Syracuse, N.Y. -- This is that time in the week where you can ask me anything of a sports-related matter. All you need do is send a question to bpoliquin@syracuse.com (and include your name and the identity of your hometown) . . . and I?ll do my best to answer it.
Today?s question? It comes from North Carolina and it deals with a particular Syracuse University football player. Here goes . . .
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QUESTION: What happened to Ashton Broyld? It seemed like there was so much hype about him, and based on the few plays he got in during the 2012 campaign I see why. Is he still at SU and do the coaches see a future for him as a starter?
-- Jeremy Auyer
Charlotte, N.C. (but formerly of Liverpool, N.Y.)
ANSWER: First things first. Ashton Broyld, the all-purpose guy listed at 6-foot-4 and 229 pounds out of Rush Henrietta High School in Rochester, is still enrolled at Syracuse University and is in ownership of the same thing that comes with every uniform tossed to every athlete: Opportunity. The Orange coaches, like all coaches, will tell you that they won?t decide Broyld?s potential as a starter. Broyld will.
For the record, Ashton -- who has been variously billed as a quarterback, running back, wide receiver and kick returner . . . with hints that he may yet wind up at linebacker -- saw action in seven games as a true freshman during the 2012 season that ended for SU with an 8-5 record.
He played, in order, against Northwestern, Southern California, Stony Brook, Minnesota, Connecticut, Cincinnati and Louisville. He sat, in order, against Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Missouri, Temple and West Virginia in the Pinstripe Bowl. He was rendered idle in six of the Orange?s last nine contests, during which the Syracuse club went 7-2.
Broyld?s stats? He rushed 36 times for 171 yards (4.8 average), caught seven passes for 53 yards (7.6 average) and returned one kick for 10 yards. He scored his lone touchdown of the season on a 22-yard run against Stony Brook on Sept. 15.
So, why didn?t Ashton play more than he did? Here are three reasons, Jeremy, for you to mull:
1. ?Tis said that the young man has small hands (relatively speaking) and therefore was deemed, with his current technique, to be something of a risk in the hallowed area of ?ball security.? Remember, it was John Heisman, his own self, who once stood before his team, held up the revered oblong object, and declared: ?Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small child than to fumble this football.? Doug Marrone, then the Syracuse boss who watched Broyld turn it over at a crucial time in the loss at Minnesota, has forever genuflected at the sound of those words.
2. Ashton failed to master the SU playbook, which made him (on a squad coming off a 5-7 campaign that had ended with five consecutive losses) a bit of a liability coming out of the chute. But then, his struggles with his duties, particularly in passing schemes, was a not-so-surprising development when you consider No. 3.
3. Here was a true freshman attempting to juggle college life, college courses and college football, the latter of which introduced him to competition he?d never encountered in high school or at Milford Academy. Sure, Broyld had been a star before enlisting with the Orange . . . but so was just about everybody else on the roster. And the fellas on the other side in the other colors were on scholarship, too.
So, without the benefit of a redshirt season, Broyld (albeit, a "star" in the Spring Game, for what that tedious exercise is worth) had to adjust "on the job" -- physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually -- and that kept him off the field more than some might have expected and/or hoped.
And there, Jeremy, is the famous rub. Fans and media types (and, yes, that would certainly include me) often fall victim to premature evaluation, which is never a good thing. We tend to rush to judgment, determining that somebody is a whiz-bang -- right now -- and when he or she isn?t . . . well, we want to know why. What?s wrong with the coach? What?s wrong with the kid? What?s wrong with the system?
Perhaps the answers are nothing, nothing and nothing. Perhaps some seasoning, some maturing, some marinating is needed. Perhaps a bit of slack should be allowed in the rope.
Back in the glorious day, Orson Welles used to hawk bottles of a certain nectar by invoking this catchphrase: ?We will sell no wine before its time.?
It just might be that some of us tried to sell Ashton Broyld, who potentially has as many as 42 college games ahead of him, before his time.
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Here is the weekly ?schedule of events? in Bud Poliquin?s corner of syracuse.com:
MONDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: ?How?d I Do?? By 6 p.m.: ?Ask Me Anything? by submitting questions (to which I?ll give answers) on any sports-related topic to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.)
TUESDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: ?Coach?s Corner,? wherein readers can submit questions to any coach at any level in Central New York (and answers will be posted) to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.) By 6 p.m.: ?The Video Store.?
WEDNESDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: ?The List.? By 6 p.m.: ?E-Mail Of The Week,? wherein readers can submit legitimate essays/open letters/observations for purposes of posting to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.)
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Source: http://www.syracuse.com/poliquin/index.ssf/2013/02/poliquin_perhaps_the_talents_o.html
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