August 9th, 2010 
Steve Schaefer 
Frank Ordoñez/The Post-Standard
By Steve Schaefer
Sunday night was another mile marker in the buildup to football season, with the Hall of Fame game in Canton, but for Syracuse fans the news of note came earlier in the day when the Orange officially reported for preseason camp and running back Averin Collier was not among the players who showed up.
The news does not come as much of a surprise, given that the Post-Standard’s Nolan Weidner reported 10 days ago that academic issues were likely to make Collier ineligible, but the reality is something of a kick in the gut, particularly with Delone Carter’s return far from certain.
Antwon Bailey now becomes even more crucial to this team, even though his build and talents would seem more suited to a jack-of-all-trades role than being an every down back. And Doug Marrone doesn’t exactly have a ton of experience to work with beyond that. In fact, Weidner reported Sunday that Brooklyn-bred freshman Steven Rene, who came to SU as a wide receiver, has agreed to switch to running back, the position the 5’7″, 167-pounder played in high school.
At this point the best hope - and it may very well be a fool’s hope - is that Carter’s bid to be reinstated by the university after last year’s snowball fight incident will be successful. Even then, it may take him a while to shake off the rust. We just need to hope he can do that, or that Bailey transforms into the three-down back we need, before the Orange dig themselves a hole too deep to escape.
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Steven Rene was going to be a WR? At 5’7″? To quote Star Wars “Aren’t you a little short for a storm trooper?”
Nightmare – let’s just pray that Bailey’s body can handle the carries.
Assuming DC doesn’t step on the field this season, which is looking more and more likely with each passing day, the loss of Collier is catastrophic. We are staring down the barrel of a two-win season.
Shamarko,
How many wins did you expect with Carter and/or Collier?
4 tops – Colgate, Maine, Akron and – maybe – one conference game (with Louisville being the obvious candidate).
I stand by that now that it’s been announced that Delone will be playing.
With what I expect will be an anemic passing attack this season, I can’t see how we win more than 4.
To clarify, I think we can get those four with Carter and no Collier. With Collier and no Carter, I think we would have found three wins max.
In the discussion regarding Marrone’s timetable for progress, you constantly hear, “we need to wait until DM’s recruits get a chance to play.” That time is here whether he likes it or not. Delone will be back, but it may be too late to save some wins.