Coaches try to limit expectations on Rhodes
It wasn’t so bad at first. It seemed just like practice.
With 65,000 people watching, Damien Rhodes simply tossed a football with teammates as he relaxed and stretched before last Thursday’s football season opener at Brigham Young.
“I didn’t have many nerves,” the freshman running back said.
But moments later, Rhodes stood in front of the endzone at LaVell Edwards Stadium, gazing up through the lights as the opening kickoff fluttered toward him.
“They all looked at me and said, ‘You’re up,’ “ said Rhodes, whose nerves disappeared after he took that kick 24 yards and went on to rush for 82 yards in his debut.
Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni hinted Monday that Rhodes may not see more time than he did in his debut when SU plays its home opener Saturday night at 8.
“You saw a lot of him last week,” Pasqualoni said.
Still, of his first performance — the best debut by an SU running back since Floyd Little in 1964 — Rhodes said, “It gave me a lot of confidence going into this week to try to build on what I did.”
Syracuse offensive coordinator George DeLeone cautioned the media Wednesday against expecting too much from Rhodes. DeLeone noted that the last freshman to play as much as Rhodes did in his first game was running back Robert Drummond in 1985.
“(Rhodes) is a freshman, and he’s going to make freshman mistakes,” DeLeone said. “But I think it’s our fault if he screws up.”
On Saturday, while Rhodes tries to pick away at a North Carolina defense that lost All-American defensive linemen Julius Peppers and Ryan Sims, the Tar Heel offense will utilize the multiple schemes that befuddled SU against BYU.
North Carolina rotates the number of running backs, tight ends and wide receivers it uses on every play. Brigham Young’s quick switches and even quicker huddles often left the Orangemen with the wrong defenders on the field.
“We have to get better in making sure we’ve got the guys on the field that we want on the field,” Pasqualoni said.
It’d help, too, if the SU defenders made a tackle, something they often failed to do against BYU. While Cougars’ quarterback Bret Engemann shocked Syracuse by scrambling more than Pasqualoni anticipated, there will be no such surprises this week.
North Carolina’s Darian Durant is a throw-first quarterback who racked up 1,843 passing yards last season, compared to 128 on the ground. Still, Pasqualoni said his defense will be aware of Durant’s ability to dash outside the pocket.
In pressuring Durant, the Orangemen will likely be without defensive tackle Christian Ferrara, who sprained his left knee against BYU.
Pasqualoni said he’ll continue to use defensive end Josh Thomas, who filled in for Ferrara last week, at tackle. Pasqualoni also said he may turn to sophomore tackle Brian Hooper — who missed last week recovering from a concussion — or true freshmen Chris Thorner and Kader Drame.
Though the Orangemen are playing more freshmen this year than last, Rhodes, formerly a two-sport athlete at nearby Fayetteville-Manlius High School, remains the gem of his class.
“He’s unique,” DeLeone said. “He has it, whatever it is.”
As for Rhodes’ size (6-foot-1, 195 pounds), DeLeone said, “He’s gonna be a 225- or 230-pound man in two years.”
The Rhodes of right now isn’t too bad, either. DeLeone said he’s seen better runs from Rhodes in preseason camp than he did in the BYU game.
“He has another gear,” DeLeone said, “that people haven’t even seen yet.”
