2009 Football Season Officially Underway
8/10/2009 7:50:11 PM | Football
Head Coach Doug Marrone Media Day Transcript
2009 Schedule
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More than 50 members of the media from across New York state turned out to meet the 2009 Syracuse football squad on Monday afternoon in the Carrier Dome for the program's annual Media Day prior to the squad's first preseason practice. The focus included first-year head coach Doug Marrone's approach to leading his alma mater to transfer quarterback Greg Paulus to the prospects for the upcoming season. The 2009 Orange begin the season on Saturday, Sept. 5 against Minnesota in the Carrier Dome (12:00 p.m., ESPN2).
"Every day I remind myself about how important the decisions that I make for the players on this team and what I ask them to do are to make them better football players and to help make them tremendous students and leaders in our community," Marrone said. "It's hard because a lot of times in coaching you like to make quick decisions. You have to remember why you make decisions – for the benefit of Syracuse University, the community, and what we do. I take that personally."
One of the most talked about decisions Marrone has to make is who will be the starting signal caller between sophomore Ryan Nassib, whom Marrone named the first-string quarterback during Spring practice, senior Cameron Dantley, Paulus, and freshman Charley Loeb. Paulus joined the Orange in May after earning his undergraduate degree from Duke as a four-year basketball letterwinner.
"Like I tell the players, as fast as people can separate themselves from each other and we can make an educated decision, we will," Marrone said regarding naming a starter. "Obviously, there's going to get a point later on, which we don't want to get to, whether it's 10 days, two weeks, 17 days prior to the first game, where you need to make a decision so you can start working on the concepts that you need to work on to become successful as a football team. The faster we do that with all of our players, not only the quarterback, the better football team and the better chance we have of making less mistakes and executing on high level and also having more in the game plan."
At running back Marrone has three strong candidates in senior Delone Carter and sophomores Antwon Bailey and Averin Collier from which to choose. At the start of preseason camp, he will not commit to how many will contribute to the offense from the backfield.
"I don't want to lock myself into saying that," Marrone said of his plans. "I think that if one of those players really separates himself from the rest of the group, I would (say it). I see three competitive players coming from the spring who have done a tremendous job. They're very competitive among each other and they feed off each other. They have different styles, and at the end of the day, if we have to use three, I don't have a problem using three. If we just have to just use two, we'll use two. If we have to put the onus on one, we'll use one. If you look at my background, we've always had two or three backs in the backfield who we've used as a change of pace. For what we do from the standpoint of being multiple, that helps us. If we have the real deal in one guy who is so much better than everyone else, then, yes, we'll play one."
All Syracuse tickets are available online and at the Carrier Dome Box Office (888-DOMETIX). Adult Individual game tickets for all eight home games are $38 each. Youth tickets (ages 12 & under) for seven home games are $18 each. For the game against Maine on September 26, Youth & Senior Citizen day, all youth and Senior Citizens (ages 60 & over) tickets will be $15 each. Family Packs are available for all home games when purchased in advance, with the exception of games against Maine and Akron. A $99 Family Pack, which is a $28 savings, includes two adult tickets, two youth tickets (12 and under), $5 concession coupon and a $10 parking pass.
The Minnesota Two-Game Pack offers fans the opportunity to purchase a ticket to Syracuse's home-opener, which is Marrone's Dome debut, and any other home game of their choice ($66 adult/$26 youth). Fans are invited to save up to 40% on the ticket price by purchasing tickets in groups of 35 or more and 100 or more. For questions about Group Sales, please call (315-443-3212).
For further questions and details call the Carrier Dome Box Office during business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 1-888-DOMETIX.
