The refrain has become tiresome, yet Perry Patterson continues to bang his Drum of Woe. In a piece appearing in today's Post-Standard, staff writer Dave Rahme allows Patterson to wax poetic on why he and his fellow Orange performed so pathetically in 2005:
First, the senior quarterback must raise his level of play substantially higher than it was last season, when he completed only 47.9 percent of his passes and tossed nearly twice as many interceptions (11) as touchdown passes (six) during the Orange's 1-10 tumble.This raises three important issues:
"When it was over, I really felt as if I could have played a lot better," Patterson said, "so I put a lot of pressure on myself to improve. I just know I can get this job done. I just want a shot at getting Syracuse back on the map. That's probably what I think about most. It just keeps that fire inside me burning."
Patterson's second job will be to make sure that fire spreads to the three players vying to become his backup junior Matt Hale, redshirt freshman Cameron Dantley and true freshman Andrew Robinson. It is a thin group, thanks to Joe Fields' off-season decision to try his luck at safety this season.
Hale, a Canadian, has been considered a project since being added to the roster late in the 2003 recruiting season after celebrated recruit Joe Dailey ditched SU for Nebraska. Dantley is a walk-on, and Robinson is a rookie.
"I'm just trying to help them along the way," Patterson said. "When Andrew came in, right away we started to get into film. I started helping him out, helping him understand some of the things we're doing and how to recognize defenses and stuff like that."
With coaches unable to give Robinson, who arrived in the summer to get a head start on school and football, hands-on coaching until today's first practice, Patterson has assumed the role of mentor, a position he said he never benefited from during his previous four seasons at SU.
"Troy (Nunes) helped me out a little bit," Patterson said. "But I think they (Nunes and R.J. Anderson) were so involved with their quarterback situation that it was hard for them to really mentor me. Three quarterbacks coaches and three offensive coordinators . . . I didn't feel that I had somebody just bringing me along through my college career, so I'm trying to help Andrew and Cameron with that."
- It is about time that Patterson took a leadership role. Last year, Patterson did not appear to have a commanding presence both on and off the football field. With his efforts to tutor and guide Andrew Robinson and Cameron Dantley this summer, it appears as if Patterson finally realizes what it takes to be a high-major college quarterback.
- With that said, I think it is horrifying that Patterson is trying to tutor Robinson and Dantley. Patterson has said on numerous occasions that he did not understand (1) what defenses were doing to him last year; and (2) where receivers and other members of the Syracuse offense were going to be on the football field on a play-by-play basis.
Clearly, the fact that Patterson has taken the initiative here is a double-edged sword. - Finally, when is Patterson going to stop blaming his poor performance on Greg Robinson's and Paul Pasqualoni's coaching staffs? I've written pages upon pages of material referring to this terrible character trait of Patterson [if you really want to read it, use the "search" box to the above right], and, as a consequence, I am starting to believe more and more that Perry's lack of development is directly attributable to his lack of personal responsibility.
New Season, New Uniforms
As Donnie Webb notes in his prodigal blog, Syracuse will be sporting the same jerseys as last season, except different:
I'll post a picture when Syracuse Athletics decides to release one.New uniforms
This always seems to be a major topic of discussion among fans, but, yes, the uniforms have been updated again. The Orange trotted out the new look at Media Day this morning.
The jerseys were blue with orange stripes over the shoulder pads. They're no longer trimmed in blue. The pants were orange. Instead of one extra wide blue stripe, there are two smaller ones.
It's basically the same uniform worn by the Indianapolis Colts, only it's in blue and orange.
"What do you think of the new unis," asked athletics director Daryl Gross to players as they left a photo shoot.
"They're hot," said fullback Breyone Evans, who was talking about the wow factor, not the temperature.
Coaches wore bold orange shirts with the new enhanced Syracuse logo (the block S with the word "Syracuse" arched over the top of the letter) right in the middle of their chest. The same logo is on the yoke of the team uniforms.
There were no helmets and only a few issues.
There was lots of pulling and stretching by players around the neck line, indicating these babies are skin tight.* * * * *
Gross told me earlier this year the team will no longer use white pants. The white jersey stays, though it will be worn with the orange pants. There is no orange jersey in the works, even though they're apparently out in stores.
UPDATE: As anticipated, the new uniforms are pretty beat:
U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi. . . .
A poster over at Syracusefan.com has set up an interesting website chronicling Syracuse's football history. Amongst the highlights of the site are:
- Game stats since 1983
- Attendance figures
- Rosters
- Player and team statistics
Love the non PC buttons on your banner. Good job.