Just days after they had both committed separately to play safety for Syracuse on Jan. 23, 2009, Phillip Thomas and Rishard Anderson met at 3261 SW 160th Ave. in Miramar, Fla. At a Benihana.

It was there at the sushi bar the two future SU defensive backs got to know each other.

They exchanged phone numbers. They discovered they had some of the same friends, thanks to the 18 miles that separated their hometowns. And for the first time, Thomas and Anderson –– who both stand at 6 feet and are only separated by 6 pounds –– were able to size up in person their prime competition for playing time in the Orange secondary.

‘It was like I already knew him, basically,’ Anderson said after practice Monday. ‘Same lifestyle, same friends.’

Flash forward 14 months, and the two mirror-image defensive backs are competing against one another for a starting position at cornerback. The two rising sophomores have been splitting reps through the first half of spring practice at the No. 2 cornerback position in perhaps the most tightly contested position battle of the spring for the Orange.

The first week of practice, Thomas saw the majority of the snaps with the first-team defense opposite No. 1 corner Da’Mon Merkerson. Throughout the second week, Anderson had his turn with the first team. And Monday, the first day of the third week of practice, it was more of the same. Thomas lined up at corner 31 times during the last half of practice. Anderson lined up at the same No. 2 corner spot 41 times. Thomas also shared time on the field with Anderson at a safety position when SU switched to its ‘Okie’ dime defense.

As of Monday, both were still jockeying for that starting spot.

‘Really, I’m not disappointed with any of the players who are playing in the defensive backfield,’ SU head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘All we are trying to do is create that versatility because we go in with two types of packages.’

Thomas and Anderson head into their sophomore years a little more than a year after that sushi dinner with game experience as freshmen last fall. Thomas saw much more time on the field, as the Miami native started three out of 11 games played in 2009, registering 29 tackles in the process. Anderson played in seven games and recorded six tackles.

Through the first two weeks of spring practice, the battle between Anderson and Thomas at the cornerback position has epitomized best what Marrone has preached every day at practice. It’s the same thing he harped on last week after Thomas got into a fight with tight end Nick Provo: ‘Be competitive, but not combative.’

Between each other, Thomas and Anderson have come up with their own mantra. Each recited it multiple times after practice Monday. It’s advice they trade throughout their fight for the No. 2 cornerback position: ‘May the best man win.’

At practice on Monday, both Thomas and Anderson played like the same man, like two 6-foot, 180-pound mirror-images from southeast Florida. Over the course of the last hour and a half of practice, the receivers both Thomas and Anderson matched up against were thrown to just a handful of times.

Only once was either Anderson or Thomas burned deep from that cornerback position. Anderson gave up a 40-yard reception to transfer wide receiver Aaron Weaver. But Anderson made up for it several plays later, as he recovered to bat a pass out of rising junior wide receiver Marcus Sales’ hands.

‘At first, it was like we had to be brothers because we both came in together,’ Thomas said. ‘We didn’t know what was going to happen.’

If you ask Syracuse’s No. 1 receiver, Alec Lemon, he’ll tell you the same thing Thomas and Anderson recite. To Lemon, Thomas and Anderson resemble each other. Sometimes, even too much for the rising sophomore Lemon to realize the difference at the line of scrimmage.

For the receiver, it has become the equivalent of a guessing game.

‘With them switching in and out it’s kind of hard,’ Lemon said. ‘Going to the left side, I see Da’Mon Merkerson, and then going to the right side, I see (Thomas). And the next series I’m coming in and seeing (Anderson). So with them coming in, I give them each a different technique.’

But once Lemon breaks his teammates down, the differences between Anderson and Thomas finally begin to surface. The mirror reflecting the two defensive backs from Florida becomes a little foggier.

Lemon notes that Thomas, his roommate, forces receivers to the outside more, always shading them to the sideline, whereas Anderson plays Lemon straight up. Lemon also cites Thomas’ strength –– especially his hand strength –– as an attribute. Anderson’s greatest attribute, Lemon feels, is his quick feet.

It is that pair of quick feet for Anderson that allows the cornerback to face Lemon at a straight 180-degree angle. It’s a distinct difference in angles between the two that keeps Lemon on his toes as he shifts his technique when lined up against Thomas versus Anderson.

It is that element of surprise between Thomas and Anderson that the two cornerbacks hope will enable them both to see a large majority of time on the field this fall.

‘At the end of the day, we are both going to go out and play,’ Anderson said. ‘Just because one of us is starting doesn’t mean the other one isn’t going to play. So let the best man win.’

But there it is again, that mantra between Thomas and Anderson of the ‘best man winning.’

And by the start of the 2010 season, there has to be a ‘best man’ who will have won the spot. With the return of injured rising senior safety Max Suter, injured rising junior cornerback Kevyn Scott and rising sophomore defensive back Dorian Graham, the fate of both Thomas and Anderson is cut and dry.

Only one can start at cornerback.

But until that decision is made, both Thomas and Anderson will recite the same thing to each other.

Said Anderson: ‘Like Phillip said, may the best man win.’

aolivero@syr.edu

 

Published on April 5, 2010 at 12:00 pm