SYRACUSE - It didn't take Syracuse coach Greg Robinson long to make his mark on the first day of spring football practice.

Instead of working out in the cozy confines of the Carrier Dome as originally planned, Robinson switched Monday's late-afternoon session outside to Coyne Field on a cold, dreary and damp day. But not even the snowbanks that still line the artificial turf field seemed to dampen anybody's spirit.

"I was enthusiastic about it. I had a lot of anticipation. I couldn't wait for it to get here," said Robinson, who took over the program after Paul Pasqualoni was fired in late December. "You know what I liked? I just liked the way our guys worked through it like it was nothing. It wasn't bad out there. It was just a little wet."

And a little different visually. Instead of the old green, red and white jerseys the team practiced in under Pasqualoni, the players wore school colors.

"We're blue and orange," Robinson said. "I just think that's who we are."

Robinson, in the first head coaching job of his 30-year career, already has told the players that every job is up for grabs, and the first of the 15 spring practices proved spirited.

"We're looking great. Everybody is excited," linebacker Jerry Mackey said. "Coach Robinson brought brand-new energy to the team, and everybody sees it. Everybody was just out there flying around and we're all happy. I think we're going to have a great season."

"Just getting out and practicing I think was a relief for everybody," said Perry Patterson, who won the starting quarterback job last season from Joe Fields. "On offense, everybody was running the right routes, just running hard. I think we accomplished a lot."

Robinson, who was co-defensive coordinator at Texas last year, said the initial practice session was aimed at the basics - getting in and out of the huddle on offense and lining up defensively.

"As far as the evaluation process, we'll check the film," he said. "But I liked the effort. I thought the effort was very good. There was a lot of coaching going on out there. It was just really getting a feel of the coaches and players working together."

"I think we accomplished a lot for the first day, starting to run the offense live against the defense and getting looks that we haven't seen," tailback Damien Rhodes said. "It's good for everybody to get a feel for what's going on out there offensively and defensively."

What has been going on defensively the past few seasons certainly needs to be addressed. Syracuse, which finished last year at 6-6 for the second straight time, began and ended the season allowing the same number of points - to Purdue (a 51-0 loss) at the start and Georgia Tech (a 51-14 loss) in the Champs Sports Bowl in December, which cost Pasqualoni his job.

Of the 117 teams that play in Division I-A, the Orange finished 101st in total defense (426.8 yards per game), 86th in rushing defense (186.7 yards per game), and 76th in scoring defense (28.7 points per game).

If experience can be considered a plus in this instance, Syracuse is ahead of the game because it returns 10 starters on defense, including cornerback Steve Gregory, who played wide receiver last season. Robinson said the focus defensively will be on tackling, and he will use a 4-3 defensive scheme. Expect a lot of blitzing.

"We have a plan," he said. "We've mapped out our schedule and how we're going to install. We'll be very methodical about it. I was encouraged today. Things functioned fairly well, but they weren't perfect, I can tell you that."

Things were pretty ideal inside his warm pockets, though.

"It was beautiful," Robinson said. "I didn't think it was too bad out there, I really didn't. But you know what? I cheated. I had those little hand-warmers."