Doug Marrone said immediately after the loss to West Virginia last week that Greg Paulus is still the starting quarterback for the Syracuse football team.
“Do I think Ryan did a nice job? He did a good job of knowing the plan, but that comes a lot from Greg,” Marrone said. “Greg does a lot of work and supports Ryan and does a lot.”
That’s Marrone’s response to Nassib’s play in the second half of the West Virginia game. Does it reveal anything other than that Paulus and Nassib work well together? Not really.
And as for why Paulus didn’t go back in the game, it seemed he wasn’t answering questions to Marrone’s satisfaction. Fine, but consider the point this raises for the future – especially with two of the Orange’s future quarterbacks.
Fizz-sciples already know well about John Kinder and Jonny Miller, the two Orange QB’s in the class of 2010. Then there’s current freshman Charley Loeb behind Nassib on the depth chart too.
Marrone has made it clear that he will start whoever is best for the team. If Nassib is not the best starter for this team now with good mobility, a bigger frame and a clearly stronger arm than Paulus, will he be next year when the competition is even greater behind him?
I made the point in¬†this week’s¬†Fizzcast that this bye week should serve as an open tryout for the QB job between Nassib and Paulus. After all, if Nassib was the starter during spring practice and Paulus is on the decline in the last two weeks, why not just try and see what things would be like if Nassib took first team snaps.
Tyler Dunne of the Daily Orange¬†wrote of Nassib “back to the bench he goes. A Stallion snap here, a Stallion snap there. Headset and clipboard, optional.”
But even if nothing changes this season, what will it take for Nassib to earn the starting job not only if the incumbent starter has two straight awful starts, or even when he leaves the program?
Keep in mind, Nassib is not a Marrone recruit. Loeb, Kinder, and Miller are all Doug’s boys.
The Fizz broke down the battle between Kinder and Miller back in July and gave the edge to Kinder. He’s got size, speed and arm strength to make him a potential star.
Loeb is already an integral part of the offense working with Cam Dantley on the sidelines every game relaying plays into the huddle even though he probably won’t see game time this season. But let’s look back on hisrecruiting profile:¬†“Loeb is purely a one-dimensional prospect that is not going to create or make many plays athletically.”
But Kinder? “He is a shotgun, dual-threat quarterback that is a nice fit for the scheme. He can be a very good runner with excellent initial burst and first step to elude the rush and create when things break down around him. He is a good read-option runner, shows nice vision and can be difficult to handle once he breaks into daylight.”
We may have a 2010 quarterback battle on our hands.
And it doesn’t stop there. It could go to tight end (Mike Owen), defensive tackle (Art Jones), cornerback (Nico Scott), running back (Delone Carter), linebacker (Derrell Smith) where all of those players are seniors who will have to either be replaced from within, or by recruits.
And if you’re a recruit, those situations have gotta be lighting your eyes up with passion.
