Last year I drank the Kool-Aid. I truly believed that a Pinstripe Bowl win would carry Syracuse through to a great 2011 season in which the Orange would post an 8-4 record and reach another bowl game. I was very, very wrong. So this year I’m going the other way. SU will start the year 0-3 with losses to Northwestern, No. 1 Southern California and an incredibly dangerous Stony Brook — yes, Stony Brook. Marcus Coker will return to glory by defeating the Orange in the Carrier Dome, thus stamping Syracuse’s season a disappointment. Marrone won’t quit, though, and SU will win three games in all. But the season will certainly be a disappointment.

Northwestern – L
Southern California – L
Stony Brook – L
Minnesota – W
Pittsburgh – L
Rutgers – W
Connecticut – L
South Florida – L
Cincinnati – L
Louisville – L
Missouri – L
Temple – W

Ryne Gery
Overall: 4-8
Conference: 2-5

Coming off five straight losses to end last season, Syracuse is surrounded by uncertainty across the field. The Orange doesn’t have a clear-cut rotation at running back to replace 1,000-yard rusher Antwon Bailey. With Justin Pugh out for the start of the season and two other starters to replace, the offensive line is an area for concern too. Defensively, the line is inexperienced, and the secondary has a lot to prove after a tough 2011 campaign. This Orange team doesn’t even match up with the one it had a year ago, and that team finished last in the Big East and couldn’t make a bowl. SU barely edges Temple to avoid a second straight last-place finish.

Northwestern – L
Southern California – L
Stony Brook – W
Minnesota – W
Pittsburgh – L
Rutgers – L
Connecticut – W
South Florida – L
Cincinnati – L
Louisville – L
Missouri – L
Temple – W

Chris Iseman
Overall: 3-9
Conference: 2-5

At the start of training camp, Doug Marrone told reporters the team had a long way to go and wasn’t where it needed to be to be successful. On the final day of training camp, the Syracuse head coach said the team still wasn’t where he wanted it. See the problem? Less than two weeks before the season starts and Marrone doesn’t like where the team is. Competitions at several positions were never settled during the preseason. The Orange is going into game week with several starters yet to be named. Out of a group of five running backs, not a single one proved he deserved to be a starter. Three days before the end of training camp, the coaches moved safety Devante MacFarlane to running back to see if he could take that spot. The offensive line is a giant question mark, as is whether or not the defense can rebound from a down year. Syracuse’s nonconference schedule is among the toughest in the country, and the Big East has some very solid teams. The Orange isn’t ready to compete at a high level just yet.

Northwestern – L
Southern California – L
Stony Brook – W
Minnesota – L
Pittsburgh – L
Rutgers – L
Connecticut – W
South Florida – L
Cincinnati – L
Louisville – L
Missouri – L
Temple – W

It was about 3 or 4 a.m. July 30, 2011, as Dan Sisto listened in shock while his friend fought through tears.

About six hours earlier, at 9:45 p.m. July 29, Sales and his brother were stopped by police after they ran a red light in Syracuse. They were arrested after drugs and drug paraphernalia were found in their car. Both would face felony drug charges.

Sisto said he could hear the pain in Sales’ voice during the emotional call, describing him as depressed and embarrassed.

“He was just so caught up that he wasn’t going to be able to play football anymore at Syracuse,” said Sisto, a close friend and high school teammate. “It was really the most heartbreaking thing to him.”

Head coach Doug Marrone suspended Sales indefinitely in August. But the drug charges were dropped in October, and Sales was reinstated to the team in the spring. The senior wide receiver is expected to provide a boost to an offense in desperate need of a playmaker after a disappointing 2011 season.

Sales worked tirelessly during his suspension so he would be ready if he received a second chance. Now, he’s anxious to get back on the field with his team again.

“I got over it; I got through it,” Sales said of his suspension. “It’s a new season. It’s in the past, so I’m just ready to move on.”

SU wide receivers coach Rob Moore said Sales is the fastest and strongest he has ever been in his career.

The senior weighs 195 pounds now, adding 18 pounds since he last played in 2010, which Moore said should help him pick up yards after the catch. He also shaved his 40 time to the 4.5-range for the first time.

And Moore said Sales is more mature, redefining himself after a challenging season away from the team. It’s a maturity Sales lacked on the field early in his career.

The former high school All-American has struggled to achieve his potential. In his first two seasons, Sales hauled in 42 catches for 484 yards and four touchdowns. As a junior in 2010, Sales only caught five passes for 39 yards in the Orange’s first nine games as he saw limited playing time.

“I think that was a case where Marcus just had to learn and understand what was expected of him on the practice field,” said Moore, who joined the SU coaching staff that season. “And that’s a mantra that we preach to all our young players that come here.

“There’s a certain way you’re expected to practice, and if you can’t give us that, we can’t put you on the field.”

Moore said that toward the middle of the season, Sales started to give the effort expected. The increased effort led to more playing time and a strong finish to his inconsistent season, highlighted by a three-touchdown, 172-yard performance in the Pinstripe Bowl.

“He’s a young man that I had a rollercoaster of a ride with the first year,” said offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. “It ended on a very, very high note and never really got to continue that ride.”

His arrest ended the ride for 2011 and jeopardized his career.

But in the hours after his arrest — through the tears — Sales vowed to Sisto he was ready to work out like old times. He needed to stay in shape for the next season, and he needed his high school quarterback’s help.

Five or six days a week, they met at Nottingham High School and Christian Brothers Academy, and they went through planned workouts for two and a half hours.

Sales ran his routes. They ran sprints and hills. Sisto fired him more passes. They did cardio and jump rope. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they followed it up with 90 more minutes of lifting weights at Gold’s Gym.

At first, Sales was distracted by his off-field issues. Eventually, he never wanted to stop working out. It was an astounding transformation from their time together at CBA when Sisto said Sales didn’t believe in working hard because everything was given to the star athlete.

“I’ve seen him grow so much through this time in his work ethic. It’s sort of unbelievable to me,” Sisto said.

As Sales worked with his eye on a return to the program in 2012, the Orange played out 2011.

Sales was supposed to be the Orange’s top receiver going into last season. Former SU teammates Antwon Bailey and Dorian Graham both called Sales a dependable playmaker.

He had sure hands and an understanding of the position. And after his breakout game in the Pinstripe Bowl, teammates and coaches finally saw the talent that made him a coveted recruit out of high school.

“He brought a lot of respect to the wide receiver position,” Bailey said. “And without having him there, those wide receivers, they had to gain respect, so we started off with a lot of eight-man boxes and a lot of safeties down in the box.

“He would have been a big help for us last season.”

But Sales had to watch from afar. He stayed in touch with his teammates every week. Graham said he was in constant communication with Sales and that he called after each game.

Bailey also spoke and hung out with him regularly. Sales asked about how his teammates, especially the wide receivers, were doing. Bailey said while he longed to get back onto the field, Sales stayed in good spirits and supported the team through his suspension.

After the Orange’s 49-23 upset of No. 11 West Virginia in October, Sales was the first to call Bailey. He was ecstatic, praising Bailey and the receivers for a stellar performance before meeting up with his teammate on South Campus later that night.

“If you didn’t know the situation, you wouldn’t have known that he didn’t play,” Bailey said.

Five days after the Orange defeated the Mountaineers, his hopes for a return to SU received a boost when the charges against him were dropped. Two weeks later, after meeting with the University Judicial Board, his suspension was lifted.

Sisto said it was a “turning point” for Sales. Because the school allowed him to attend classes again, he was optimistic it would lead to his reinstatement in the football program.

Sisto noticed Sales going harder at workouts. Once he was officially back with the team in March, he shifted into another gear. All the hard work had paid off.

“I knew I was going to have a chance to get back on the field,” Sales said. “So I mean it was just me being ready whenever I got the call, so that’s what my mentality was the whole time.”

Now, Sales will continue the ride interrupted in 2011. Moore expects Sales to make plays and pick up where he left off at Yankee Stadium two years ago.

Sales, though, isn’t looking back. After an emotional year during which he was sure his football career was over, he’s leaving the past behind and preparing to run back onto the Carrier Dome turf to begin his senior season.

“I’m just glad to be back out here competing with my friends and my teammates,” Sales said. “I mean, just being out here, just to be able to play football — it’s a blessing.”

Broyld’s name has become synonymous with Syracuse’s plans to make “big plays” that can be the difference between a win and a loss. He’s the dynamic weapon the unit has lacked in recent seasons — someone who can line up in various positions and attack defenses in multiple ways.

The mere mention of the freshman’s name elicits hype from fans who believe Broyld is the player who can take the Orange to the next level.

Broyld doesn’t hear any of it.

“I don’t feel pressure; there is no pressure,” Broyld said. “My job is just to come in here and do what I can do for the team, and that’s all I’m going to try to do.”

Where exactly the 6-foot-4, 229-pound Broyld fits into the Orange’s offense remains to be seen, but he is expected to be a big part of Syracuse’s game plan. The Orange’s offense in recent seasons has been based mostly on short, methodical passes up the field. Since the spring, head coach Doug Marrone has preached the need for “big plays,” and Broyld is almost certain to become a big part of that.

“Where he’s going to be, I don’t know,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “I want to see what he can grasp the most. Whatever we can do to get him on the field is what I’m going to want to do. Where he goes from here is really going to be determined in the fall.”

The Orange’s offense needs a boost after finishing 84th in the nation and seventh in the Big East in scoring last season with an average of 24.7 points per game. It was 95th in rushing offense and sixth in the conference at 120.4 yards per game.

With the Orange’s nonconference schedule, settling into the offense quickly will be critical.

Former Syracuse head coach Dick MacPherson said how the team plays early will set up the rest of the season and give clues as to how Marrone is trying to change the offense and the program as a whole.

“I think it’s a very, very tough schedule to open up with Northwestern and Southern Cal and then go into the league, is a very, very tough grind,” MacPherson said. “I say right after the month, we’ll be able to tell exactly who he is and who the football team overall will be.”

At the team’s media day to open training camp, Marrone said Broyld will line up at running back and in the slot. Broyld will also take snaps in a wildcat formation, which gives opposing defenses another aspect to prepare for each week.

Broyld’s skill set is what Marrone and the Orange have been searching for to send the offense to a higher level and come through with big plays.

“It’s accountability that when it’s there, we need to take it. That’s how you create it,” Marrone said. “You also create it through speed. You don’t really see the lack of a big play with the lack of some type of speed, so we’ve helped ourselves in that area.”

As a senior at Rush-Henrietta High School, Broyld passed for 1,961 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed for an astounding 1,540 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Playing defense isn’t beyond his ability level either.

Joe Montesano was among the first to see that firsthand.

In the 2010 state championship game against Troy High School, Rush-Henrietta traded touchdowns for the entire game. Whenever Troy scored, Broyld brought the Royal Comets back into the game.

He threw a 66-yard touchdown pass, and he scrambled for 8- and 15-yard touchdown runs. But late in the game, Troy started to make a comeback, and Montesano, the Rush-Henrietta head coach, knew his team needed a big defensive stop.

Montesano put Broyld in at safety in the biggest game of the season.

“We threw him in there because we were kind of on our heels a little bit defensively,” Montesano said. “He made three plays in a row and basically closed out the game for us.”

Arguably his biggest defensive play came when he sacked Troy quarterback Brian Marsh for an 11-yard loss at the Flying Horses’ 27-yard line.

Broyld’s stat line earned him the game’s Most Valuable Player honors, as he rushed 23 times for 196 yards and two touchdowns and completed five of his 11 passes for 94 yards and one score.

“I’ve never had a kid who you feel like you can put him anywhere, and he can just take a game over,” Montesano said. “He’s just a football player.”

Montesano said Broyld has a unique combination of speed and strength. Once he gets free into open space, he can break tackles with his size and elude them with his feet.

After playing at Rush-Henrietta, Broyld attended Milford Academy for a semester to improve his grades before enrolling at SU in January. Both schools ran spread offenses, giving Broyld a chance to make plays outside the pocket.

At Milford, he threw for 427 yards and six touchdowns, and rushed for 259 yards and six touchdowns.

Milford head coach Bill Chaplick said Broyld understood the team’s offense from the start.

“He has no problem picking it up. He won’t have a problem. You just have to give him the time to do it,” Chaplick said. “We were multiple, we ran the ball, we did stuff out of the shotgun with him. He can do just about anything.”

When Broyld first met running back Jerome Smith, he told him just that, listing off every position he could play.

Smith didn’t think Broyld could possibly have any quickness. Broyld simply looked too big to be able to move freely in open space, but Smith soon saw him go to work on the field.

“And then he’ll give you a move here and there, and you’re like, ‘Whoa,’” Smith said. “He’s a natural running back; he’s a natural playmaker.”

Hopefully for the Orange, one who can make those elusive “big plays.”

It’s a determination to provide a different element to SU’s offense, which rarely caught opposing defenses off guard. Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib has a young weapon to hand the ball off or throw to.

Getting the ball in his hands is the ultimate key.

“Ashton’s definitely a talented player. He’s got some skills that can really help us,” Nassib said. “Myself and the coaches just really have to do a good job of getting him in the right place, getting him the ball in areas where he can show off those talents, do what he can do.”

Broyld said the coaches slowly teaching him Syracuse’s system paid off. While Broyld adjusted to the college game, he said he also understood the offense and his role in it better by the day.

How he helps the team, where he plays and how he challenges opposing defenses should unfold early in the season. Broyld said he doesn’t care where he lines up.

“I’ve really like began to grasp and get a feel for the game because it’s much faster, and things happen way quicker, and guys react a hundred times faster,” Broyld said. “And I’m just trying to help the team win.

“I just want to be back on top with the Orange, and I think we can do it.”

Jerome Smith, Prince-Tyson Gulley, Adonis Ameen-Moore, George Morris III and Ashton Broyld were all in the mix. With only days left in camp, the Orange coaches moved safety Devante MacFarlane to running back to see if he could earn the starting job.

But head coach Doug Marrone said at the end of camp that none of the backs emerged as the team’s primary option.

“No, I wouldn’t right now say, ‘Hey, here’s the guy we’re going to give the ball 30 times to. I would not say that right now today,” Marrone said. “That may change in the next couple of days but right now you’ll see a couple of guys. We’re discussing exactly who they are.”

Smith is listed as the starter for SU’s season opener against Northwestern. Marrone said the decision came down to his prior game experience and his performance in camp. Still, each back remains in the discussion to see time throughout the season.

Prince-Tyson Gulley

Height: 5-10

Weight: 192

Class: Junior

Hometown: Akron, Ohio

Prince-Tyson Gulley started last season second on the depth chart behind Antwon Bailey. Gulley showed promise in Syracuse’s fourth game of the season, rushing for 70 yards on 10 carries — both career highs.

But Gulley suffered a broken collarbone after the game and was out for the final eight games of the season.

“I’m just looking to finish where I left off and keep it going,” Gulley said.

Gulley returns in 2012 as part of a crowded backfield fighting for time. He worked back from his injury and got back on the field during the summer, using the time to regain his strength. As a freshman, Gulley played in 10 games and ran for 74 yards on 13 carries. He also served as the Orange’s primary kick returner, taking 29 kickoffs for 633 yards.

The shifty running back said he’s looking forward to seeing the unit improve heading into the season.

Motivated by his injury-shortened 2011 season, he’s ready to make something happen when his name’s called.

“Just patience and focus — that’s all I’ve been thinking about, man,” Gulley said. “When it’s my time, make sure I can make a play and put myself in the best position to make big plays.”

Adonis Ameen-Moore

Height: 5-11

Weight: 229

Class: Sophomore

Hometown: Denver, Colo.

Adonis Ameen-Moore shed 15 pounds during the offseason and enters the season at 229. Marrone said during camp he was happy to see Ameen-Moore’s hard work had paid off.

The sophomore only saw the field in four games his first season, rushing for 40 yards. This season may be tough for him to break into the rotation, but he said the fierce competition will only benefit him.

“Every day, I just go out there and try to do my best,” Ameen-Moore said. “Just try to show the coaches I can help win games, hopefully.”

Ameen-Moore enjoyed a decorated high school career, earning all-state and All-American honors at Mullen High School in Colorado. He rushed for 1,774 yards and 26 touchdowns his senior season and led his team to three state titles.

The highlight for Ameen-Moore in 2011 came against West Virginia when he gained 19 yards on five carries.

After working hard in the offseason to reshape his body, he finds himself with an opportunity to earn more time in an unsettled situation at his position.

“We’re all competing, trying to get a job. So we’re all going to go out there and compete hard, and we’re going to practice even harder,” Ameen-Moore said, “because when we see somebody else do good, like ‘OK, I got to top that.’”

Devante McFarlane

Height: 6-0

Weight: 194

Class: Freshman

Hometown: Wheatley Heights, N.Y.

Devante McFarlane was a late addition to the battle for time at running back. In the final week of camp, Marrone moved the freshman from safety to running back.

“When the situation came up of the running back situation where no one was really taking it,” Marrone said, “we just moved Devante over there, and he’s done a nice job.”

McFarlane played running back at Half Hollow Hills West High School, where he was a first-team all-state selection and rushed for 754 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior. Marrone said he wavered back and forth on where to play McFarlane when he arrived at SU. He saw a big, strong, fast kid who could develop into a safety or even grow into a linebacker.

Marrone said that after just two days at the position, McFarlane was in the mix to see time when the season begins.

Jerome Smith

Height: 6-0

Weight: 226

Class: Junior

Hometown: Bear, Del.

Jerome Smith was listed first on Syracuse’s preseason depth chart, though the competition for the starting running back spot was ongoing through training camp. When camp ended, none of the running backs created any separation, including Smith.

Last season, Smith was Antwon Bailey’s primary backup and rushed for 139 yards on 37 carries, scoring one touchdown. Smith knows about the lineage of his position. Syracuse has had a 1,000-yard rusher for the past four seasons, but Smith isn’t focused too much on that number.

The only number he cares about right now is the one that sits in the Orange’s win column.

“You set personal goals, but all those goals don’t mean anything if you don’t win games,” Smith said. “I’d rather have a lot of wins. I’m not going to lie.”

Though Smith’s playing time at SU has been limited, he put up impressive numbers the last time he was a starter, which came during his senior year of high school at Pencader Charter in Delaware.

He ran for 1,334 yards and 16 touchdowns on 193 carries. He has the ability to make the big plays Syracuse is looking for, but Smith said as long as everyone fulfills their responsibilities, big plays will happen.

“Our biggest thing is just everybody doing your job,” Smith said. “If you do your job, big plays are going to come.”

Ashton Broyld

Height: 6-4

Weight: 229

Class: Freshman

Hometown: Rochester, N.Y.

A quarterback throughout high school, Ashton Broyld worked primarily with the running backs in training camp. The Syracuse coaches want to get him on the field as soon as possible, so having him line up in the backfield is likely the best way to do that.

Broyld was a dual-threat quarterback who spent a lot of time playing in a spread offense, so he’s shown he’s dangerous with his legs and will continue to showcase his rushing skills with the Orange.

As a senior at Rush-Henrietta High School, Broyld rushed for 1,540 yards and 24 touchdowns. That’s in addition to throwing for 1,961 yards and 24 scores.

For at least this season, Broyld won’t be beating defenses with his arm but with his legs instead.

While he’s vying for a running back spot, he could also be used in the slot and will take direct snaps in a wildcat formation.

“The physical part isn’t the hard part. It’s more of a mental and learning the plays and doing the little things right,” Broyld said. “I’m just trying to get better every day.”

The balance for offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, though, has been not overloading him with too much information. Broyld has learned the system little by little and said he understands it better each day.

Wherever he lines up, the Orange is simply excited to see him on the field.

“Ashton right now has shown that he’s a darn good football player. The key is going to be he’s still a freshman,” Hackett said. I’m very excited to give him enough so he can showcase what he can do but not overload him to hurt him being a freshman.”

George Morris III

Height: 6-0

Weight: 191

Class: Freshman

Hometown: Lawrenceville, Ga.

In the competition for the starting running back spot, George Morris isn’t in the lead and probably won’t see much time on the field as a freshman.

As a senior at Central Gwinnett High School in Georgia, Morris rushed for 1,045 yards and 17 touchdowns. He has speed and has impressed the Syracuse coaching staff but was listed sixth on the preseason depth chart.

Still, since none of the tailbacks separated themselves from the rest of the group in training camp, it isn’t out of the question that Morris will play a minor role this season.

The depth at the running back position is something offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said is something he’s happy to have. Morris is among the backs he’s excited about and brings skills that could become valuable over the course of the season.

“Our depth at that position, it’s exciting,” Hackett said. “It allows you to really mix it up, but you can keep it simple. And you can throw a lot of different guys. It puts a lot of stress on the defense.”

—Compiled by The Daily Orange Sports staff, sports@dailyorange.com

It may not be easy to tell from the way he acts and how he never wears it out in public, but he definitely has one.

“He’s not that type of person (to brag),” strong safety Shamarko Thomas said. “He’s just a down-to-earth person. He just wants to teach us like he teaches them, and he will never say he has a ring over us.”

Henderson earned a Super Bowl ring with the 2000 Baltimore Ravens as an assistant defensive backs coach. During that stretch, he coached the likes of Chris McAllister, Rod Woodson and Ed Reed. He parlayed that successful stretch into the defensive coordinator job with the New York Jets from 2004-05.

During those two seasons with the Jets, Henderson’s defense lined up in practice every day against an offensive line coached by none other than Doug Marrone.

The relationship that developed between the two for those seasons with the Jets served as a launching pad for Henderson’s arrival to Syracuse in February as the defensive backs coach.

“That’s the No. 1 reason I’m here,” Henderson said. “Let’s be honest, it’s because of Doug Marrone. My relationship with him and my relationship with him as far as football coaches, No. 1. We’re on different sides of the ball. We’ve shared the camaraderie, so make no mistakes about it — it’s because of Doug.”

Still, a relationship alone isn’t enough to get a coach a job. Marrone’s decision to bring Henderson on to his staff is fueled as much by his prowess as a defensive coach as it is by their friendship.

“All of the coaches obviously bring a lot to the table, or they wouldn’t be here,” Marrone said. “Donnie’s had a great track record not only as a defensive coordinator but, more importantly, as a defensive back coach — players that he’s coached and he’s developed.

And again, it’s a great relationship for myself.”

In the 1999-2000 season, the Ravens boasted one of the NFL’s all-time great defenses during their Super Bowl run. That team featured a pair of Pro Bowlers in McAllister and Woodson in its secondary, but a player Henderson coached two seasons later is the one who leaves the Orange’s defensive backs most awestruck.

“When he told me he coached Ed Reed, I was like, ‘Dang, you can turn my game into that?’” Thomas said. “So it’s very good that we’ve got him in here because he’s teaching us things that we’ve never seen here on the field.”

In the 2002 NFL Draft, Baltimore selected Reed with the 24^th pick of the first round. During his rookie season, Reed had five interceptions. And in 2004, he set the NFL record with a 106-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Henderson is now using Reed’s playmaking ability as an example for his current players, who grew up watching Reed do the extraordinary on a regular basis.

Now, Henderson hopes Syracuse can eventually have a player with similar ability to Reed’s in the secondary. Last season, SU had a tendency to surrender the big play in the passing game last season.

Henderson hopes to reverse that script this year. He expects his secondary to be the one making the big plays.

“The way coach Henderson’s system is, he just makes sure he puts you in the right place to make plays,” cornerback Keon Lyn said. “It’s just on you to make those plays.”

Freshman defensive back Wayne Morgan already feels he has grown exponentially as a player in the lone summer he has spent with SU.

Henderson taught his players that on deep balls, they should play the role of the wide receiver: focusing on catching the ball. The importance of having the insight of a Super Bowl-winning coach is something that’s not lost on Morgan.

Aside from playmaking, Henderson’s biggest focus during training camp has been fostering greater chemistry within his unit. Marrone had similar ideas for the team as a whole, and that’s why the Orange spent a week of training camp 80 miles north of Syracuse at Fort Drum going through military-style training.

In addition to daily football practices, SU spent the week working with the soldiers to learn the importance of teamwork, leadership and communication.

While the Fort Drum experience was a unique one for everyone involved, it held a special place in Henderson’s heart.

From 1992-97, Henderson was a safeties and defensive backs coach at Arizona State. For three of those seasons, Pat Tillman was a linebacker for the Sun Devils. Tillman went on to play briefly with the Arizona Cardinals, but he cut his NFL career short to serve with the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

While deployed, Tillman was killed in friendly fire.

Henderson always had a deep appreciation of Tillman’s life, but the week at Fort Drum gave him an even greater understanding of what it was like for him post-football.
“I don’t know if I could compare being at Fort Drum with that situation, but I did get a strong feeling, a strong appreciation of what our troops do,” Henderson said. “It just makes you take your hat off to them.”

Tillman’s story reminds Henderson of just how small football is in the grand scheme, but it’s still his life.

It’s his only focus, just as it must be for the Orange to succeed this season. Henderson has his work cut out for him in trying to transform a secondary that was repeatedly beaten last season.

“Last year was that team,” Henderson said. “… The thing that I’m going to try to get them to do is just be fundamentally sound and play with consistency. And here’s the bigger one: You’ve got to play with confidence.

“I don’t believe one play can win or lose a game, but I believe one play can win or lose a guy.”

They were celebrating their victory in the 2011 Gildan New Mexico Bowl, the Owls’ first bowl win since 1979.

Eighty-one days later, Temple celebrated its return to the Big East. The conference announced the Owls would begin Big East play in football this fall with their other sports joining in 2013.

“It’s a tremendous natural step that we needed to have the opportunity to take, and we’ve taken it,” said head coach Steve Addazio. “Now we’ve got to go about the business of building it.”

Today’s Temple is nearly unrecognizable compared with its first run in the Big East from 1991-2004. The Owls won just 30 games during that stretch and were eventually forced to leave the Bowl Championship Series conference due to lack of attendance and investment in the program. But the team enters the Big East this season coming off three straight winning seasons and the bowl victory.

With state-of-the-art facilities and a foundation of success, the Owls are expected to compete with their conference opponents this time around. Though the preseason Big East media poll ranked Addazio’s team last, Temple is a far cry from the perennial doormat it was for 14 seasons.

“This isn’t their first barbecue, so to speak,” Connecticut head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. “You better be prepared to play Temple because Temple is going to play hard. They’re going to be well-coached, and they’re going to be capable of winning games.”

But when Bobby Wallace took over as Temple’s head coach in 1998, he saw why the program had struggled mightily for much of the decade. On campus, the team practiced without a fully modernized facility.

The field behind McGonigle Hall doubled as stomping grounds for local kids. One player nearly collided with a child on a bicycle while running down a punt on Wallace’s first practice. Wallace recalled seeing neighborhood kids shred his practice field while playing pickup football games on rainy Sundays.

The Edberg-Olson football complex across campus was completed in 2000. Wallace said it helped to calm down the circus-like atmosphere of Temple’s practices, but the program and its facilities still lagged behind their Big East counterparts.

In 2005, a relieved Wallace walked off the turf at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. A 0-11 season and his career at Temple were complete.

“I was thinking about moving back to the South,” said Wallace, who went 19-71 in seven seasons.

Wallace’s fate was partially sealed in January 2001 when the Big East voted to end Temple’s membership in 2004. The decision crippled recruiting efforts and the entire program. Wallace called it a “kiss of death.”

“We probably were the worst program in Division I-A,” said Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw. “Not just on the field, attendance, performance, but academically and the kind of disciplinary issues there, we probably were dead last.”

For two years, more than 90 percent of Wallace’s recruits were junior college players. Most high school seniors were off limits.

The reliance on junior college recruits meant the team’s talent had two fewer years to develop chemistry. Those recruits, while talented, often came with personal baggage that made them hard to coach, Wallace said.

“I rather would’ve just gotten voted out right away because it made it difficult to recruit when you couldn’t tell a young man and his parents whether we would have football or what level we’d be playing at in three years,” Wallace said.

Wallace and Bradshaw fought to keep the program’s Division I-A status. The university considered downgrading to Division I-AA or even ending the football program at one point.

Seven years after leaving the Big East, Temple football is thriving. Facilities are now a selling point to recruits already drawn in by the team’s recent success.

Former Owls offensive lineman Dan Klecko, who played seven seasons in the NFL, checked out the team’s new facilities on a visit back to the school this year. Bradshaw said Klecko told him he had never seen a nicer weight room in his professional career.

The players Temple has brought should also give the program high-level talent for years to come. Scout.com ranked the 2012 incoming freshman class the 55^th-best recruiting class in the country.

Addazio is looking to use the combination of resources and talent to build on a 9-4 season in 2011.

His image can be seen in this year’s team. He emphasizes to his players energy and physical play.

“The fundamental starting point for our program is, No. 1, we have a group of players that respect the game,” Addazio said. “They understand it’s a privilege, not a right, and every day they’re going to take the football field, and they’re going to compete.”

The philosophy is a holdover from his predecessor, Al Golden, who led the Owls to a 17-8 record from 2009-10.

After Wallace’s resignation, Golden interviewed for the Temple job Nov. 6. Bradshaw had already interviewed several potential replacements. They planned on meeting 10-15 more candidates.

Fifteen minutes into the interview, Golden all but ended Temple’s search. By that time, Bradshaw’s yellow legal pad read, “This is our man.” One month after his interview in a Charlottesville, Va., hotel room, Golden was introduced as the new head coach.

Golden went on to lead Temple to a share of the MAC East division title and the team’s first bowl game in 30 years.

“Al came in to captain the ship over rough waters and he did — miraculously, according to some, and extraordinary, according to even people who aren’t given to hyperbole,” Bradshaw said.

Golden’s work made Addazio’s job easier, too. Now, with a bowl victory and his team’s jump to the Big East, the head coach said his program has taken the next step.
Yet Addazio refuses to let his players forget what the program went through. He brought in former players to tell stories of Temple’s struggles and motivate its current squad.

“We’re the new Temple,” quarterback Chris Coyer. “We like to play hard. We’re tough, and we’re going to do the best we can, and we’re going to give everybody what they want.”

As soon as he walks through the doors, Lamarcus Joyner is reminded about the golden age of Florida State football and the 13-year national championship drought in Tallahassee, Fla.

“We’re hungry to get one,” said Joyner, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference free safety last season. “You want to add to the tradition of Florida State, and we’ve got a good chance to get one for ourselves.”

The Seminoles are ACC favorites once again. After failing to take the conference in 2011 with losses to inferior teams like Virginia and Wake Forest, they enter this season with the talent needed to recapture the glory of the storied Bobby Bowden era.

Joyner and his defensive teammates will be at the center of FSU’s charge this year. Head coach Jimbo Fisher will field the deepest and most talented defense since Bowden’s national championship team in 1999. Only Alabama, LSU — the two teams that played for the 2011 national championship — and Temple outranked the Seminoles in total defense last season. Florida State surrendered only 275 yards per game in 2011, and the defense will return eight starters in 2012.

If that unit plays to its incredible potential, this could be the year Florida State returns to national prominence.

Defensive ends Brandon Jenkins and Bjoern Werner combined for 15 sacks alone in 2012. Jenkins could’ve been a first-round NFL Draft pick but returned to team up with Werner for his senior season.

Joyner, fellow safety Terrance Brooks and cornerback Xavier Rhodes are just as talented and just as NFL-ready. Even without recently exiled cornerback and returner Greg Reid, the secondary has few rivals in the country.

Linebackers Vince Williams and Christian Jones help put the unit over the edge.

“You can’t just point to one moment or one play in practice,” kicker Dustin Hopkins said of the defense. “They do something amazing on every snap, and they’re only getting better.”

James “Buster” Davis can’t help but think about how he would play on a unit like this. The former All-ACC middle linebacker finished his college career six years ago, but as he watched the Seminoles last season from his home in the Jacksonville, Fla. area, he said his alma mater looks completely different on the defensive side of the ball.

Davis said that Bowden and his former defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, never deviated from the recruiting recipe that won them championships in the 1993 and 1999 seasons. After all, the two had unprecedented success with undersized players who were fast and could break on the ball during their historic streak of top-five finishes from 1987-2000.

“Those teams I played on were built around speed and the freedom to go make a play with that speed,” said Davis. “You could be 5-9, and if you were fast and could get to the ball, you were good. These defenses that coach Fisher and coach Stoops put out there aren’t built like that at all.”

The change was necessary. By the time Davis got there, FSU was on the decline. And by the time Fisher took over, the team surrendered an average 30.8 points per game.

Fisher was Bowden’s offensive coordinator for three seasons, but the work he put into rebuilding the defense — including the hire of Stoops away from his brother Mike at Oklahoma — is reflected in the state of his current roster.

These Seminoles are fast, but they’re also built to combat the pass-happy spread offenses in college football.

The first padded practice of the summer showed Christian Thompson just how dominant the defense has become under Fisher.

Before his number was called, the senior running back was forced to watch as the defense returned three consecutive interceptions for scores. Thompson thought that the ensuing play, a screen pass away from the FSU blitz, could be a much-needed spark for a dejected offense.

“It worked so well during team drills, and we were all ready to get into some sort of groove,” said Thompson. “But sometimes the defense likes to remind us that we still have work to do.”

Those reminders occur often for the offense against this defense. On this play, Thompson cradled the ball against his chest before looking upfield and right into the garnet and gold helmet of Jones.

“Those are the plays that you can’t wait to see in a game,” said All-ACC placekicker Dustin Hopkins. “Those are the plays you can’t wait to see them make against someone else.”

On paper, the team has the makings to be among the best in the ACC, but the Seminoles must prove it on the field.

Bowden’s two national championships and decades of success set the bar high for college football at FSU. Expectations are heightened in Tallahassee again in 2012.

Joyner knows how important his defense is to living up to the preseason hype. The unit will be crucial to Florida State becoming a program that competes for titles at the end of the season, not the beginning.

“If people are going to say that Florida State is back, that means that we’re competing for championships,” Joyner said. “They’ll be no question that we’re back when that happens.”

The doctor is the bearer of bad news, his findings the cause of the room’s dejection. Time after time, Marrone sat through that phone call during the 2011 season. So often that he and the players began to question their luck.

Eleven players — or more than 10 percent of the active roster — suffered concussions last season with a frequency that surprised the coaching staff, Marrone said in an extended interview. Other injuries, many of which have not been made public until now, also piled up, and 10 of the 11 starters on defense dealt with serious ailments in the latter stages of the year.

“We were very banged up,” said Mikhail Marinovich, a defensive end on the 2011 team who has since graduated. “A lot of guys, including myself, weren’t even in a lot of practices and just kind of played the day before and then game day.”

The injury problem was the principal hindrance during the five-game losing streak that closed out the 2011 season. A stout run defense became porous, and the offense slipped in productivity as the team went into a tailspin. It forced Marrone and his staff to alter certain elements of the team’s strength training and on-field practice habits going into 2012, with the ultimate goal being a more controlled environment that should produce a healthier season.

“What I did when the season was over is I went out and researched the amount and type of plays that we needed to be successful and all this quality control,” Marrone said. “And I just felt that we as a coaching staff should change up what we’re doing.

“We hope that will help us not get as many of the types of injuries that we’ve been getting.”

‘You won’t hear about it’

Since age 4, Dan Vaughan was a wrestler. He spent 15 years of his life on the mat developing the keen neck strength that is both necessary within the sport and a by-product of its movements.

Now a graduate student entering his fifth season at linebacker for Syracuse, his muscular development from wrestling is an advantage in the battle against concussions. Years of putting his head down on the mat and manipulating his neck to build strength and counter opponents puts him at a lower risk for a concussion.

It’s a correlation that has been embraced by Marrone and his staff, and special strength drills in the weight room began last spring to improve players’ neck strength.

“We do some stuff in the weight room where you go up against someone’s knee, and you’re constantly going back and forth,” offensive lineman Justin Pugh said. “We’ll be on all fours, and someone will put their knee out, and you push your head up against it in and out.”

Vaughan said another exercise has one player move his head in different directions while it is held by a partner in various positions to strengthen the entire circumference of the neck.

Both Vaughan and Pugh struggled to name any of the 11 players who suffered concussions a season ago. They mentioned Adam Harris, a starting fullback in 2011 who saw his career end due to multiple concussions, but backup center Ian Allport was the only other player they named.

Pugh said players are not made aware of their teammates’ injuries, and trainers don’t share information when asked. Vaughan added that only severe concussions are made public to the team, and it’s very easy for a player to sit out of practice a few days and return without any explanation.

“Unless a guy comes out and says it, you won’t hear about it,” Pugh said.

Marrone said the early results are positive, but the full test will come once the regular season gets underway. He said Syracuse made it through spring practice without a concussion or any concussion symptoms, and the players showed improvement when their neck strength was tested prior to the start of preseason camp.

“The coaches and the medical staff, we all take injuries seriously, but especially concussions,” Marrone said. “ … We all have a high awareness for it.”

Pugh said the other major change for the 2012 season is the extra time spent by the coaching staff instructing players on the proper tempo of each drill. Players weren’t on the same page last year, he said, when it came to how hard each drill was supposed to be run.

It’s something Marrone said he addressed with his coaching staff during the summer to make some alterations for this year’s preseason camp. The goal was to avoid the dangerous game of one-upmanship that Pugh described as essentially part intensity and part self-defense.

“If we’re going (at a speed) where you’re not actually hitting somebody, we’re not going to have guys lowering their heads thinking, ‘He might come full speed, so I have to go full speed,’” Pugh said.

“It’s kind of like this thing where it’s one-up, one-up, one-up until it gets to a level that’s too high.”

‘It’s kind of like a battery’

Week after week, Marinovich struggled to sleep the night before a game. Two to three hours at most was all he could manage, struggling to get comfortable and relax. Nerves weren’t the issue — his back was.

Marinovich said he “was hurt all year” and played the entire 2011 season with three herniated discs and a bulging disc in his back.

“In the hotel rooms I slept on the floor, slept on the ground,” Marinovich said. “It was a nightmare.”

Marinovich was one of five former seniors on the 2011 team who discussed at length the additional injury problems — outside of concussions — that plagued the Orange defense and derailed a once-promising season. Every starter except safety Phillip Thomas, who was dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules after 10 games, played through a moderate to serious injury while the media and fans were, for the most part, unaware.

Marinovich listed off the walking wounded with ease and named almost all 11 players on the defense. The injuries to Chandler Jones (knee), Keon Lyn (shoulder, hand), Jay Bromley (hand) and Ri’Shard Anderson (hand) were obvious, as their braces and casts were visible during games.

But it was players like Deon Goggins (major shoulder problems), Dyshawn Davis (dislocated shoulder), Shamarko Thomas (partially torn hamstring) and Dan Vaughan (severely strained oblique muscle) who gutted out the season while shrouding their true statuses.

Cory Boatman, a backup defensive tackle who rotated in with Goggins and Bromley, was forced to wear a molded brace on his right wrist during games to prevent it from bending backward and to limit the severe swelling.

“I just knew that a lot of guys were banged up,” Boatman said. “We would talk in the locker room and be like, ‘Dang, I’m not feeling it this practice.’ But we would go out there and compete.”

A group that allowed just 99.4 rushing yards per game through a 5-2 start sprung leaks over the final five games. Syracuse was continuously carved apart by opponents’ rushing attacks to the tune of 168.4 yards per game during that stretch, including a 37-17 loss to South Florida when it gave up 236 yards on the ground.

Marinovich said his practice time was limited to the point where he sometimes only participated in the walkthrough before taking the field on game day. Other weeks he would practice sporadically, but there was rarely more than a day or two in between games.

Harris said it was difficult at times for the offense to get the necessary looks it needed against a first-team defense where only a handful of starters actually practiced and others were playing at only 75 to 80 percent at best.

“It’s funny because you go into those games and you think, ‘All right, well, I’ll recover by next week,’” Marinovich said. “But it’s kind of like a battery, and you just keep going lower and lower and lower until finally something gives.”

Marinovich’s back finally did give when he was speared by a Cincinnati tight end 30 yards away from the ball in the second-to-last game of the season. It was the end of his Syracuse career and another casualty for the defense.

‘Never crossed my mind’

Naturally, the questions poured in as the losses added up. A defense that allowed only one 75-yard rusher in the first seven games of the season allowed six in the final five games.

But the same players were going out there each week. It didn’t make sense. And Marrone was peppered with criticism and inquiries from the media.

What is going on with the defense? Why can’t you stop the run? What are you going to do differently?

“There’s plenty of times where he would like to just come out and say, ‘This player or this player or this player,’” Marinovich said. “But he’s got integrity. He’s an honest guy, and I think he’s a hell of a coach.”

Marrone protected his players, opting not to stand at the podium and disclose injuries to the media when all five former players said it would have been easy to. They lauded him for it, calling him a true players’ coach.

And after the season, when Marrone was again presented with an opportunity to explain exactly the type of medical hardships the 2011 Orange team faced, he declined once more.

“It really never crossed my mind to get up there and start listing off injuries and ‘woe me’ and ‘woe this team,’” Marrone said.

He said excuses — no matter when they are made — don’t help win football games.

Instead, he created a plan to overcome the outburst of injuries that essentially crippled an entire season. Whether it works is still to be seen, but the adjustments have been made in an attempt to avoid another health meltdown.

Now he just hopes that good fortune is on his team’s side.

Said Marrone: “I give a lot of credit to those players. They went out there and played as hard as they could.”