doug marrone and nassib.jpg

Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone was back in Syracuse on Sunday to work out his former quarterback, Ryan Nassib, and other Syracuse players.

(Frank Ordonez/The Post-Standard 2012)

Former Syracuse University football quarterback Ryan Nassib, along with former teammates Zach Chibane, Alec Lemon, Marcus Sales, and David Stevens, had a football reunion in Syracuse on Sunday with their former head coach.

But this one was all business.

Those players had a private workout with the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in Syracuse. Former SU head coach Doug Marrone, now the head man in Buffalo, was in attendance. His former offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett (now with the same title in Buffalo) conducted the workout.

Bills general manager Buddy Nix, Assistant GM Doug Whaley, and team president Russ Brandon were among the Bills' brain trust at the workout as well.

Nassib also worked out for the Cleveland Browns on Thursday and Jacksonville Jaguars on Friday in Syracuse.

The buzz continues to build in a positive direction around Nassib and his NFL Draft prospects. Here are a few links to check out.

SI.com's Peter King dedicated part of his recent 'Monday Morning Quarterback' column discussing Nassib, including a breakdown of his match ups with West Virginia's Geno Smith, who is projected to be the first quarterback taken in the draft.

"Nassib met Smith, the presumptive top quarterback in the draft, three times. When they met for the first time, in Morgantown in 2010, West Virginia had won seven straight meetings in the series between the two schools. In the three meetings -- at Morgantown, Syracuse and Yankee Stadium (for the Pinstripe Bowl last December) -- Nassib won every one, by scores of 19-14, 49-23 and 38-14. Average margin of victory: Syracuse by 18.3.

In the three games, Smith out-statted Nassib, throwing for 295 more yards, but made more mistakes. Nassib's touchdown-to-interception differential was 7-1, Smith's 5-5."

I think Scott Shafer's defense had a lot to do with Geno Smith's struggles vs Syracuse, but the numbers are telling.

One personnel man for a team not interested in drafting a quarterback told King: "No way if you want Nassib you think there's a realistic chance he gets past 41."

Buffalo's second-round pick is at No.41 overall. Their first-round pick is the eighth overall pick.

King also had some flattering comments from ESPN's Jon Gruden in the article on Nassib.

Nassib appears on the popular "Gruden's QB camp" TV show on Thursday.

King also connected the dots a lot of us are in saying that Nassib is going to end up in a Buffalo Bills uniform in his 'ten things I think I think.'

Nassib appeared on "PFT Live" with Mike Florio on ProFootballTalk.com today.

Nassib revealed in that interview that he will not attend the NFL Draft in person at Radio City Music Hall in New York City if invited. He will watch the draft at home with his family.

The NFL will unveil the full list of NFL Draft invitees on Wednesday.

Here is what Nassib told Florio separates him from the pack in this year's quarterback class.

"I think my knowledge of the game. My feel for the game sets me apart. I started for three years, played for four. I've had many experiences. I have been down a lot in games where we had to comeback. We have been in situations where we had a losing record and having to turn it around in the late half of the year to achieve our team goals. We've experienced a lot of stuff. A lot of ups and downs. I've played a lot of snaps and seen a lot of different things. I think that experience and knowledge of football in all kinds of different situations really helps set me apart."

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

Chris Wesseling of NFL.com examines Nassib's growing buzz as a first-round prospect.

Brent Axe

baxe@syracuse.com

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