Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone officially announced the reinstatement of Orange running back Delone Carter to the university and team at SU’s annual media day in the Carrier Dome Monday.  

Marrone said Carter will not serve a suspension for any regular-season games and that Carter has already served his punishment internally within the football program before he left school in the spring.

Marrone declined to elaborate on Carter’s punishment.

‘We took action right away,’ Marrone said. ‘We took action right off the bat prior to him leaving campus. He has gone through a process with the football program, and he has gone through a process with judicial affairs. Therefore, I don’t know how many times you punish a player.’

The senior running back Carter was suspended from the team on April 14 after he was accused of punching a fellow Syracuse student in a snowball-throwing incident on Feb. 27. Marrone said Carter will be traveling back to Syracuse to join the team on Tuesday. Marrone added there is not an expected return time Tuesday for Carter, and that it is still up in the air whether or not he will practice Tuesday.

Marrone refused to name Carter the starter at running back, a role he held during the entirety of last season – where he rushed for 1,048 yards and 11 touchdowns – and in the spring. 

‘Me to judge whether he is playing or not,’ Marrone said, ‘I have not seen this player for a long period of time. I am not going to make any statements until we see what goes on when he goes back to campus.’

When asked by The Daily Orange, Marrone said he was informed of Carter’s reinstatement via a phone call from Carter’s father, Robert White, approximately an hour and a half prior to Monday’s announcement. Marrone added that he spoke with Carter himself over the phone shortly thereafter. The head coach declined to delve into the specifics of the conversation, saying conversations with players will remain confidential.

In a one-on-one interview, Marrone told The Daily Orange he wasn’t surprised White made the initial phone call to the head coach, but he again declined to go into specifics regarding the conversation.

‘I wasn’t surprised, because the call was initiated to the awareness of the situation,’ Marrone said. ‘Everything else, with any player — not just Delone Carter — the conversations I have with him are private. I really believe I should keep it that way.’

The announcement of Carter’s reinstatement comes after four months of speculation. The reinstatement process for a suspended student to the university requires a student to submit a written petition for reinstatement to the Office of Judicial Affairs. The petition must include evidence that the individual has completed developmental tasks specified in the terms of his or her suspension. Once the petition is submitted, it is reviewed, and a decision is communicated to the student.

Multiple messages regarding Carter’s reinstatement left at Senior Vice President for Public Affairs Kevin Quinn’s phone were not returned Monday evening.

Carter is also scheduled to appear in front of Syracuse City Court in a pretrial conference in the misdemeanor assault charge. Carter was scheduled to appear in court Aug. 2, but the appearance was delayed and no new date has been set. Marrone said last Tuesday at Big East Football Media Day in Newport, R.I., that he knows nothing about the postponed court date. There were no updates on the court date Monday.

First-year Syracuse running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley furthered Marrone’s decision to not name Carter the starter at running back Monday. ‘Everyone will be competing,’ Wheatley said, ‘and when you can elevate that room, it makes everyone better.’

With the sheer announcement of Carter’s reinstatement to the program, Wheatley’s unit was instantly elevated on Monday. Even if Marrone and Wheatley said Carter will face open competition for the starting job, even if Carter wasn’t with the team for their first practice Monday, and even if Carter was left off the team’s alphabetical roster.

Carter was one place on Monday, though. His name did appear beneath the released alphabetical roster in the ‘Pronunciation Guide’ section prior to Marrone’s official announcement.

‘Carter, Delone: deh-LON,’ the pronunciation guide read.

Just two syllables. But the two familiar syllables void from the program since April. Two syllables SU fans were yearning to hear Marrone utter.

Two syllables that Wheatley realizes instantly puts the Orange ahead of where they were as late as Sunday night.

‘(The running backs) are ahead of where they were,’ Wheatley said. ‘But they still have a ways to go. 

‘My backs are here.’

aolivero@syr.edu

 

Published on August 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm