always a topic in spring practice, but following a 4-8 season and with the expected improvement of young players and incoming freshmen, the fight for playing time will start in the spring remain competitive.

‘It’s a matter of continued growth and development. I can tell today, without going out to spring practice, where we are compared to the last couple years,’ Robinson said. ‘It’s different. I think this group is more confident in what they’re doing, and I like the way they’re working. I see a little bounce in their step.’

Published on March 19, 2007 at 12:00 pm