Spring Break
The Daily OrangeGorman | Clayton enjoys Robinson's freedom
By Tim Gorman
Posted: 10/27/05, 12:17 AM EST Section: Sports
Marcus Clayton walked into the cafeteria of the Iocolano-Petty Football Wing on Tuesday in sandals and a T-shirt. If it weren't for the additional T-shirt tied around his head, his dreadlocks would've fallen to his shoulders.
Clayton, a junior cornerback on the Syracuse football team, has played sparingly this season outside of special teams, but he has a new attitude. Paul Pasqualoni left with his rules requiring a short haircut and kempt facial hair. And the former head coach left with some of Clayton's frustration.
Clayton doesn't like sitting on the bench - no one does - but he didn't understand the position he was in last season. After splitting time between receiver, punt returner and cornerback his freshman year, Pasqualoni asked Clayton to become SU's lock-down coernerback full-time.
It was an appealing proposal considering Clayton was recruited as a defensive back. Clayton worked as a starter in spring and summer workouts, but he never got his chance to shine in 2004.
"Coach P told me three days before (the 2004 opener against Purdue) DeAndre (LaCaille) was starting because they needed someone bigger in the boundary," said the 5-foot-7 Clayton. "That was really messed up. Why did you have me playing the boundary in the winter and coming into camp? That was messed up that he waited until the last minute to do that. He had me thinking I was starting."
Clayton watched much of last season as a backup. He said he respected the players in front of him but that he didn't understand why he was in the position he was. In retrospect, Clayton said the reasons were about more than just football.
In two years under Pasqualoni, Clayton said he was called into the coach's office only twice. Once was when Pasqualoni informed him he wasn't starting, the other was about his hair.
"This is basically what he said, 'You either cut your hair or trim it,'" Clayton said. "He told me he would send me to (Florida A&M University in Tallahassee) if I didn't take those (dreadlocks) out of my hair. He told me I was worried more about my hair than playing football. I had been playing good with hair on my head so I didn't understand what he was saying."
Clayton, a junior cornerback on the Syracuse football team, has played sparingly this season outside of special teams, but he has a new attitude. Paul Pasqualoni left with his rules requiring a short haircut and kempt facial hair. And the former head coach left with some of Clayton's frustration.
Clayton doesn't like sitting on the bench - no one does - but he didn't understand the position he was in last season. After splitting time between receiver, punt returner and cornerback his freshman year, Pasqualoni asked Clayton to become SU's lock-down coernerback full-time.
It was an appealing proposal considering Clayton was recruited as a defensive back. Clayton worked as a starter in spring and summer workouts, but he never got his chance to shine in 2004.
"Coach P told me three days before (the 2004 opener against Purdue) DeAndre (LaCaille) was starting because they needed someone bigger in the boundary," said the 5-foot-7 Clayton. "That was really messed up. Why did you have me playing the boundary in the winter and coming into camp? That was messed up that he waited until the last minute to do that. He had me thinking I was starting."
Clayton watched much of last season as a backup. He said he respected the players in front of him but that he didn't understand why he was in the position he was. In retrospect, Clayton said the reasons were about more than just football.
In two years under Pasqualoni, Clayton said he was called into the coach's office only twice. Once was when Pasqualoni informed him he wasn't starting, the other was about his hair.
"This is basically what he said, 'You either cut your hair or trim it,'" Clayton said. "He told me he would send me to (Florida A&M University in Tallahassee) if I didn't take those (dreadlocks) out of my hair. He told me I was worried more about my hair than playing football. I had been playing good with hair on my head so I didn't understand what he was saying."
