At one point during practice Monday, the coaching staff called for the first-stringers to take the field. Ryan Nassib heard the order but didn’t move. Not right away. It hadn’t sunk in quite yet they were talking about him.

‘When I heard them say, ‘The 1s go in,’ I didn’t think about it. I just stood there,’ Nassib said. ‘I was like, ‘Whoa. I’m the ones.”

New Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone named Nassib, a redshirt freshman from Malvern, Pa., the starting quarterback for the 2009 season before Monday’s practice. Senior Cameron Dantley, last year’s starter, with sophomore David Legree as the third option. Andrew Robinson, who was the starter in 2007 and for the opening game of the 2008 season, was converted to tight end and will play mostly on special teams.

Marrone and offensive coordinator Rob Spence met with all the quarterbacks Monday morning and explained their decision.

The announcement comes after just four spring practices. But that was all the time Marrone needed to conclude that Nassib was the best fit.

‘Truthfully, I was shocked,’ Nassib said. ‘I didn’t think it would be this early, especially in the first week of spring ball. I was grateful, first off, and I’m just looking forward to the opportunity.’

It had become clear during the last week that Nassib and Dantley had established themselves ahead of the rest of the pack, as they took most of the reps with the first squad. Now, there is an official pecking order. Nassib will work exclusively with the other starters for the rest of the spring – something Marrone considers an advantage.

‘Rather than going out there in an evaluation process and making the reps even, he’s earned the right to get more reps,’ Marrone said. ‘And we’re going to get him more reps and get him ready to play.’

Nassib, listed at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, redshirted for the Orange last season after starring at Malvern Prep. In high school, he threw for 1,400 yards as a junior and 1,237 yards as a senior. Gaspare ‘Gamp’ Pellegrini, his former coach at Malvern, said Monday Nassib reminds him of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who played for a nearby high school.

Nassib will step into a position that was a major problem spot for Syracuse last season. Dantley started the final 11 games and completed 121-of-251 passes (48.2 percent) with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. He averaged only 118 yards passing per game.

In Nassib, the Orange has a quarterback who appears to have an especially strong and accurate arm. Pellegrini said he used to tease Nassib about holding the ball in the pocket intentionally for an extra second so he had an excuse to show off how far he could throw it.

During practice Monday, despite the below-freezing temperatures on the fields behind Manley Field House, Nassib’s ball seemed to come in harder and straighter than throws from the other quarterbacks. Afterward, Marrone had nothing but positives to say about Nassib’s skills.

‘Anyone who has been out there the first week of practice can see what Ryan has done,’ Marrone said. ‘He has a good release, good mechanics, is a player who is going to develop, good decision-making, high accuracy. Everything you want out of a quarterback, he’s shown.’

The praise isn’t coming just from the coaches, either. Linebacker Derrell Smith said Nassib had begun to establish his presence last season on the scout team with passes not even veteran quarterbacks made consistently.

‘Last year, we would be in the locker room and be like, ‘Wow, how he is doing that?” Smith said. ‘We were saying how he was better than some of the quarterbacks we were facing that week. It wasn’t a surprise to anybody on the defense at all.’

Though Monday was exciting for Nassib, Marrone’s decision came as a disappointment to Dantley, who worked his way from walk-on to starting quarterback last year. Marrone said Dantley handled the announcement professionally.

‘I respect the decision they made,’ Dantley said. ‘Coach Marrone is a great coach and so is coach Spence. The coaching staff obviously came to a consensus on what they wanted. I respect the decision. It made me realize I’ve been in this situation before. It’s nothing new to me.’

With Nassib officially named the starter, it puts to rest what was expected to be one of the toughest position battles of spring football just one week into practice. Marrone said it did not make sense to delay announcement further because he wants to begin installing the offense with as many pieces as possible.

Although the competition technically will remain open until season begins Sep. 5, Marrone said the job is Nassib’s to lose.

‘I’m excited, and it’s really fun. It shows me how hard I need to keep working,’ Nassib said. ‘I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and stay competitive so that when fall comes, I’m still in that spot, and we’ll get some wins.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on March 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm