Staff

Continuing with the Otto’sArmy.com season recap, we examine progress.  There is no doubt that Doug Marrone has raised the bar, both on and off the field.  Record alone, the team improved from 4-8 (1-6) to  8-5 (4-3), with a bowl victory to boot.  The tone starts from the top, but the players have to perform, and over time they need to improve to elevate the program to where Marrone plans on taking it.  So, as we look back, we ask ourselves: who was the 2010 most improved player?

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Dave Cooperman, Otto’s Army

My first instinct on Most Improved Player was to hand the award over to Van Chew, who had a solid season picking up the slack for a depleted receiving group, but then I thought better of it and realized Chew wasn’t even the most improved at his position.  Marcus Sales was. 

In 2009 Sales played in 9 games and caught 28 passes for 324 yards and 3 touchdowns.  His sophomore season set the stage for what we all thought would be a breakout junior season except somewhere along the line he fell out of favor with Marrone.  The fact that the reasoning has yet to be explained and the decision appears so ridiculous it is the only black mark on Marrone’s second season.

That aside, Sales played in 6 games (basically 5 since he played only a few plays against South Florida) this year and caught 26 passes and exceeded his yards and touchdowns, contributing 414 and 4.   If Sales played against Akron, Maine and Colgate his numbers could have been off the chart.  I have to make clear that Sales is most improved year over year not just from game 1 to game 13.  Sales is a major reason this offense could take a step forward next year even in the absence of ever steady Delone Carter

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Steve Schaefer, Otto’s Army

If the Pinstripe Bowl wasn’t a fluke, then I can’t go anywhere else but Ryan Nassib. He’s still got happy feet in the pocket, but after an extremely inconsistent season, his game came a long way in just a few weeks. The game against K-State was an eye-opener and raised the possibility that he’s more than just a placeholder for the Orange.

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Tom Sullivan, Otto’s Army

In the spirit of my defensive choice yesterday, I’m going to avoid dishing this award out to an individual player on either side of the ball. Instead, I’ll give it to the offensive line. Sure, they struggled again in pass protection this year. In fact, it was downright painful at times to watch them hang Ryan Nassib out to dry. But overall, this unit as a whole was much better than what we saw from any of the groups during Greg Robinson’s four year term and last year’s version that almost cost Greg Paulus his life.

At times in 2010, the group was very good both run and pass blocking (see: the final game winning drive at Rutgers). Its work during the Pinstripe Bowl was outstanding, allowing Ryan Nassib the time to throw for three touchdowns over 36 yards and springing Delone Carter for a whopping 198 yards on the ground. There’s still plenty of room for this unit to grow, but year over year, no individual or group on the Orange embodied improvement more than the offensive line.

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Tim Schlittner, Otto’s Army

One look at a side by side box of Van Chew’s 2010 stats versus his career totals shows why he is Syracuse’s most improved player. Chew has 51 receptions for 733 yards and 6 touchdowns in his Orange career – 41, 611, and 5 of those came this year alone, all team highs.

Chew was Syracuse’s best receiver in 2010 and frankly it’s not even close. He caught a pass in every single game and gave stability to an inexperienced wide receiving corps. He and Marcus Sales will give the Orange a nice one-two punch in 2011.

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Euclid 419er, Otto’s Army

Van “Charleston” Chew

Van “Big League” Chew

“Would you like to see the inside of my” Van Chew

Call him what you will.  I call him my most improved player.

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2010 Football Recap

Offensive MVP

Defensive MVP