Frank Ordonez / The Post-Standard

By Dave Cooperman

The offseason for the Syracuse football program was a series of bumps in the road that have hopefully leveled into a nice smooth driving surface as the opener against Akron approaches on Saturday.  There have been questions at running back, questions about the offensive coordinator, questions about discipline, legal questions, Marcus Sales questions – yet somehow there have been no questions at quarterback where, oh by the way, Ryan Nassib prepares for his first career start.

Nassib isn’t an unfamiliar entity having played spot duty last season while subbing in for Greg Paulus.  At times he looked good – other times he didn’t – and a fair grade for his season would have to be incomplete.  Nobody knows what happens next with Nassib.  He will be managing a full game, overcoming mistakes, leading his team from behind and just dealing with the pressures of playing quarterback.  

There are reasons to feel optimistic, though it wouldn’t take a debate team to counter them with reasons for doubt either.  What has been truly remarkable, though, is how little the quarterback gets mentioned as we all file away our final predictions and hope with all of our might that this team just might play in a bowl game.  For that to happen, the play of Ryan Nassib will have to go from erratic to very good because ok isn’t likely to cut it.

The trust in Nassib is a byproduct of the trust that seems to exist for Doug Marrone and his offensive schemes that somehow managed to make Greg Paulus into a capable player despite the protests of colleague Tim Schlittner.  If you believe in Marrone’s eye for talent, then you have to love his faith in Nassib since Charley Loeb never presented a threat to his starting spot.  At the same time, it took Marrone about 15 minutes to make Paulus his starter last season after seeing what he had in Nassib all spring.  You be the judge.

It is safe to assume that good things have happened behind the scenes.  Nassib has been praised for his leadership and grasp of the offense – he is in position to succeed.  But will he?  No one knows and no one is asking.  That is the beauty of August and but rarely the reality of September.

Slowly but surely the other questions are getting answered. Delone Carter is back, Nathaniel Hackett runs the offense, Marrone hasn’t thrown anyone off the team in months, Carter’s legal problems seem to be in the past and Marcus Sales is on the bench.  Once the season comes into focus, the focus usually falls to the quarterback.  We know that there will be questions then and for the season’s sake, we hope that Nassib has the right answers.