Joe Donnelly remembers his days as a Rochester youth, rooting for Syracuse and dreaming of one day playing in the Carrier Dome. It was so close — only a 60-minute drive from Rochester on Interstate 90.

“I saw a picture when I was 3 years old, and I had a Syracuse football jersey on,” Donnelly said. “My mom said, ‘I guess we even knew back then that you were going to Syracuse.’ ”

Now, Donnelly has realized his dream. He plays a key role at tight end and on special teams for his Orangemen. Donnelly, a junior, has endured both ups and downs since his arrival. This year, he has become an established member of the SU offense, sharing tight-end responsibilities with fellow junior Lenny Cusumano.

According to SU tight ends and special teams coach Chris White, Donnelly’s specialty is as a pass-catching tight end, but he has made great strides in his blocking this season.

Last year he collected only eight catches for 57 yards. Donnelly should soon surpass those numbers. He has already made five catches for 60 yards, including three receptions for 37 yards in Saturday’s victory over Rhode Island.

Yet Donnelly takes the most pride in his blocking.

White told both Donnelly and Cusumano that their blocking would be critical to the team’s success, so Donnelly added 15 pounds during the off-season, for which White credits the improvement Donnelly has made as a blocker. In the second game of the season, against North Carolina, both goal-line touchdowns were run through Donnelly’s side.

‘When a running back scores and you open a big hole, you don’t see it on TV or in the box score,’ Donnelly said. ‘But you know that you helped to make that play and that’s gratification enough for me.’

Not only has Donnelly been key in the Orangemen’s offense, he has also become important on SU’s special teams unit. He plays on kickoff return, kickoff coverage and punt coverage.

‘Joe is a special-teams dream,’ White said. ‘He’s big and he runs well for a tight end.’

This year, the SU passing game has struggled at times. Donnelly said the rest of the offense needs to help quarterback R.J. Anderson find his rhythm. As a tight end, Donnelly said he needs to continue to find open spaces so that Anderson can make easy completions.

One reason for Donnelly’s success this year is the work he has put in with Cusumano. Along with sharing the tight-end role, the two friends also play together on special teams. Instead of becoming heated rivals fighting for playing time, they have made each other better football players.

When they arrived at Syracuse, Cusumano was the better blocker and Donnelly the better receiver. The pair has aided each other to the point where they have become polished at both skills.

‘The main thing is what we can do to help the team win,’ Cusumano said. ‘It doesn’t matter who’s the starter, as long as we help the team win.’

Said Donnelly: ‘For the good of the team we couldn’t let this become a bigger issue.”

One of Donnelly’s favorite parts about playing at SU is the support he receives from family and friends. He said he gets more requests for tickets than he can fill.

Donnelly’s father, Brendan, makes an extra sacrifice to see his son play. Brendan works for Kodak and recently agreed to go to Japan for two years — only if he could come home for at least half of Donnelly’s games.

Donnelly said he plays harder when he knows his dad has made the trip. For example, during this year’s season opener at Brigham Young, he needed intravenous fluids on the sideline but continued to play because his dad was watching from the stands.

‘When someone is traveling across the world to see you play,” Donnelly said, “it makes it that much more special.”

As for the future, Donnelly is unsure what will happen. He thinks the NFL may be interested because of his 4.4-second time in the 40-yard dash.

‘You think about it (the NFL) a little,’ Donnelly said. ‘Right now, we just need to win football games and handle the business at hand. No one is going to draft (a player) from a losing team.’

Published on September 18, 2002 at 12:00 pm