SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – Diamond Ferri is still smiling in disbelief.

“I’m just shocked,” said Ferri, starting strong safety for Syracuse who on Monday became the first Big East player to earn player of the week honors on offense and defense in the same week. “I realize I made history, but I just don’t feel like it’s that big a deal. I was just playing football. It’s what I do.”

Ferri, a rock-solid 5-foot-10 and 220 pounds, keyed Syracuse’s stunning 43-17 upset Saturday over Boston College in a two-way performance rarely seen anymore. In the last regular-season game of his college career, he rushed 28 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns, returned an interception 44 yards for another score, made six tackles, and returned two punts.

Ho hum.

“I wasn’t surprised what I did on defense, but on offense I was a little surprised,” said Ferri, who leads all Big East defensive backs with 91 tackles, 58 of them solo stops. “I didn’t know if I was going to be a little rusty hitting the right holes. I messed up on a couple of plays. I probably would have had 200 yards.”

At least the Eagles were wise enough not to give him a chance to improve on his conference-leading kickoff return average of 27.1 yards. “They never kicked to me,” said Ferri, who has “King of Diamonds” tattooed on his upper left arm.

For Ferri, the culmination of his college career was tinged with irony. He enrolled at Syracuse in 2000 after rushing for 4,500 yards and scoring 54 touchdowns in a three-year varsity career at Everett High School in suburban Boston.

And he had lofty goals.

“I came here to uphold the tradition of Ernie Davis, Jim Brown, all the good players that they had,” Ferri said. “I wanted to be part of that, try to keep that running back legacy going.”

That never happened. In the world of head coach Paul Pasqualoni, freshmen usually have to wait their turn, and Ferri had two standout upperclassmen ahead of him – James Mungro and Dee Brown, who rank fourth and seventh all-time on the school’s rushing list. As a freshman, Ferri played in nine games, primarily on special teams, and had 20 carries for 101 yards. In 2001, he rushed for 155 yards on 39 carries and played in 10 games despite a leg injury suffered in the third game of the season against Central Florida.

“It was a toss sweep and my leg twisted just like a pretzel,” Ferri said. “I watched it on film. I thought my running back career was over.”

In essence, it was. Ferri had academic problems and attended Bunker Hill Community College during the 2002 fall semester. He returned to Syracuse in January 2003. In the meantime, Walter Reyes emerged as the go-to guy in the Syracuse backfield. In 2002, Reyes rushed for 1,135 yards and scored 17 touchdowns, and freshman Damien Rhodes took over as the No. 2 back.

Ferri was on the outside looking in when he returned to campus.

“There was pretty much no space in the backfield,” Ferri said. “He (Pasqualoni) gave me the option of trying out for safety … and I got it.”

Pasqualoni has always had a keen eye for safeties. Ferri, who is tied for the Big East lead with five forced fumbles, is a spitting image of former Syracuse stars Donovin Darius and Tebucky Jones. And Ferri, who also played both ways in high school, never doubted he could make the transition.

“I thought I’d do fine just going off my sense of football,” he said. “I’m fast, strong, and I’d be able to learn the plays.”

Ferri started all 12 games last year, and his 75 solo tackles set a record for the most by a defensive back at Syracuse while his 120 total tackles ranks fourth all-time on the school’s single-season list for a defensive back.

When Reyes, the Orange’s second all-time leading rusher with 3,421 yards, suffered a torn shoulder muscle against Pitt in early November, the stage was set for Ferri’s season-ending heroics. He began taking snaps at running back in practice just in case Rhodes, who missed seven games last season with a sore ankle, also was injured.

“I asked during the week how many plays he thought he could play. He said 125,” Pasqualoni said. “He was ready to go.”

Rhodes ran for a 69-yard touchdown on the game’s first play from scrimmage and 107 yards in all, but he suffered a leg injury late in the first quarter and left the game.

Enter Ferri, who was on the field for more than 100 plays, took intravenous fluids at halftime to combat a case of cramps, flew over a metal players’ bench on the BC side of the field and bent it, hurt an ankle, split a thumb, and kept coming back for more, pumping his chest with fists clenched.

He gladly accepted the game ball afterward from a smiling Reyes.

“We always competed against each other, but we never had no bitterness,” Ferri said. “We always respected each other’s game. It’s weird how things happen, but everything happens for a reason, I guess. Hopefully, no one breaks my record for a long time.”

AP-ES-12-01-04 1105EST