Syracuse wraps up down season, looks to future

Syracuse football wrap up

By Shawn Krest

The Syracuse Orangemen ended a disappointing 2002 season with a 49-7 loss to top ranked Miami. The Orange finished 4-8, with a 2-5 conference record. The season looks even more dismal on the heels of last year’s 10-3, 6-1 record, capped with an Insight.com Bowl championship.

"Any time you go 10-3 one year and come back the next year, and you don’t win even half as many games, you have to ask what you could have done better," said defensive back Will Hunter. Hunter has played his last game with the Orange, along with linebacker Clifton Smith, receiver David Tyree, and quarterback Troy Nunes.

Still, the cupboard is far from bare for Syracuse football. One of the bright spots was sophomore running back Walter Reyes, who led the offense with 1,135 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. He will be back next year, teamed with backfield running mate Damien Rhodes, who put up 634 yards and seven scores in his freshman season.

"I don’t think we’ll be able to digest this," said Reyes. "It’s so disappointing. We worked really hard all season, but it will motivate me for off-season training."

On defense, the team found a keeper in redshirt freshman Steve Gregory. The cornerback showed a knack for the big play, leading the team with two interceptions. He also returned seventeen kicks with a 22.1 yard average.

As Nunes departs, the team hopes that its quarterback controversy leaves with him. The team will be in the hands of junior RJ Anderson next year. Anderson started the season as the number one quarterback, but injuries and ineffectiveness brought Nunes back into the driver’s seat.

Anderson will need to improve on his 43 percent completion rate and at least reverse his ratio of eight interceptions to four touchdowns. If he falters, freshman Perry Patterson, a top 25 quarterback coming out of high school last year, is the only other quarterback on the roster. New Jersey high schooler Joe Dailey has also committed to the Cuse for next year.

Aside from Dailey, the only other highly ranked recruit the team has landed is a New Jersey kicker, Rick Krautman. Head coach Paul Pasqualoni pointed out the need to beef up their recruiting class.

"What has to be done before spring ball is go back and get into recruiting," said Coach P. "There are a lot of great kids here (at the Miami game on recruiting visits), and you recruit with tremendous intensity through the signing date."

In addition to bringing in fresh blood for the future, Coach Pasqualoni will be looking at ways to improve the performance of returning players.

"In the meantime, you’re working on quality control," said Pasqualoni. "Go back through and really break everything down, take a good look at exactly what happened and why."

Syracuse fans will be debating the same two questions for the next eight months.

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