As noted previously, neophyte Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson failed to name a host of offensive and defensive starters when the Syracuse Department of Athletics released the team's depth chart on Sunday.
Today, however, some of the mysteries have been solved. As Donnie Webb notes in his Syracuse Post-Standard blog, chaos has been supplanted by order at the running back, center, and offensive tackle positions:
Syracuse University head football coach Greg Robinson announced today that sophomore Curtis "Boonah" Brinkley will start at tailback for the Orange against Wake Forest on Saturday. Robinson said sophomore Paul Chiara and freshman Delone Carter would also play tailback for Syracuse in the opener.
Additionally:Marvin McCall will start at center over Justin Outten.
Eugene Newsome will start at offensive tackle over Larry Norton.
No starter determined yet at free safety (Joe Fields or A.J. Brown) or at cornerback (Terrell Lemon or Nick Chestnut).
Robinson's naming of Brinkley as the team's opening day starter is somewhat uplifting. Coming out of high school (and Hargrave Military Academy) Brinkley was considered one of the nation's most coveted recruits. His quick, slashing style is indicative of former Orange James Mungro. He has tremendous vision and can make people miss; attributes, of course, that are necessary to succeed when running behind an offensive line as porous as Syracuse's. Moreover, Brinkley's sure hands will positively impact the Orange's West Coast Offense as a threat in the passing game, whether in the flats on screens or as an underneath drag/circle option.
The issue now is how much field time Brinkley will see. As noted above, Chiara and Carter will see significant time. Thus, while Brinkley is the starter for Wake Forest, he has far from locked up the position for the rest of the season.
Finally, Robinson's failure to name a starter at free safety and cornerback is concerning. With respect to the free safety position, the fact that A.J. Brown has not locked down the starting spot is disappointing. Coming into Syracuse, Brown was seen as a strong prospect with great potential. He was named a PrepStar All-American and was rated by Rivals.com as the 24th best recruit in Virginia (Scout.com rated him the 19th best prospect in the state). Described by many as a tremendous athlete with a frame similar to that of former Orange Anthony Smith, Brown has all the intangibles to compliment Dowayne Davis in the Syracuse defensive backfield.
And yet, Brown cannot separate himself from quarterback-turned-safety Joe Fields.
This raises one of two issues: a) A.J. Brown has not developed over the course of his two years on The Hill; or b) Robinson is still stringing Fields along, apparently in an effort to placate the much maligned junior. The probable issue is the latter, as Fields has been described during the summer as a safety with potential, but deficient in the areas of tackling and defensive recognition/instinctive feel. Thus, it is probably safe to assume that Brown will appear as the Syracuse starter on Saturday, although Fields may see time in both nickel and dime packages where he can use his athletic ability in blitz and zone packages.
As for the right cornerback battle, Terrell Lemon is likely to triumph over cornerback-turned-wide receiver-turned-cornerback Nick Chestnut. Despite the fact that Chestnut is the better athlete of the two (the young Texan was also a star basketball player in high school who was recruited, albeit somewhat lightly, by Jim Calhoun and the Connecticut Huskies), Lemon's veteran status should vault him to the starting position. Chestnut, like Fields, is a fine option in nickel and dime situations, but the fact that he has only been a full-time cornerback for eight months is probably enough reason for Greg Robinson to give Lemon the nod.
