On a brisk Monday afternoon earlier this week, Rob Spence and Ryan Nassib trotted out onto the practice fields behind Manley Field House and went to work.

They set up shop on the FieldTurf and labored through drills. Spence corrected Nassib’s footwork. He watched as Nassib heaved a medicine ball back and forth with fellow quarterback Cameron Dantley. When the offense installed plays, Spence stood a few yards back and Nassib crouched under center.

Their tasks are separate but intertwined: Nassib, Syracuse’s redshirt freshman starting quarterback, must develop as both a passer and the leader of SU’s complex new offense. Spence, Syracuse’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, must manage the entire offense while micro-managing Nassib, his quarterback.

‘It’s my focus,’ said Spence, a short, wiry man who wears a white visor on his head and gray-speckled stubble on his face. ‘And my trade is the quarterback position.’

Spence operates a multiple-formation, run-and-shoot hybrid offense. Receivers and tight ends buzz in motion. Reverses and slip screens flourish. The play selection involves an even mix of passes and runs. The tempo is high.

Spence developed his system during two decades as a collegiate coach. Syracuse is a fresh start for Spence, an offensive guru who’s coaching joyride derailed last year. Before then, he had sent quarterbacks to the NFL and crafted high-scoring offenses.

In his four years coordinating at Toledo, Spence’s units always ranked in the nation’s top 13 in total offense. In his first three years at Clemson, his units ranked in the top four in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But when his offense and quarterback faltered last year, Spence was fired in midseason.

Remodeling the Orange offense offers a new challenge. Which is where Ryan Nassib comes in.

If Spence builds Nassib into a quality college quarterback, he can help head coach Doug Marrone rebuild Syracuse football. He’s done it before: Some of his pupils – Luke McCown, Bruce Gradkowski – still play on Sundays.

‘I think what you see from Coach Spence is someone that pays attention to detail,’ Marrone said. ‘Someone that has been there before in developing quarterbacks.’

In Nassib, Spence finds a willing subject. He calls the 19-year-old ‘a blank slate.’

‘He’s kind of like putty in your hands as a coach,’ Spence said.

And so on Monday, Spence coaxed Nassib and Dantley through the customary early practice drills. ‘Four-right, Hawaii-west, Z-snake,’ Spence said. The players shifted into position, Nassib set up a few yards behind center Jim McKenzie.

McKenzie snapped the ball and Nassib swiveled his hips to the right. He cocked his arm to toss an imaginary swing pass, but the ball did not leave his hand. He looked mechanical. Clunky. Spence noticed.

‘Rhythm,’ he said. ‘Rhythm. You’ve got to have rhythm in your drop.’

They go again. This time, Nassib’s throwing motion smoothed out. He looked more fluid. Spence nodded his head: A minor victory in a major battle.

Both Spence and Nassib acknowledge that the quarterback’s development is a work in progress. Nassib is young, for one. He’s never played in such a complex offense either. ‘I’ve got a lot to learn,’ Nassib said.

So Spence yells. He scolds. He teaches. He demonstrates.

‘Coach Spence really drills it into you,’ Nassib said. ‘He makes it clear. He makes sure it’s evident that you know what you’re doing when you get out there.’

On Monday, when Nassib murmured audible calls at the line, Spence intervened. ‘You need some volume in your voice!’ he roared. Then he strode up behind the offensive linemen and barked out the calls himself.

Last week during a goal-line scrimmage, Nassib rolled out on a naked bootleg and found linebacker Doug Hogue in his face. Nassib hesitated and Hogue tapped him. Sacked. The whistle blew. Spence raced onto the field and crouched in front of his quarterback. ‘You’ve got to make a decision!’ he shouted.

Spence can yell because his reputation precedes him.

‘He’s just a very well-rounded coach,’ said Tom Amstutz, the former head coach at Toledo and Spence’s former boss, ‘very gifted with quarterbacks. He works on everything, from the mechanics of how to be a quarterback to his timing to his reads to his attitude and leadership. He’s just a very thorough coach.’

Rob Spence, 51, played tight end in Iona’s wishbone offense and graduated in 1981. After years coaching high school ball, Spence latched back on at his alma mater as offensive coordinator. Stints at Holy Cross, Maryland and Hofstra followed.

In 2000, Spence coached quarterbacks at Louisiana Tech. He started a freshman named Luke McCown, who threw for 2,544 yards and 21 touchdowns and was a freshman All-American. McCown now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In 2001, Spence left for Toledo. His Rockets won the Mid-American Conference title that season, then lost in the championship game the following season. In 2003, the team named Bruce Gradkowski its starting quarterback. He was an untested, unpolished redshirt sophomore whose only Division I scholarship offer was from Toledo. Spence shaped him into a star: He polished Gradkowski’s footwork. He enforced the importance of timing.

Gradkowski threw 56 touchdowns and completed 70.7 percent of his passes while playing for Spence. The Buccaneers selected him in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL draft. He now plays for the Oakland Raiders. Spence, he says, was crucial to his pro career.

‘You have to work for his trust and his respect,’ Gradkowski said. ‘He’s going to be hard on you. But he’s a great coach who just knows his football. I feel like what has prepared me to get to the next level is how much football I learned when I was with Coach Spence.’

Spence’s success begat better opportunities. Before Gradkowski’s senior season, Spence took a job as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Clemson. His offense gained more than 2,500 yards both on the ground and in the air in 2006. The 2007 season was even better.

Then the fun stopped.

Ranked No. 9 during the 2008 preseason, the Tigers stumbled out of the gate and lost three of their first six. Senior Cullen Harper threw four touchdowns and six interceptions. The offense averaged 16 points a game against Division I opponents.

On Oct. 10, Clemson lost to Wake Forest. Four days later, head coach Tommy Bowden was fired. Dabo Swinney took over. He fired Spence as well. Through an athletic department official, Swinney issued a statement to The Daily Orange praising Spence’s work before last year.

Spence wouldn’t stay unemployed for long. Two months after his dismissal, Doug Marrone hired him. They’ve welded their offensive systems together. The mash-up playbook is Nassib’s to master.

After a week of spring practice, Marrone named Nassib the starter – a familiar challenge for Spence. Nassib played in a Wing-T offense at Malvern Prep and completed only 79 passes as a senior. He spent last season in the background.

Spence must now prepare him for the foreground. And so on Wednesday, they went back to work. As Nassib stepped through drills, he sputtered through another audible call. Spence stood nearby and appraised his quarterback. ‘You’ve got to send someone in motion,’ he said. ‘Can you do that? Is that too much to ask today?’

Spence smiled at Nassib.

‘He’s got to gain a lot in the way of knowledge of the offense,’ Spence said. ‘In the way of understanding how college defenses are played. And physically, he’s going to continue to grow and mature. But he’s got to really learn a thought process. And that takes a long time to do.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on April 15, 2009 at 12:00 pm