Delone Carter admitted it Tuesday night.

Was there ever any doubt?

Did Delone always know this day would come?

‘No.’

At some point there was doubt for Carter. But following his first practice Tuesday as a reinstated member of the Syracuse football team, there wasn’t any for the senior running back when describing his initial reaction to his reinstatement to the university. He’s ready to move on. Again. 

‘My time was served,’ Carter said. ‘And that’s it.’

After a four-month long suspension, Carter was finally back with his teammates Tuesday in the Carrier Dome at 4:30 p.m. for the team’s second practice of the season. Carter shared reps with the first team during the afternoon practice and said he was an ‘eight out of 10’ on a physical level. But SU head coach Doug Marrone would not name him as the starter at running back for the Orange’s first game at Akron on Sept. 4, which also happens to be a return to Carter’s hometown.

At least, not yet.

‘I have not put a place on the depth chart yet,’ Marrone said. ‘… (Carter) was in there (with the first team) today. But obviously in a very limited role.’

Marrone announced Carter’s reinstatement Monday at the team’s annual media day in the Carrier Dome after receiving a call from Carter’s father, Robert White.

Even with the open competition at running back, Carter described his feelings about rejoining the team almost as succinctly as he summed up his reaction to his reinstatement.

‘(It’s) like giving me candy,’ Carter said. ‘I’ve been away from it for so long.’

The senior spoke to the media for the first time since his reinstatement — and since his suspension on April 14, Tuesday night. After he arrived outside of Manley Field House — stepping out of a black SUV, holding his helmet and wearing a pair of white tube socks — Carter read a folded-over prepared statement to the assembled media.

Carter is accused of punching a fellow Syracuse student in a snowball-throwing incident on Feb. 27. His trial in Syracuse City Court is pending and was postponed Aug. 2. Carter would not comment on the trial, referring to it as a personal matter. Marrone announced Monday that Carter will not serve a suspension or be further disciplined.

‘I regret what happened and I learned a lot from it,’ Carter said. ‘It matured me a lot.’

Carter’s full statement read: ‘I’d just like to say I’m grateful and thankful for the opportunity to come back to Syracuse to get a degree, to rejoin my teammates, and as far as what happened, that is a personal matter, and I’d like to put it behind me. Any questions about playing time will be handled by Coach Marrone.’

The senior arrived Tuesday afternoon after traveling from his hometown of Akron, Ohio. He arrived in time for the Orange’s practice and even caught some of his teammates off guard.

Delone was back. But it took two looks to realize it.

‘At first I walked in and saw a couple of players,’ Carter said. ‘They really didn’t know that it was me, and they took a double-take. Like, ‘Delone!’ It was a good welcome.’

But it was hardly a welcome from long-forgotten teammates, and long-forgotten friends. Tuesday served as an in-person reunion for Carter – SU’s leading rusher last season with 1,048 yards and 11 touchdowns – after remaining in contact with teammates all summer.

The contact was constant. And for Carter – who was home in Akron all summer ‘spending time with my son and working out’ – perhaps his most comprehensive contact came via a cell phone photo message.

After a summer workout, Orange linebacker Derrell Smith sent Carter a photo of the SU offensive linemen and defensive linemen wearing Carter’s signature water weight-shedding ‘ab-trimmer’ waistband.

For Carter, back in Akron, it brought a moment of amusement –– and visual connection.

It was a connection that was explicitly communicated from Syracuse cornerback Da’Mon Merkerson during Carter’s first true play from scrimmage Tuesday.

Carter split wide, and while running down the field opposite Merkerson, the cornerback said three words. It was trash talk from Merkerson, but trash talk that exemplifies where SU is as of Carter’s return Tuesday.

‘I got you!’ Merkerson screamed.

After four months, the Syracuse football team finally has Carter back.

Even if it came after waiting for months while Carter spent that time yearning for that all-too-familiar candy.

And even if the guys who now got him are just a bunch of Barneys wearing his ab gear. After a solemn summer, Carter can now dabble in humor.

Said Carter: ‘It was funny watching Big Barneys walking around with (Carter’s ab-trimmer). It was funny for me.’

aolivero@syr.edu

 

Published on August 9, 2010 at 12:00 pm