Syracuse junior cornerback Marcus Clayton has been looking forward to Saturday’s game against Florida State for 355 days. Since last season’s 17-13 heart breaker in the Carrier Dome, Clayton has anxiously waited to pay back the Seminoles, the team he referred to as ‘crooks’ growing up.

‘I’m not really a trash talker on the field,’ Clayton said. ‘I (messaged FSU wide receiver De’Cody Fagg) on the facebook(.com) and talked some smack. I asked him why he was out there faking, just messing with him.’

Clayton, a Tallahassee native, and the Syracuse Orange will take on Florida State on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Clayton said he expects his mother and sisters to attend the game, in addition to some local friends and family. He played with or against several current FSU players, including Fagg, who he faced in a California/Florida all-star game in high school.

Six Syracuse players come from Florida, including Clayton’s high school teammate at Amos Godby High School, Landel Bembo. The junior wide receiver, who broke his leg prior to the season, will travel with the team and head coach Greg Robinson said Bembo will get a chance to go home.

Bembo was not available to the media this week.

‘I know he’s feeling bad about it because that’s all he talked about,’ Clayton said of Bembo. ‘After we played (FSU) the first time he said, ‘I can’t wait ’til next time so we can go home and shine.’ When he got hurt, I know it just crushed his feelings.’

Senior linebacker Tommy Harris, who is from Daytona Beach, was a Seminoles fan growing up. He said he was recruited by FSU but never received a scholarship offer.

Harris is in his first year as a starter and said he considered transferring to a Florida-area school while former head coach Paul Pasqualoni was still at SU, but his mother always talked him out of it.

‘If I could’ve looked into a crystal ball that said, ‘Tommy you’re gonna get no playing time in your first four years and you’re gonna move from defensive end to (outside linebacker),’ I would’ve said, ‘I like it here, but I’m going closer to home,” Harris said.

Now he’s glad he stayed. This season, Robinson and linebacker coach Steve Russ gave him the opportunity to earn a starting role and he made the most of it.

Saturday’s game also provides Harris a chance to prove the Seminoles shouldn’t have overlooked him. He’s bitter about a safety call against FSU last season that he believes the officials missed. Saturday will mark the first time he’s been to Doak Campbell Stadium.

As for Clayton, he attended every FSU home game during his senior year of high school. Still, it will be different actually playing in one.

‘I’ll probably have butterflies,’ Clayton said. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen another stadium as crunked besides Virginia Tech. The fans there are crazy. They get into it.’

Clayton said he is looking forward to the Hamburger Helper his girlfriend makes when he travels home.

As for Harris, the four-hour trip to Daytona Beach will be too long for him to make.

Said Harris: ‘I’m hopping on a plane and coming back to celebrate with SU students.’

Tim Gorman is Sports Editor of the Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at tpgorman@syr.edu

Published on September 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm