It appears Steve Gregory’s injured right thigh has worsened. After the Cincinnati game on Sept. 18, SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said Gregory would have been available in an emergency.

After Pasqualoni said Gregory was day-to-day during the week, the junior wide receiver didn’t even travel to Virginia this weekend.

On Monday, Pasqualoni said Gregory aggravated the injury in practice last Wednesday, and the team trainer decided Gregory shouldn’t play.

‘He tried really hard last Wednesday and practiced pretty well,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘Then it got a little more swollen, so we had to back off it again. We will have to wait and see. We are being cautious about it, so we don’t make it any worse. That is why we backed off it after Wednesday.’

Pasqualoni didn’t give a specific timetable for Gregory’s return, nor did he say if Gregory would be available for Saturday’s Big East opener against Rutgers.

The Orange moved Gregory – who started at cornerback his first two seasons – to wide receiver during spring practice in hopes of adding a speedy deep threat. The move hasn’t paid off, as Gregory has only appeared in two of SU’s four games.

In the two games, Gregory has six catches for 68 yards. His longest reception went for 18 yards. SU has only one pass play for more than 50 yards this season, a 68-yard completion from Perry Patterson to Damien Rhodes.

But Pasqualoni said given U.Va.’s strong defensive play, Gregory’s presence may not have mattered.

‘Virginia did a good job of preventing the big play,’ Pasqualoni said, ‘and they did that with double-coverage.’

In other injury news, starting outside linebacker Kellen Pruitt appeared slowed at times against the Cavaliers. Pasqualoni said he made a mistake by not resting Pruitt more. He subbed in Luke Cain twice, but Pasqualoni said he should have made the substitution more.

‘(Cain) is fast and he’s a good player,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘We probably need to (use him more) until Kellen is 100 percent again.’

 

Every week, Pasqualoni stresses limiting ‘X-plays’ – any turnover or big play. A big play is a running play of 12 or more yards or a pass play of 16 or more yards.

 

SU succeeded at the turnover part, not coughing the ball up once against U.Va. The big plays, though, cost the Orange the game. The Cavaliers came up with eight big plays, including three that went for touchdowns.

Giving up big plays was also a problem for Syracuse against Purdue, but the defense appeared to improve against Buffalo and Cincinnati. Now the Orange is forced to return to the drawing board and address the problem.

‘We practice very hard against it,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘We practice all the little things that it usually requires. The thing with this game is we would get them in second and third down, where we wanted them, and we lost the contain. That should be a 5-yard loss. That was tackling, and we work on that every day. We have to tackle better.’

 

It appears Perry Patterson has finally put an end to Syracuse’s quarterback controversy. After SU’s 31-10 loss to Virginia, Pasqualoni affirmed his confidence in Patterson. And on Monday, Pasqualoni again expressed his confidence in the sophomore.

 

For his part, Patterson said he’s starting to have more fun and is feeling more confident every day.

Patterson said he believes the competition with Joe Fields has actually helped him in the long run. Even though it was difficult not to start in SU’s first three games, Patterson said he’s satisfied that he’s earned the starting job.

‘I’ve always been relaxed, but I’m playing more urgent,’ Patterson said. ‘Bringing Joe in has been bringing out the best in me. It was a blessing in disguise.’

Published on September 27, 2004 at 12:00 pm