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Sean Tucker had to run his first punishment lap of the season at practice on Sunday. Syracuse head coach Dino Babers talked about it on ACC Network’s Packer and Durham, explaining that when a player needs to perform better, the coaches tell them to take a lap around the field and then talk to them afterward.

Tucker and Babers both reiterated that it wasn’t a confrontation, rather a lapse in Tucker’s focus. Tucker said on Wednesday that he “switched the ball wrong on a play,” meaning he held the ball on the side where the defender would’ve been, as opposed to outside and away from the defense. Babers told him to run the lap. It wasn’t anything severe, Babers said, and Tucker “locked back in” immediately after.

But what started as an explanation of the practice-field error by Syracuse’s Heisman watchlist member turned into high praise of the running back.

“It’s one of those deals where you just gotta go, ‘Now, you’re doing OK, but you’re not allowed to do OK anymore. You have to do better than that. Your expectations can’t be average. They have to be super above average,’” Babers said on Packer and Durham.

The bar for Tucker is not just high. It’s very high. Babers announced on TV that Tucker had to run a lap, something the head coach hasn’t publicly specified for any other player even once this year.

That speaks to how highly he thinks of Tucker, and how much respect and trust he has in his starting running back. It speaks to what he, the other Syracuse players, the fans and the community expect from Tucker. And it speaks to the fact that Tucker, SU’s most impressive player this season by a long shot, still has plenty of room to grow through the remainder of this season and next.

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“Even when he’s half speed, you think, ‘Wow, he’s as good as everybody else,’” Tucker’s dad, Steve Tucker said. “But no, Sean should be blowing everybody out … and if he’s not, then you get on him.”

Holding Tucker to a different standard is the key to facilitating continual growth, Steve said. Babers explained that it’s crucial to coach the best players the hardest, because they are the ones who can handle it most, and it motivates the other players to “shape up and fall into line.”

“Sean knows what to do — it’s just making sure that he stays locked in,” Babers said during his Monday press conference. “And very seldom is he not. Very seldom is he not.”

After Babers got off the show, he ran into Tucker eating breakfast in the cafeteria and told the running back he just put him on ACC Network. Tucker laughed. When asked later if the lap was even a sufficient punishment for him, Tucker laughed again and said Babers told him he ran it too fast.

Steve was somewhat glad to hear about his son’s lap. It was reassurance that both Tucker and Babers understood there’s still plenty of room for improvement. After every SU game, Steve calls his son to break down particular plays from games, highlighting certain areas where Tucker could’ve done better. The Boston College game, for instance, probably should’ve featured about 250 yards from Tucker instead of the career-high 207 he ran for, Steve said.

Tucker tweets about how he’s pleased with his performance, and of course, his father recognizes that his son is “very, very talented.” Steve is his biggest supporter. But those sessions between the father and son include a level of criticism that most people wouldn’t understand, Steve said. Steve said he’s more critical than most coaches, because he compares Tucker to Tucker, and not to other players. It’s all for the sake of growth.

“If you think he’s good, he still has growing up to do. He still has a lot,” Steve said. “The only way is to put that carrot out in front of him.”

This isn’t the first time Tucker’s been held to a higher bar than those around him, but that respect is something that has to be earned, Steve said. There were times when new athletes were yelled at for trying to replicate Tucker’s high school track workouts because they hadn’t “earned that level,” Steve said.

But when Tucker started his high school track and field career, Steve recalled trying to convince the coaches to put Tucker on varsity. He was unsuccessful until after a race where Tucker sped past the competition, and the crowd began to murmur: “Why is this kid on JV?” That night, Steve received an email saying his son had been bumped up to varsity.

“His performance got it done,” Steve said. “You’re going to have to really prove yourself and then be consistent. Then the coaches start realizing, that kid’s good … and then they start to coach him differently if they’re trying to get the most out of him.”

Tucker’s been using those kinds of odds-defying performances throughout his time at SU to continue proving himself. He was fifth on the depth chart before his freshman season. He climbed to third by September 2020 and took over the starting job later that season.

This season, Tuckers made the spectacular seem routine. After the Boston College game, Babers said the performance was “practice-like.” He’d seen it before — in fact, “a lot.”

Coming off the bye week well-rested after nine back-to-back games, and in better health than before, Tucker’s lap could be the best problem for Syracuse to have. It’s a sign that Babers wants to see more from Tucker. Babers — and SU fans — are continuing to raise the bar for what’s expected of Tucker. Luckily for everyone, Tucker is doing the same.

Roshan Fernandez is a senior staff writer at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at rferna04@syr.edu or on Twitter @Roshan_f16. 

Published on November 10, 2021 at 11:29 pm