Going long: With Marrone calling shots, SU looks to implement deep passing attack
When Aaron Weaver came to Syracuse, he didn’t expect to be lining up in four-receiver formations with a tight end flanked to the far right. After watching the Orange football team from afar last season, how could he?
Just four months after SU concluded a season when it finished last in the Big East in passing yardage per completion, the Orange opened spring practice on March 22 with a clear emphasis on stretching the field and making the ‘big play’ downfield. And after two and a half weeks of practice, players like Weaver are loving the transformation.
‘I’m really excited,’ said Weaver, who transferred from Hofstra during the offseason. ‘There are a lot of plays where we have deep routes, and as a receiver, you always want to beat the defense deep. And there are a lot of opportunities in this offense to do that.’
First-year receivers coach Rob Moore played football at Syracuse from 1986-90, but he never played in an offense that stretched the field. As a former receiver, he wishes he would have. The former NFL pro-bowler said having a downfield passing threat is the key to a well-balanced offense. And that’s one of the things that the Orange coaching staff has emphasized all spring.
‘I loved the offense that we ran,’ Moore said. ‘But this offense really caters to your ability as a wide receiver to make plays downfield.’
The idea of having tight end Nick Provo flanked on the outside helps cater to the new philosophy head coach Doug Marrone has instilled this spring. There, he can block on screens and running plays or simply stay put, allowing No. 1 receiver Alec Lemon and Weaver to have a ‘free release’ and get into their routes quicker. But on occasion, even Provo will run a deep route from the outside.
Lemon said the success of having a balanced offense that consistently moves the ball and scores will be dependent upon stretching the field and throwing downfield. That, he said, is the reason for optimism. He said that Marrone has changed everything up, giving the defense different looks.
‘We’re building on some of the concepts that we did last year,’ Marrone said. ‘So I think we’re ahead of that. … It’s really the progression of the teaching of the quarterback that we’re trying to make sure that we get before we go out there.’
Ryan Nassib has had the time to get accustomed to what Marrone wants. And after a year in Marrone’s system, the ‘progression’ Marrone refers to is starting to show. Provo credits that as a primary reason for the passing game opening up this spring.
‘From what I saw last year, this year is looking a lot better in terms of the passing game,’ Provo said. ‘A lot better.’
Last year, quarterback Greg Paulus didn’t have spring ball to get ready for what Marrone wanted to do in the passing attack. But by the end of the season, after a few months under Marrone’s watch, Paulus began playing exactly how some envisioned he would when he arrived at Syracuse. It just took some time.
‘Ryan’s been here awhile, he sees what we’re doing, and he’s doing a great job out there,’ Provo said. ‘This is new for everybody, but he’s helping us out and his understanding is allowing us to throw the ball downfield more.’
It was widely assumed that Marrone started calling plays against Rutgers and Connecticut, and the results in the passing game showed. Paulus threw for three touchdowns and 438 yards over his final two games. Though Provo wasn’t on the field during those two games due to injury, that’s the type of potential he sees in this year’s offense.
Instead, last season’s offense featured a fairly conservative passing game full of bubble screens, 10-yard slants and tosses out of the backfield. But an inability to keep defenses spread out with a downfield passing game meant defenses crept up to the line of scrimmage. Running back Delone Carter compiled 1,048 yards on the ground, but a lot of those yards came against seven- and eight-man fronts.
‘You can score touchdowns with short passes,’ Lemon said. ‘But you occasionally need some explosion to stretch the defense. And as a receiver that’s what we like, so I can’t argue with that.’
This year, the hope is that by stretching the field, the Orange will also open up the running game and keep opposing defenses honest. It’s not a novel concept, for that is the hope of nearly every football team, both college and pro. But at SU, that formula hasn’t been successful in years.
Despite featuring a quarterback who set some program passing records, none of them were because of a downfield passing threat. Once troubled wide receiver Mike Williams departed midway through the season, defenses focused on stopping the running game. After Williams left, the Orange had zero passing plays that netted more than 40-plus yards.
Williams is now gone. As is wideout Mike Jones, who abruptly quit the team on March 22, the first day of spring practice. Despite that, Marrone has moved forward with his offense without a hitch. Though SU lost its top receiver and starting quarterback from last fall, it doesn’t seem to have discouraged Marrone from taking the next step with his offense.
Though there are still plenty of screens and slants in his playbook, Marrone appears to have his offense ready to pounce on the opportunities a defense may present to throw downfield. And for Moore, that presents a level of excitement for the offense this spring.
And for him, a little bit of jealousy, too.
‘I told my guys the other day, I said, ‘Man, this is the type of offense that you can put some numbers up in,” Moore said. ‘I’m a little envious, to be honest with you.’
