Jarrod West makes presence felt against No. 2 ranked team in the country

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER It was a tough ride home for me from Central Connecticut State on Saturday night. The 200-mile, 3-and-a-half hour trip was made about an hour longer thanks to a traffic jam on I-84 and steady rain, including one storm that made it seem like I was in a car wash. Thank goodness I had satellite radio to keep me awake. Satellite radio offers a listener dozens of channels of all varieties and they offer a bunch of college football games from across the country. I was able to listen to most of the second half of the USC-Syracuse game and it was good to hear Jarrod West's name often on the broadast. It was the USC station doing the game, and I would have loved to hear what the Syracuse guys had to say, but West definitely made his presence felt against the No. 2 ranked Trojans with six catches for 94 yards and he also drew a late pass interference penalty that led to an Orange touchdown. West is the former Liberty High standout who helped the Hurricanes win the 2008 state title. He was also a talented basketball player in high school. The 2010 Liberty grad, a Big 33 selection, sat out the 2010 Syracuse season with an injury, but played in all 12 Orange games last year and had 16 catches for 151 yards and one touchdown. So far this season he has 10 receptions for 153 yards and was a thorn in USC's side on Saturday in the game played at the Meadowlands. Yes, West, we remember, was arrested for underage drinking in May of 2011, but he certainly has overcome that mistake and seems well on his way to a productive career in upstate New York. Syracuse is now 0-2, but seems to be playing good football and West is a big part of what they do offensively.