After a couple wounded ducks sailed behind him, Andrew Robinson decided he had enough. Quarterbacks Ryan Nassib and Cameron Dantley were off throwing routes to the wide receivers, leaving punter Rob Long as the pseudo quarterback for the tight ends in the drill.

So Robinson stepped in and started throwing.

‘I said, ‘Give me that ball. You’re a rookie. Get out of here,’ Robinson said. ‘I took the ball and started winging it around a little bit.’

After three years of playing quarterback at Syracuse, Robinson is now a tight end. Last week, when head coach Doug Marrone named the redshirt freshman Nassib the starting quarterback, he also moved Robinson to tight end. Six practices in, the transition continues. Robinson has caught plenty of short passes on play-action rollouts, but admits that blocking has been a challenge.

Throwing daily routes to the tight ends sure can be a cruel tease. When asked if he misses playing quarterback, Robinson stared ahead and hesitated for four seconds.

‘Umm, not really,’ Robinson finally said. ‘In certain drills it’s kind of nice to get back there and throw the ball. But I’m really having a great time (at tight end). It has rejuvenated and refreshed me.’

In addition to tight end, Robinson is holding kicks for Syracuse’s lone kicker, Austin Wallis, and playing on all kick and punt coverage units.

After practice Thursday, Robinson showed no signs of frustration or regret. This new gig isn’t eating away at him. Syracuse only has two quarterbacks on its roster until freshman Charley Loeb arrives in the fall, but Robinson is content at tight end.

‘I’m having fun out there,’ Robinson said. ‘I really am. It’s a new position. It’s a new challenge. It was something I looked forward to when I had the opportunity to do it.’

In 11 games as Syracuse’s starting signal-caller in 2007, Robinson threw for 2,192 yards, 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. But after one game last year, he was yanked by former SU head coach Greg Robinson for Cameron Dantley, who started the rest of the season.

Now, he’s at a completely new position. Robinson has caught nearly everything thrown his way – a product of playing catch with other quarterbacks for the past seven years, he said. Robinson snared an 11-yard bootleg pass from Cameron Dantley during Saturday’s scrimmage and was showered with applause from the Carrier Dome crowd, presumably a gesture of respect for his unselfish position switch.

Catching passes isn’t an issue, but blocking is. He’s 232 pounds now, but he hopes to bulk up to 245 this summer.

‘Blocking has been a little suspect so far,’ Robinson chuckled. ‘I’m trying to get the technique down and trying to take the coaching to do everything I can to get better.’

Cody Catalina made the same switch from quarterback to tight end last year. The physical aspect of the position can be a culture shock.

‘It’s a big change from quarterback to tight end, physically,’ Catalina said. ‘He’s picking everything up well so far, so he’s doing good.’

A quarterback background does give Robinson a unique perspective. Before every play, Robinson said he glances at the safeties to read their coverage. He’s still decoding weaknesses in the defense like a quarterback.

‘It’s a little bit different being down in the trenches for run plays,’ Robinson added. ‘But I do have a general knowledge of what the defense is doing when I’m walking up there to certain spots.’

And Robinson, who was once sacked 11 times in one game, hasn’t quite escaped his blindside demons. After getting nailed by a walk-on free safety at practice, Robinson dissects the play like Ron Jaworski breaking down game film.

‘Anybody who knows anything about football knows that the defense is playing Cover 4,’ said a grinning Robinson, ‘and when that safety sees the second receiver go flat, he’s going to double the outside receiver and that’s what happened.’

Despite the blow, Robinson hung onto the ball for the first down. He talked a little smack to the safety on his way back to huddle, jawing he could never pull off at quarterback.

This whole tight-end thing might not be too bad after all.

‘They like to think they can come out here and smack us around, but we get first downs out of it so we’ll take it,’ Robinson said.

Sheeran off team

Position switches aren’t going over well throughout the whole team, though. Dan Sheeran, who was switched from wide receiver to outside linebacker, is off the team.

‘He’s no longer with the team,’ Marrone said. ‘My policy has been that if someone is no longer with the team, I’m not going to comment on their issues.’

Sheeran was moved to linebacker on the second day of spring football practice and had seen some time with the first-team defense. The Orange hoped to bring athleticism to the position in moving Sheeran and Doug Hogue to the unit.

With Sheeran gone, the Orange’s thin linebacker corps gets even thinner. Marrone hinted that incoming freshmen E.J. Carter and Brandon Sharpe could be in the mix when they come to Syracuse in the fall.

‘Obviously we’ll be looking for people at that position,’ Marrone said. ‘Now we’ll be looking for some young player to come in and play. …We’re going to look at the people that are on our team right now, and we’ll also be looking at some of these freshmen that we’ve signed to come in and play and compete.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on April 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm