Jarveon Howard slipped through a hole in the offensive line and broke a tackle just past the line of scrimmage. The freshman running back raced through the Florida State linebackers and the secondary. After breaking loose, Howard’s lead on the defense dwindled.

Just when it looked like Howard would have enough separation to close the run, FSU’s Cyrus Fagan closed in from behind and tackled him on the three-yard line.

“Things happen,” Howard said, laughing about whether he thought he would score.

Howard’s 45-yard breakaway run helped set up Syracuse (3-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) for a three-yard touchdown to give the Orange a 20-0 lead over Florida State (1-2, 0-2) and put Saturday’s contest out of reach. Howard didn’t know he’d play in the game, yet he produced one of the longest plays of the season thus far in a 30-7 win that led to SU earning votes in the AP Poll for the first time since 2011.

“We thought he had the makings that he could do something,” SU head coach Dino Babers said. “We wanted to put him in a controlled situation, but those were live bullets out there. Those were five-stars and four-stars shooting at him. So to see him take that ball, break a tackle at the line of scrimmage and be able to take it 45, 46 yards on his run was really a sight to see.”

That wasn’t Howard’s first game action in college. The freshman rushed for 69 yards against Wagner on 13 carries, marking the most carries of anyone in SU’s 62-10 win.

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But in a tight ballgame Saturday, Babers went with his third-string running back over his two veterans.

“We wanted to give guys an opportunity to see what they can do,” Babers said. “It’s also important for us to see if guys can ‘game up.’ Doing it against an FCS opponent is one thing, doing it against an ACC opponent is something else.”

The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Howard spent all of fall camp fine-tuning his skills and mixing them between Dontae Strickland and Moe Neal’s games. He watched film with the pair for hours before continuing on his own, he said. When asked the key to being a good blocker this early on, Howard said “not sleep.”

“If you really want something, you just gotta take out the time to really get what you want,” Howard said. “Sleeping is the biggest part, you can’t really slack. Every night when I’d get out of camp and practice, I’d just be watching film and watching games.”

“Just keep your mouth closed and get at it.”

Howard knew he’d slide in the depth chart behind Strickland and Neal at the start of the season. His only mindset was to stay ready, he said. Getting into the game against Wagner was something that was expected. Florida State was a different animal.

When offensive coordinator Mike Lynch approached Howard to inform him that he’d play the series that he rushed for 47 yards on, Howard was shocked.

“It’s your time. What are you about to do?” Howard remembered Lynch saying.

Howard’s first run was up the middle for a two-yard gain. But on his second rush, he broke through a hole in the line and juked right as a defensive lineman made an attempt to tackle Howard around his legs. Howard skipped through the tackle and broke free. Everything slowed down, he said. The words that Lynch said rang in his mind: “It’s your time. What are you about to do?”

When Howard was tackled at the three-yard line, his mind was still focused on the drive. But when he came off, he was stunned at what had happened.

“Is it real?” Howard thought. “Like is this really real?”

For as exciting as the run was for Howard, only one thing sticks out to Babers: the way he chose to protect the football.

As Howard neared the end zone, Babers said, Howard could sense FSU defensive backs closing in. And rather than trying to extend out for a touchdown, in a potentially dangerous spot that could lead to a fumble, Howard tucked the ball in tight.

“He gives up that part of it to protect the football, to give us an opportunity to get the ball down in there tight,” Babers said. “That just told me everything I need to know about him.”

Published on September 19, 2018 at 12:23 am

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu