PROVO, Utah — Highly-regarded freshman Damien Rhodes spearheaded the Syracuse rushing attack last night, outrunning the Brigham Young defense and hitting holes like a reckless cannon ball.

In doing so, he orchestrated the best debut by an SU running back in nearly 40 years.

Allegedly a back-up running back to Walter Reyes, Rhodes rushed 14 times for 82 yards — the most by an SU freshman running back, since Floyd Little also rushed for 82 yards in 1964 — in SU’s 42-21 loss to BYU.

Rhodes said what he’ll remember most about last night is that he got a couple of chances to hand the ball off himself. Two times — once late in the second quarter and again early in the third — Rhodes waltzed into the endzone for a touchdown and calmly tossed the ball to the sideline official.

“It felt good getting into that endzone,” Rhodes said. “It’s different than in high school, to have that many people watching (65,612). It was a great feeling.”

It didn’t take long for Rhodes to get into the action. He returned the opening kickoff up the middle for 24 yards. In the first half, he carried the ball nine times, seven more than Reyes.

After a shaky start — he gained just three yards on his first two carries — Rhodes collected himself midway through the second quarter.

On three consecutive plays, SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni opted to give the ball to Rhodes who, in turn, converted three straight first downs for a combined 50 yards.

On first and 10 with 11:02 left in the half, Rhodes took a flip from quarterback R.J. Anderson down the right side. With defenders stretching toward him helplessly, he swung to the sideline and collected 15 yards. On the next play, Rhodes ran right again, plowing over two BYU defenders en route to a 23-yard gain.

“He’d been doing those things for us in practice and throughout the preseason,” Pasqualoni said. “It was probably a rough game for him because of the result, but he did a very good job.”

“Oh man, he’s going to be special,” defensive back Will Hunter said. “You watch him run, and it’s just amazing. And to do that stuff as a freshman? That’s ridiculous.”

Rhodes seemed to slide smoothly into his special-teams role as well, returning four kicks for 83 yards. His lone mistake came late in the fourth quarter when he coughed up the ball on a kickoff return. But Rhodes dove into the pile of bodies, fought for the ball and helped Syracuse recover.

“That was a mistake, but all in all, he fit in real well there,” SU special teams coach Chris White said. “Having a young guy back there returning kicks is a bit of a gamble, but he showed what he could do throughout camp. And we know he’s ready for the big time.”

Rhodes seems to know that, too. As he stood in front of several cameras during postgame interviews, he sported an unshakable smile. As hard as he tried — and as often as he commented that the loss ruined his debut — the beaming, white-toothed grin stuck around.

“I’d trade the touchdowns for a win,” Rhodes said. “But this game was everything I expected. You come in here with so many people going crazy, and the adrenaline is running. It lived up to all my expectations I had for it.”

And Rhodes lived up to all the expectations people had for him.

Published on August 29, 2002 at 12:00 pm