Doug Hogue and the rest of the Orange open Syracuse's BIG EAST schedule when they to Louisville.
Next Up: BIG EAST Play
9/16/2007 6:31:22 PM | Football
The Orange football squad opens BIG EAST play when it travels to Louisville on Saturday for a noon contest that will be televised on ESPN Regional. Head coach Greg Robinson looks forward to begin the conference schedule and views it as a new beginning.
"The great thing about being in a conference with a BCS bowl situation is if you win the BIG EAST, there you are," Robinson said. "It doesn't really matter what you do in any other games. I'm not implying that we are going to go to a BCS bowl game – we have work to do. As I said yesterday, we are a work-in-progress. I walked out of the meetings this morning with those coaches and I see some things. It is exciting to think that we are starting the BIG EAST and here we go."
As the season progresses, the Orange have infused young players into the lineup. Twenty-five Syracuse student-athletes, who are in their first or second year, played against Illinois.
Freshman running back Doug Hogue saw his first career action when he rushed for 13 yards on three attempts. Bouncing back from an injury, Hogue adds quality to the Orange backfield.
"Early in training camp he flashed a little bit and then got a (foot injury) and that put him down 10 to 12 days," Robinson said. "He's a promising back and one who we would like to keep just working in so we can have some quality depth throughout the season."
Receiver Da'Mon Merkerson was another freshman who played in his first career game this past Saturday. He caught two passes for 22 yards. Robinson appreciates Merkerson's football maturity and says his route running abilities and his performance on special teams proves he is handling the game better than his freshman status would imply.
Redshirt freshman Derrell Smith has made the transition back linebacker. He came to Syracuse as a running back, but moved to linebacker midway through the 2006 season. During 2007 Spring practice Smith moved back to the offensive backfield when Delone Carter was injured. After spending the 2007 preseason camp at running back, Smith is now back on the defensive side of the ball.
"We feel like we have to have some depth at linebacker," Robinson said. "We know we're not very deep there. You know he played there last spring and all the way up to the Monday before the spring game. He had shown promise. I didn't want him to get caught in the running back position, where maybe a year from now Delone (Carter) comes back and is rolling good. I just didn't want him to get caught behind the eight ball. He had come to me last Fall and asked about moving to defense, halfway through the season. We moved him to safety first, but then he was kind of eating his way into the linebacker role. He went from about 210 to 220 but he was still moving around very well. He showed promise and then he did in again in Spring ball. So to move him over there to linebacker last week has everybody's best interest in mind."
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