Aaron Weaver Injured, Out for the Rest of the 2010 Season

During practice on Tuesday, Syracuse Orange slot receiver Aaron Weaver suffered a season ending knee injury. The fifth-year senior who transferred from Hofstra tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee.

The Orange are coming off of a disappointing loss to the Washington Huskies and with the fear of another losing season already in the minds of Syracuse fans, Weaver’s injury seems like just another reason to expect the worst from Doug Marrone’s team.

(Weaver transferred to Syracuse after Hofstra discontinued its football program.)

In the words of Lee Corso, “not so fast sweetheart.” Sure, losing a contributing player for the season is never a good thing for a football team, but Weaver’s absence won’t be as big as many might assume.

At the risk of appearing to kick a man when he’s down, Weaver really isn’t that crucial to the SU offense. For starters, he’s only the third receiver on the depth chart of a run-first team. Also while Weaver may have scored the Orange’s first TD of the 2010 season, fellow receivers Alec Lemon and Van Chew solidified their starting spots after only their first games.

(Weaver had 6 receptions and 1 touchdown in two games for the Orange this season.)

Lemon and Chew (sounds like candy) not only had more catches than Weaver against Akron, but they also showed more consistency in their second game against Washington. Weaver has a couple of drops, a fumble and one rush for a seven yard loss.

Ok, enough bashing on an injured man. The bigger issue is where coach Marrone goes from here. In terms of an immediate replacement, there really isn’t much to turn to. The fourth and fifth receivers on the depth chart are 5’7” true freshman Steve Rene and 5’8” walk-on Cody Morgan. So unless the talented but mysteriously absent Marcus Sales comes out of the witness protection program, Orange fans need a miracle at slot receiver.

(Wanted: Marcus Sales.)

However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other options. Quarterback Ryan Nassib has taken little advantage of two reliable tight ends in Nick Provo and Jose Cruz, and back-up running back Antwon Bailey showed against Akron his ability to make spectacular catches.

Weaver’s injury, while disappointing, might actually force Nassib to start spreading the ball out to more players and could also force Marrone to get more creative in his play calling. Both of those developments would significantly help the Orange offense and could make everyone forget the absent Weaver.

- Josh Wetmore