Syracuse Football: Moe Neal wants to leave his mark on the hill

Syracuse football running back Moe Neal wants to leave his mark on the hill. Here’s how he has already done that and what’s next for him.

People have overlooked Moe Neal his entire playing career.

At 5-foot-11, 195 pounds everyone assumed he can’t be a lead back for Syracuse football.

As a freshman in 2016, he was a change of pace back for the Orange. In 2017 he got even more run but was still only the second-leading rusher for Syracuse.

Even as a junior he had the best year of his career but he didn’t get to do it alone, he shared the workload with Dontae Strickland.

Heading into 2019 everyone was talking about the Syracuse running game, but no not about Moe Neal, instead fans and media focused on Oklahoma transfer Abdul Adams.

Despite being overlooked, Moe Neal has maintained his cool and has found different ways to contribute.

That reached a new level on Saturday vs Holy Cross in Week 5. Early in the first quarter Neal became the 23rd running back in program history to reach the 2,000-yard rushing barrier.

Dino Babers was asked about the milestone in his post-game presser:

"“How cool is that? I still remember when he came in as a freshman and we’re sitting there, he’s a North Carolina guy and I’m talking to him about running the football and he did a lot of things we liked as a freshman and there were some things he needed to work on.When I think of Moe Neal I think of the Western Michigan game this year where he ran through arm tackles and it didn’t phase him. He didn’t even give those guys the time of day on the run. He has really come a long way and he deserves all the kudos he gets. He still has eight or nine games to run past some really impressive names from the past.”"

To reach that historic barometer is certainly impressive, but with seven more regular-season games (and maybe eight with a bowl) he’ll have a chance to pad those stats this season.

After the game Moe Neal also spoke with the media and shared his thoughts on what this accomplishment means to him:

"“First I’d like to thank God because this has been a hell of a journey. It’s a surreal feeling to accomplish something like this. This is a prestigious school that has had a long line of running backs. I want to thank my teammates, both past and present, because when you get yardage like that you can’t do it by yourself.”"

Syracuse has a first world problem at running back this year. With so many talented pieces it’s quite the challenge for Dino Babers and this offensive coaching staff to maximize this unit.

Due to that surplus at running back, it seemed like it would be hard for any single running back to get enough carries to end the 1,000-yard rushing drought. Speaking of history, Syracuse hasn’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since 2012 (Jerome Smith).

So far this season Neal has 317 yards on the ground. Which means he’s averaging only 63.4 yards per game. If you do the math on that over the course of the season, it appears at this moment that Neal will not be able to end the drought in 2019.

Even if Moe never reaches a 1,000 yards on the hill, he accomplished his original goal to leave an irrefutable mark on this program when he leaves. He’s already done that with games to spare.