Chandler Jones was listed among three players out indefinitely after sustaining injuries in Syracuse’s season-opening 36-29 win over Wake Forest Thursday, according to an SU Athletics release on Tuesday. Olando Fisher and Ri’Shard Anderson are the other two players out.

On Monday, SU head coach Doug Marrone said the players would be fully evaluated later to determine their status for practices and games. All three are out indefinitely.

Jones and Fisher suffered lower body injuries, and Anderson sustained an upper body injury in the game, according to the release.

Sophomore linebacker Marquis Spruill said the team will feel Jones’ absence from the defensive line.

‘I’m not going to say that we’re going to be lost without (Jones),’ Spruill said Tuesday. ‘But it’s just not going to be that same presence as Chandler Jones out there.’

Jones recorded five tackles and 0.5 sacks against the Demon Deacons in the win Thursday. Jones spoke to the media after the game, but Marrone said Monday he was being evaluated for an injury. Jones also did not attend his scheduled media session Tuesday.

The senior was a starter for the Orange the past two seasons. He racked up 109 tackles, 5.5 sacks and three forced fumbles in that span. He was also named to the Lombardi Award watch list this preseason, an award given to the nation’s best lineman.

After Syracuse lost six starters from its defense last year, Jones’ teammates said he was stepping into more of a leadership role on and off the field this offseason. He communicated more on the field and worked with the entire defense to make sure everyone understood the schemes.

‘If things were going tough, he’d tell everybody to keep their head up, stay in the game, stay focused,’ Spruill said. ‘He was always vocal on the sidelines to everybody.’

Now, it seems that the sidelines may be the only spot Jones can be vocal from in the near future. Senior Torrey Ball and junior Brandon Sharpe appear to be next in line to replace Jones on the Orange defensive line.

Against Wake Forest on Thursday, Ball made four tackles and recorded 0.5 sacks, his first at SU. Sharpe also saw some action against the Demon Deacons and made one tackle in the game.

Secondary concerns

The other injuries reported Tuesday by SU Athletics added to the ever-growing list of health issues in the Syracuse secondary.

Anderson started at corner against Wake Forest but left the game in the first quarter and did not return. Fisher is listed as the backup strong safety on SU’s depth chart but still made three tackles in the game.

Six of the top eight players in Syracuse’s secondary have dealt with injuries in the first month of the season. But in the mind of senior cornerback Kevyn Scott, it shouldn’t hurt the pass coverage too badly.

‘We did a good job in camp rotating a lot of guys,’ Scott said. ‘We became used to playing with Jeremi Wilkes at safety or Phillip Thomas or Olando Fisher. We had a lot of rotation going on through camp.’

Where credit is due

A football team’s strength and conditioning coaches don’t typically get much praise after a win whether it’s warranted or not.

But after Thursday’s win over Wake Forest, in which the defense was on the field for more than 11 minutes in the first quarter and two-thirds of the first half, that’s exactly who SU players credited for keeping them in the game.

‘I feel like it was nothing that we couldn’t handle,’ Jones said after the game. ‘I feel like our strength and conditioning coaches, (Hal) Luther and (William) Hicks, did a good job preparing us for a situation like this. And we came out with the win.’

The Demon Deacons controlled the first half, running 45 plays in the first 30 minutes and 84 total. SU, on the other hand, ran a total of 58 plays the whole game.

Defensive end Mikhail Marinovich said he threw up twice on the field. Scott had to leave the game in the third quarter when his legs cramped up.

But still, the defense was able to recover and shut down Wake Forest in the decisive fourth quarter and overtime. And Marrone, too, gave credit to the Luther and Hicks.

‘I think from a standpoint of conditioning with the overtime and the amount of snaps,’ Marrone said, ‘give credit to the weight coaches and give credit to the players with all they’ve done over the summer.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

 

Published on September 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm