As recently as two years ago, Dorian Graham had never stepped onto a football field to line up at the wide receiver position.

He played strictly defensive back in high school and came to Syracuse to play in the secondary. But following his sophomore season, head coach Doug Marrone told Graham the Orange could use him at wideout.

‘It was a move where coach told me he needed me,’ Graham said. ‘Whatever coach feels is best, I just adjust and make things happen.’

Now halfway through his senior year, the defensive back turned wide receiver is having his best season at SU on either side of the ball. He led the Orange in receiving yards in its last two games and has three touchdowns over that span, one coming on a kick return. Graham’s natural speed, work ethic and the physicality he developed as a defender have helped him make the transition to receiver.

The senior will look to build on his success when Syracuse (5-2, 1-1 Big East) travels to Louisville (3-4, 1-1) to play the Cardinals at noon Saturday.

‘For the coaches to trust me from where I came from, it’s a great feeling,’ Graham said. ‘I want to just make them proud, make my family proud and help this team get to a Big East championship.’

Though the wideout has 18 catches for 207 yards and two touchdowns as the third receiver for the Orange this season, his success did not come immediately. Last year served as a transition period for Graham. He had to develop timing with quarterback Ryan Nassib, learn formations and patterns and figure out the little nuances of running routes.

‘It’s two different worlds,’ wide receivers coach Rob Moore said. ‘As a DB, you backpedal. You run backward all day. As a receiver, you’re running forward.’

But Moore quickly realized Graham had the skill set to develop into a solid wide receiver.

Graham was and still is one of the fastest players on the team, as evidenced by his job as kick returner. He had the football knowledge to understand the workings of the offense and the details of the receiver position.

And perhaps most importantly, his work ethic would push him to put in the necessary work to make the transition.

‘I have a hard time saying who works harder than Dorian working on his skill level and things like that,’ Marrone said. ‘He takes a lot of pride in what he does. We do have a lot of players on our team like that, but he seems to have always been that way consistently with his work ethic.’

And though it took a year to come together, the switch to offense is paying off. He failed to make a catch in his first season at receiver but has caught a pass in every game this year.

‘His niche was as a receiver,’ senior cornerback Kevyn Scott said. ‘And I’m glad they found that perfect spot for him because he’s excelling at what he’s doing.’

Scott matches up with Graham every time the Orange does one-on-one drills in practices. He talked about three things that make Graham a challenge to cover in practice.

There’s his speed, which Scott said the receiver has carried over from track speed to football speed. Graham gave West Virginia a firsthand look at that on his kick-return touchdown last week when he changed direction at the 30-yard line and outran everyone to the end zone.

There’s his explosion off the ball, which Graham put on display against Tulane when he scored the first touchdown of his career. With SU facing a third down at the Green Wave 10-yard line, Graham simply blew past his man off the ball, and Nassib dropped the ball in over his shoulder in the corner of the end zone.

And last, there’s his physicality, which Graham believes comes from his experience as a defensive back. On his second career touchdown, which also came against Tulane, the receiver beat his man on a slant and caught the pass, but he got crushed by Green Wave safety Kyle Davis. Still, Graham managed to take the hit and hold onto the football for the score.

That success against Tulane didn’t fade during the bye week. Graham emerged as the only consistent wide receiver for Syracuse in its upset over West Virginia.

And his increased production comes at a vital time for Syracuse with Van Chew, SU’s No. 1 receiver, struggling. He’s just another weapon for Nassib that seems to be emerging at exactly the right time.

‘His confidence has really risen over the course of the last few months even,’ Moore said. ‘And now I think he’s really arrived to the point where he really believes he’s capable of doing all the things we ask of him.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on October 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm