SYRACUSE, N.Y. � Entering his third year as coach at his alma mater, Syracuse's Doug Marrone already has a bowl win on his resume. The trick is to keep the momentum going.
"We're getting better," Marrone said Friday. "It's a process. We have to do a good job in recruiting and continue to do a good job. The minute we feel like we've arrived, the minute we feel like, 'Oh, look at us,' that's the minute we're going to get beat."
With Marrone at the helm, that's not an option as the Orange head into the offseason with visions of improving on their 8-5 record last fall, capped by a win over Kansas State in the Pinstripe Bowl.
The post-spring depth chart released Friday had Macky MacPherson at center, Andrew Tiller at right guard, Zach Chibane at left guard, and Michael Hay and Justin Pugh at right and left tackle, respectively.
Hay and Tiller are seniors, Pugh and Chibane juniors, and MacPherson is a sophomore. Nick Provo is penciled in as the starting tight end, seniors Marcus Sales and Van Chew are at wideout, and senior Adam Harris is at fullback.
At 279 pounds, the 6-foot-5 Hay is the lightweight of a group that will protect senior quarterback Ryan Nassib and open running lanes for starting tailback Antwon Bailey.
On a defense that returns five starters, newcomer Dyshawn Davis and senior Dan Vaughan will replace the departed Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith at linebacker and join Marquis Spruill, who moves to the middle after a standout freshman year. Shamarko Thomas is at strong safety and Phillip Thomas is the free safety. Keon Lyn and Kevyn Scott are penciled in at cornerback, Mikhail Marinovich and Chandler Jones return at end, and Cory Boatman (NT) and Jay Bromley (DT) will man the inside.
Marrone said the defensive interior would be "by committee." And of course, things could change at any position because of simple human nature.
"Nothing is set in stone. This is the lineup that if we started today," he said. "There's still a lot of time, still a lot of development for our players to get better. At the same time, some players ? I don't know why ? sometimes people tend to gain weight, (and) that hurts their chances. You can never become too comfortable in what you do. Hopefully, that won't happen."
Nassib and Bailey excelled in the spring game, even though the first-string offense scored only one touchdown in a 13-7 win. Marrone said he was pleased with the performance nonetheless.
"The progress of the offense I thought went well during the spring as far as knowing what to do and then actually being able to go out and execute," he said. "Again, you're looking for consistency, and at times we've shown that. Now, we just have to continue to do a better job of it. That will help us be better, and we have a lot of veteran players coming back on that side of the ball."
With the graduation of standout punter Rob Long, special teams became a concern and two botched field goals in the spring scrimmage made more than a few fans wince. Marrone said he was confident in Shane Raupers as the punter and there certainly are no worries about place-kicker Ross Krautman, who earned everybody's trust during a remarkable freshman season. Krautman missed only one of 19 field-goal attempts and tied the single-season school record of 18 set in 1981 by Gary Anderson.
"People just saw what happened at the spring game," Marrone said. "I have all the confidence in the world in our kickers, even though that didn't work out well that day."
Syracuse inked 27 new players in February, including Davis and linebacker Siriki Diabate, who's listed as a backup to Vaughan on the depth chart. Both Davis and Diabate entered school in January, and Marrone said he was expecting help from the recruits who arrive on campus for preseason camp. That group includes a handful of defensive backs.
Perhaps Marrone's most important achievement since taking over has been reviving the tradition he experienced as a player in the 1980s. It had all but vanished in the forgettable tenure of Greg Robinson, who was fired after notching only 10 wins in four seasons.
"I bring people to look at the program and one person I brought here in the spring advised me. He said, 'You know, there's a difference. The first year it was like you had to drag them out here to practice and now it looks like they're out here competitive. They know what you want them to do,'" Marrone said. "I always try to work with an edge. I don't think it's ever going to be good enough.
"I think that at any point you can be in trouble in this profession. The tide can change quickly through an injury, through a lack of preparation. We have to be 110 percent on the edge the whole time."
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