A modified NCAA rule allowed freshman running back Damien Rhodes to spend his summer working out and running with his Syracuse football teammates.

Rhodes’ summer training paid off, as he and Barry Baker will split time backing up Walter Reyes when SU plays Brigham Young Thursday night at 7:45.

‘Considering he’s only been here a short period of time, he’s done an excellent job from a knowing-what-to-do standpoint,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said Saturday.

Freshman Quinn Ojinnaka, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound offensive tackle from Seabrook, Md., also cracked the depth chart for the Orangemen’s season opener. Two other freshmen — quarterback Perry Patterson and wide receiver Rashard Williams — will be on the travel squad.

Pasqualoni said he hopes to redshirt Patterson, a 6-foot-3, 225-pounder from Lancaster, Pa.

‘But if we have to put him in, we have to,’ Pasqualoni said.

Williams, a 5-foot-9, 160-pounder from Miami, will return kickoffs, along with Rhodes and redshirt freshman Steve Gregory.

‘Rashard did kickoff and punt returns in high school,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘He’s awfully quick, awfully fast.”

Nice to meet you

Pasqualoni first bumped into Dave DeAmato during spring practice. DeAmato had worked up the guts to try out for SU’s long-snapper position vacated by Kwazi Leverette, now in camp with the Cincinnati Bengals.

‘I kind of forgot about him after preseason camp,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘Then I show up for training camp (in August), and there’s Dave DeAmato.’

DeAmato told Pasqualoni that he’d spent the summer working out in Syracuse and practicing his snapping every day.

DeAmato beat out fullback Chris Davis to earn the starting job. He’ll long-snap on punts and field goals to start the season.

‘I really think it’s ideal that we have one guy whose focus is on long-snapping,’ Pasqualoni said.

Pasqualoni added he’s also been impressed with DeAmato’s work on punt coverage. Hopefully the coach will remember DeAmato when the team travels.

Need fuel

Cecil “The Diesel” Howard’s August rollercoaster ride continues.

Unhappy with his role as SU’s backup quarterback, Howard, a redshirt freshman, transferred earlier this month to Youngstown State. But after just four days of practice at the Division I-AA school in Ohio, Howard returned home to McKeesport, Pa. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Friday that Howard has his sights set on Duquense but can’t talk to that school until he receives his release from Youngstown State. Duquesne coach Greg Gattuso told The Post-Gazette that Youngstown State won’t grant Duquesene permission to talk to Howard or grant his release.

If Howard transfers to Duquense, or any other Division I or I-AA school, he’ll have to sit out a year. He could transfer to a Division II or Division III school without penalty.

Howard, who made the travel squad last year for SU, was the No. 4-rated high school quarterback in the country as a senior.

This and that

Mike Shafer is moving up the Syracuse punting record lists. Shafer, a senior, needs 56 punts to surpass John Fox on the career-punts ledger and 2,260 yards to top Fox’s career-yards mark of 9,626. … After just six months at wide receiver, Xzavier Gaines will move back to quarterback. Gaines, a redshirt freshman from Houston, came to Syracuse last fall as a quarterback. He’s now one of five quarterbacks — along with R.J. Anderson, Troy Nunes, Perry Patterson and walk-on Joe Hafera — on SU’s roster. … Jamel Riddle said Saturday that he hoped to return three punts for touchdowns this season. Riddle, a 5-foot-7 junior wide receiver who returned a punt for a touchdown last season against Virginia Tech, said he concentrates more on punt returns than receiving. “That’s where I’ll find a spot on an NFL roster,” he said. … Julian Pollard will start Thursday at the defensive end spot vacated by the graduated Dwight Freeney. But Pasqualoni said that both Ryan LaCasse and James Wyche could see time there. … Syracuse is 7-4 in season openers under Pasqualoni and hasn’t lost one on the road since 1985. … The game against BYU will be the farthest the Orangemen have traveled for a game since 1989, when they beat Louisville in Tokyo.

Published on August 25, 2002 at 12:00 pm