Nick Provo has never seen three tight ends on the field at once. Not in college anyway.

Now the sophomore studies film of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers using three tight ends, tracking Jerramy Stevens’ every step.

Sure is a breath of fresh air from staying in a three-point stance all last season.

‘Before, tight end was just like another offensive lineman and really didn’t move around a lot,’ Provo said. ‘Now we could be anywhere on the field.’

Just another aspect of Rob Spence’s offensive renovation.

Syracuse’s new offensive coordinator tells the tight ends they play the most difficult role in the offense, Provo said. It’s easy to see why.

Usually, two tight ends are on the field. Other times, three. They’re out wide, in tight, at fullback or in the slot. Unlike last season, creativity drives the position. Provo, Mike Owen and Cody Catalina headline a group that is motioned before the snap at a dizzying pace.

In short, expect the unexpected.

‘On the line, off the line, split out wide, in the slot – we’re moving all over the place,’ Owen said.

Syracuse’s offense has undergone a major reconstruction through spring football practice. A new starting quarterback, the return of Mike Williams and a heated battle at running back have absorbed much of the attention. But it may be the tight ends that confuse defenses the most. New position coach Bob Casullo, who is also an assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, was the Buccaneers’ tight ends coach the last two seasons.

More than three-fourths of the time, Syracuse employs multiple tight ends. On one play Monday, a trio of tight ends were bunched together on the right side, and Ryan Nassib threw a two-step lob to Williams in one-on-one coverage deep right.

Provo feels liberated in the new offense.

‘I didn’t really play much last year,’ he said. ‘I guess they didn’t feel comfortable with me blocking because I was pretty light. But this is more of my kind of offense, moving around and getting down the field. Two tight ends in the game. Yeah, I’m excited.’

Owen, SU’s returning starter, is the only traditional tight end in the group. At 6-foot-4, 251 pounds, the block-first Owen believes the unit boasts a healthy blend of skills.

‘Cody and Provo can be used more as a moving tight end, and I’m more of an in-line blocker,’ Owen said.

Catalina’s performance through three weeks suggests this radical use of tight ends has a chance at working instantly. After switching from quarterback to tight end during the winter, Catalina has hauled in passes on a regular basis. He has earned the praise of coaches, catching the ball away from his body and getting separation from defenders.

A jack-of-all-trades in the offense, Catalina lines up everywhere.

‘The more I do in practice and the better I do, the more they try to put me in different spots and try to use the matchups that we can get against different defensive guys,’ Catalina said. ‘I’ve been getting a lot of balls at practice and that’s exciting to know that I might get them during the game.’

The role demands athleticism, something Catalina and Provo could bring. In addition to Catalina’s quantum leap from quarterback, Provo juggled tight end, wide receiver, defensive end, linebacker and even offensive tackle during high school.

The multitasking has come in handy this spring. The days of straight ahead blocking, play-in and play-out, are over.

‘Everybody has to be interchangeable,’ Provo said. ‘Everybody has to know everything. When we go with three tight ends on the field, everybody has to know everything…If we ran 50 plays in our scrimmage, 40 of them probably were with two tight ends. (Spence) likes tight ends.’

Hit parade

Doug Marrone said the coaches shouldn’t have to fire up the team as much as they do. Midway through Monday’s practice, defensive coordinator Scott Shafer unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on the defense for playing soft.

The unit responded with a series of bone-crushing hits. George Mayes lit up Van Chew on a short pass to the outside, cueing a chorus of hollers from the defense. Later on, Bud Tribbey swallowed Williams at point blank on a bubble screen and Mike Holmes lowered his shoulder on Donte Davis for a big hit.

The highlight reel of hits is encouraging – the players responded to Shafer’s outrage. But Marrone doesn’t want to make a habit of this.

‘You see that too many times,’ Marrone said. ‘Myself going up to the team, me telling the coaches to make sure we get it out of them. There are times when you go through spring football, that you’re going to need to do that but you don’t want to do that often.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on April 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm