George Morris II is sometimes still catching his breath when he steps to the front of the line for another rep at spring practice.

During training camp in 2014, Syracuse had six running backs cycling through drills. But with Prince-Tyson Gulley, Adonis Ameen-Moore and Greg Tobias set to graduate and rising sophomore Ervin Philips moving to H-back, the handoffs are coming quick for rising seniors Morris and Devante McFarlane, along with a walk-on who the team has not announced.

And until 2015 signees Dontae Strickland, Jordan Fredericks and Tyrone Perkins join the team before next season, Morris and McFarlane will be the center of the coaches’ attention — a welcomed opportunity for two rushers with minimal experience but a lot of carries ahead.

“Sometimes you circle back after a handoff and you think, ‘I’m up again?” Morris said. “But that’s good for me and Devante. We know we’re going to play big roles this year in the backfield and we need as much work as we can get to be ready for that.”

Not much separates Morris and McFarlane.

They both are 6 feet tall and McFarlane, at 198 pounds, is only four pounds heavier than Morris. Neither had any carries as freshmen in 2012 and both were secondary options in the last two seasons, with McFarlane running 76 times for 461 yards and a touchdown and Morris rushing 113 times for 435 yards and a score.

When thinking how the two differ, Morris laughed and stumbled before saying that he’s more of a “natural runner” while McFarlane is better catching passes out of the backfield. Then he laughed and said that was probably a stretch because their skill sets are one in the same.

“They both can do a lot of things really well,” Philips said. “… The fact that they are similar helps because they can go in and out and what we’re doing won’t change too much.”

That hasn’t been the case for the Orange in the last few seasons, as Gulley’s quickness around the edge complemented power runner Jerome Smith — who left early for the NFL after the 2013 season — before five rushers with differing tools had at least 25 carries each last season.

Now with offensive coordinator Tim Lester looking to incorporate the flexible outside zone-running play into his system, Morris and McFarlane’s ability to break tackles and run downhill will be crucial in setting up quarterback Terrel Hunt and SU’s passing game.

The outside zone is used by the Seattle Seahawks, among other teams, and Morris and some of his teammates likened he and McFarlane’s rushing style to Marshawn Lynch’s. Lester said he isn’t planning on having one rusher carry the ball 200 times — like Smith did in 2013 — but added that he’ll ride the “hot hand” whenever one emerges.

A pervading concept so far this spring is that the running game will be heavily factored into Syracuse’s offense moving forward. Last season, Wake Forest was the only Atlantic Coast Conference team with fewer team carries than SU, and Orange running backs ran for just two touchdowns the whole year.

They both came in the team’s season opener against Villanova.

“It’s really exciting for us with the way that Coach Lester wants to run the ball,” Morris said. “It’s like me and Devante are moving up at the perfect time. That’s how it feels.”

With three weeks until the annual spring game and then a summer of work ahead, Morris plans to master an offense the Orange hopes can flow like the Seahawks — with one small difference.

When Seattle was driving on the New England Patriots as the Super Bowl wound down on Feb. 1, it was an outside zone handoff to Lynch that got the Seahawks within a yard of a second-straight championship. But then Seattle head coach Pete Carroll infamously called for a pass play on the next down and Malcolm Butler intercepted a Russell Wilson pass to seal a Patriots win.

Morris remembers watching and shaking his head at the play call, hoping Lester wouldn’t do the same.

“If we get in that spot, in that range, it’s going to be me or Devante pounding it in,” Morris said. “We’ll be ready for that.”

Published on March 18, 2015 at 12:14 am

Contact Jesse: [email protected] | @dougherty_jesse