Delone Carter is not on a crusade to prove the old coaching staff wrong. Syracuse’s rising junior running back said he isn’t holding any grudges after vanishing from the Orange’s offense last year.

‘My hunger never changes,’ Carter said. ‘It’s always the same. I just feel like the opportunity is there and the only person that can stop me is me.’

After Doug Hogue was moved to linebacker, Syracuse’s battle at running back condensed to a three-horse race. Carter and rising sophomore Antwon Bailey have been sharing time with the first-team offense, while rising redshirt freshman Averin Collier isn’t far behind in the tug-of-war contest for carries.

Unlike the quarterback competition that lasted all of one week, expect the running backs to duke it out until Syracuse’s first game.

‘It’s going to be competitive all the way to the Minnesota game,’ Bailey said.

Carter and Bailey are the clear-cut frontrunners for now. And right now, the complete emphasis is getting upfield vertically. Fast. Syracuse ran several running plays between the tackles Wednesday. Marrone is challenging the duo – last weekend, SU’s head coach said he wanted to see the running backs run north-south with more authority.

‘I like them, I like them,’ Marrone said after practice Wednesday. ‘They’re both competitive. They’re competitive with each other, they’re competitive in drills. I like what I see.’

Whereas Bailey broke out against Notre Dame last season for 126 yards and a touchdown to vault himself into the competition, Carter has had lingering tough luck. He entered last season as the starter after missing all of 2007 with a dislocated hip.

After recovering from an early-season hamstring injury by midseason, Carter only had two carries over the Orange’s final five games. Stashed away on the bench, he watched then-senior Curtis Brinkley shine and other backs like Bailey and Hogue get touches. Bad memories that he’s ‘not trying to think about anymore.’

The new coaching staff has reset his hopes.

‘Everybody is getting equal reps,’ Carter said. ‘The goal is to be perfect – we keep score of mistakes and well-executed plays. Whoever does the best is going to get love that day, so it’s a competition to see who is going to be the best.’

Carter, Bailey and Collier reiterate that the running back must be versatile to play in new coordinator Rob Spence’s offense – they call themselves ‘super backs,’ Collier said. For nearly the entire position drill segment inside the Carrier Dome Wednesday, running backs coach Stan Drayton had the backs running a simple pass route into the flats repeatedly for more than 20 minutes.

Spence’s backup running back at Clemson, C.J. Spiller, was third on the team in receptions last year, suggesting SU backs could be featured as weapons in the passing game. Collier, who was originally recruited by Spence at Clemson, said he’s excited about the plethora of pitchouts, draws, delays and passes out of the backfield being drilled during the spring.

‘You have to do it all and take advantage of every opportunity you get and make plays,’ Collier said. ‘(Spence) creates one-on-ones and gives you an opportunity to be an athlete with the ball.’

Last season, Brinkley was the bell-cow back. The senior gorged 60 percent of the carries through his rebirth. Connecticut’s Donald Brown (66 percent) and Pittsburgh’s LeSean McCoy (63 percent) were the only other Big East starting running backs to stomach a bigger workload in the Big East. This will change under Spence’s situation-based offense. Carter believes that a primary running back will emerge, but added that Spence’s wide-open offense designates ‘certain plays for certain backs.’

All three running backs could encompass specific roles in Syracuse’s new offense. None are traditional north-south bruisers, rather backs that prefer to get to the edge. At times, this style lends itself to extraneous dancing around the hole – a flaw that was exposed on Syracuse’s first day of tackling Saturday.

Two practices later, Marrone challenged the backs. During the scrimmage segment Wednesday, almost all running plays were called between the tackles. Not exactly the group’s forte, but Marrone wants to see a zest for contact before moving forward.

Then, Spence’s ‘super backs’ can take flight.

‘You work with your power stuff inside first and then eventually get to the perimeter,’ Marrone said. ‘We need to keep improving. We’re not where we want to be yet. It’s a point of emphasis to keep working on the plays and really just knocking someone off the football.’

Down to two

Quarterbacks Ryan Nassib and Cameron Dantley were busy working up the passing tree with the wide receivers. The tight ends were left helpless.

With nobody else available to throw them routes, punter Rob Long hopped in and masqueraded as quarterback for the drill. Soon after, recently converted Andrew Robinson – sporting his new green No. 88 practice jersey – threw passes to the tight ends.

The improvisation was needed because No. 3 quarterback David Legree is no longer on the team. Legree, who considered transferring last year, is now gone for good, it appears.

‘I’ll stick with two,’ Marrone said of his quarterback situation. ‘Unless the situation changes by injury with the players that are here.’

Marrone said he does not plan on switching Robinson back to quarterback, nor did Robinson ask to get moved back. Marrone prefers to have ‘at least four’ quarterbacks on the roster, but now he’s down to two. Freshman Charley Loeb will make it three in the fall, but for now, SU is getting thin under center.

‘I feel good about the players we have,’ Marrone said. ‘I can’t control the numbers.’

Get your kicks

Quarterback isn’t the only position that has been gutted from five players to two. Syracuse also is seeking help in the kicking game where junior punter Rob Long and redshirt freshman kicker Austin Wallis are all that’s left.

Marrone said Wallis’ progress is ‘not what we need,’ adding that that there’s a possibility Long could handle kicking, punting and kickoff duties. The Orange already held open tryouts for kicker.

Long is willing to shoulder the double duty if need be.

‘There aren’t a lot of kids at this top level that do both,’ Long said. ‘I think that’s something I could adjust to if I was asked to do it. … As far as field goals, I’m pretty confident I’d be ready to go and do what they asked me to do.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on April 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm