Last week, we saw AJ Long disqualified due to concussion issues during his time at SU. And after the dust settled and we realized that Long would not be playing football at SU anymore, my attention turned to Eric Dungey. The true-freshman QB is playing well for the Orange, bringing stability to the position after a year full of injuries last year. Dungey has already thrown for more touchdowns this season, 9, than all other true freshman QB’s had thrown for SU since true freshman became eligible, according to SU. But much of his success has come on the ground, and with that has come some big hits.
Because of his running ability, and tendency to take hits, Dungey has already suffered one concussion this season. And that came in just his second career start against Central Michigan. While it is great to see him run around and do things like this, take a look at the hit he takes after he lands. Dungey always runs hard, but never gets down or out of bounds.
One of Dungey’s issues was best explained by Tim Lester this week, he said the Orange called 34 pass plays, but Dungey threw just 22 passes. And on many of those, Dungey took hits. He doesn’t throw the ball away, he doesn’t slide, he doesn’t run out of bounds.
So where does the AJ Long situation come in? Well, think about it this way, AJ showed some promise last year, and about a year after he started his first game, Long is done playing football at SU.
Now, Dungey has already had one concussion, and we know the concussion protocol at SU says multiple concussions and you are disqualified. So, unfortunately, Dungey is just a few hits away from never playing football for SU again.
Look, I don’t want this to happen, I want to see Dungey play his full 4 years and be a good QB for the Orange. But maybe it can be used as a learning moment for Dungey. Lester and Scott Shafer have already said they want Dungey to be a little more cautious and start to be more careful about when and how he runs the ball. Maybe this is a way the Orange can get the message across.
Posted By: Seth Goldberg
