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Aug. 18, 2007 – The Associated Press preseason college football poll placed WVU third nationally behind No.1 USC and No. 2 LSU (months later on Nov. 26, 2007, West Virginia was ranked No. 1 in the Coaches’ Poll, but things went south fast thanks to a disappointing loss to Pitt and coach Rich Ro-driguez’s surprise exit until Bill Stewart’s team righted the ship with an exhilarating 48-28 Fiesta Bowl “Shock the Nation” victory over Oklahoma). Later that same day, Mountaineer fans celebrated a 1-0 women’s soccer exhibition victory over Kentucky at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. Nikki Izzo-Brown’s 12th squad would go on to achieve a record of 18-5-2 (9-1-1, Big East Conference American Division Championship), win the Big East Tournament and defeat Navy, James Madison, and sixth-ranked Penn State before falling to No. 8 USC in the NCAA Tournament.

Aug. 19, 1988 – The Mountaineer football team wrapped up two-a-day practices with a scrimmage. It opened the season against coach Don Nehlen’s alma mater – Bowling Green – on Sept. 3, a 62-14 blowout. That set WVU on the eventual path to an undefeated regular season and an appearance in the National Championship Game, just as the late ESPN broadcaster Beano Cook had predicted.

Aug. 20, 1962 – The birthday of center/forward Tim Kearney of Falls Church, Va., who lettered from 1981-84 and amassed 584 points and 502 rebounds during his career. His most impressive game may have been during WVU’s 87-78 upset of No. 1 UNLV at the Coliseum on Feb. 27, 1983 when he netted 15 points and snagged 10 boards.

Aug. 21, 2010 – Mountaineer letterman Marc Bulger (1996-99: 8,153 passing yards, second all-time to Geno Smith’s 11,662 yards) subbed for starting signalcaller Joe Flacco and completed 13 of 16 passes driving the Baltimore Ravens to two scores in their preseason 23-3 victory over the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. It was the last of 10 NFL seasons for the Pittsburgh native, who threw for 22,814 career yards with 122 scores, while spending the first nine of those years with the St. Louis Rams.

Aug. 22, 1998 – Most fans at Mountaineer Field were pulling for Pittsburgh? The Steelers defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 28-22, in the second-ever preseason NFL game in Morgantown. The first profes-sional exhibition football game in Touchdown City was at old Mountaineer Field as the Steelers lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 19-3 in 1968.

Aug. 23, 2012 – Marlon LeBlanc’s seventh men’s soccer squad was ranked 23rd in the Soccer Amer-ican preseason poll released on this date. With no men’s soccer in the Big 12 Conference, West Vir-ginia joined the Mid-American Conference in 2012, and the Mountaineers finished the season with an overall record of 9-6-2, 4-2-1 in the MAC, good enough for second place.

Aug. 24, 2006 – Kevin “Boo” McLee, who was a three-sport star (football, basketball, and track) at Uniontown (Pa.) High School, was named as one of the 65 finalists for the Butkus Award by the Downtown Ath-letic Club. McLee, who lettered from 2003-06 at West Virginia, finished his Mountaineer ca-reer with 247 tackles and two interceptions. His 2005 perfor-mance (second leading tack-ler with 78 stops; first-team All-Big East selection) landed him on the list of finalists for the award and an invitation to the Senior Bowl. McLee, whose uncles had played at WVU, would see action in the NFL (St. Louis), CFL (Calgary) and the Arena Football League (Green Bay and Iowa). He later was drafted by Team Louisiana of the United National Gridiron League and would also play with the expansion Wheeling Wildcats of the Continental In-door Football League in 2009.

— BLUE & GOLD NEWS — August 24, 2013

WELCOME

Welcome to a new Blue & Gold NewsWe listened to your thoughts, and just as West Virginia University embarked on a new journey in the Big 12 Conference, we’ve done the same with a new look to the Blue & Gold News. As you will no-tice, our new style and layout is more modern. Some stories are longer, while some are shorter. Basically our goal is to give you the best coverage possible on Mountaineer athletics, but now in a more visually appealing design.

Hopefully you like these changes and continue to enjoy the content of the Blue & Gold News, as we embark on our 26th year of cover-ing WVU sports.

Greg HunterPublisher

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1505Morgantown, WV 26507-1505Physical address: 3717 Morgantown Industrial ParkMorgantown, WV 26501-2347

Phone: (304) 291-2242Fax: (304) 291-2253

Website: www.BlueGoldNews.com Email: [email protected]

Editors: Bob Bucy & Greg Hunter Associate Editor: Michael Carvelli Writers: Cam Huffman, Tony Dobies, Matt Keller, Jeffrey Mason, Kevin Kinder, Kevin DiGregorio & Greg McCrackenPhotographers: Kevin Kinder & Frank Salucci

The Blue & Gold News is owned by YAPs Publishing of Morgantown and is not affiliated in any manner with West Virginia University.

The contents herein are the respon-sibility of this publication. Any opin-ions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Blue & Gold News.

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The Blue & Gold News (USPS #003015) is published weekly during football and basketball seasons and monthly during the remainder of the year for a total of 30 issues for the cost of $39.95 to Blue & Gold News, P.O. Box 1505, Morgantown, WV 26507. Periodical postage paid at Morgantown, WV, and additional mail offices.

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THIS WEEK IN

2013-14PRINT SCHEDULE

WVU sports history by Jeffrey Mason

Issue 30 – July 6, 2013Issue 1 – Aug. 24, 2013Issue 2 – Sept. 7, 2013Issue 3 – Sept. 14, 2013Issue 4 – Sept. 21, 2013Issue 5 – Sept. 28, 2013Issue 6 – Oct. 5, 2013Issue 7 – Oct. 12, 2013Issue 8 – Oct. 26, 2013Issue 9 – Nov. 2, 2013Issue 10 – Nov. 9, 2013

Issue 11 – Nov. 16, 2013Issue 12 – Nov. 23, 2013Issue 13 – Nov. 30, 2013Issue 14 – Dec. 7, 2013Issue 15 – Dec. 14, 2013Issue 16 – Dec. 21/28, 2013Issue 17 – Jan. 4, 2014Issue 18 – Jan. 11, 2014Issue 19 – Jan. 18, 2014Issue 20 – Jan. 25, 2014Issue 21 – Feb. 1, 2014

Issue 22 – Feb. 8, 2014Issue 23 – Feb. 15, 2014Issue 24 – Feb. 22, 2014Issue 25 – March 1, 2014Issue 26 – March 8, 2014Issue 27 – March 22, 2014Issue 28 – April 5, 2014Issue 29 – May 3, 2014Issue 30 – July 5, 2014Issue 1 – Aug. 23, 2014Issue 2 – Sept. 6, 2014

BooMcLee

August 24, 2013 — BLUE & GOLD NEWS —

COMMEnts & QuEstiOns

Fearless predictions for the coming season

Each week, the staff at Blue & Gold News answers your questions about West Virginia athletics. If you have a question you’d like to submit to us, tweet them to us @BlueGoldNews or email them to us at [email protected]

It’s that time of the year again; when we all pick how West Virginia is going to finish the 2013 football season. It’s a much different year for predictions from 2012, when many of us said the Mountaineers would easily have a win-ning season. Check out how much different we think WVU will fare in its second year in the Big 12 Conference.

Michael Carvelli – A solid running game will help lead WVU to a 7-5 season and a sev-enth-place finish in the Big 12. It will then lose its bowl game to finish 7-6.

Tony Dobies – Following the spring game, I predicted West Virginia would not make it to a bowl in 2013, but I’ve since changed my mind. The Mountaineers have surprised me at times during fall camp, and because of that, I’ll pick WVU to finish 6-6 this year.

Will Hirsch – I have the Mountaineers at 8-4 overall and 5-4 in the Big XII. I have us in the Buffalo Wild Wings bowl in Tempe and losing to Michigan. WVU will be 8-5 at season's end.

Cam Huffman – There are just too many un-answered questions to predict a big year for this team. It could happen, but somewhere around .500 is more likely. I’m going with 6-6 in the Mountaineers’ second season as Big 12 members.

Greg Hunter – If, as it appears, WVU’s de-fense is significantly better than last year and new offensive playmakers develop quickly, the Mountaineers should go bowling for a 12th straight year. With those “ifs,” I say 7-5.

Matt Keller – The defensive coverage abil-ity and speed has increased. Schematically, it should be better as well. Younger, more tal-ented - and physically larger - athletes are re-placing upperclassmen on the depth chart. Special teams have been shored up and the plug-and-play offense will do just that. This is a bowl team. 7-5.

Lacie Geary – I predict a 9-3 record for WVU this year. They may shock a lot of people especially with this year’s schedule.

Jeffrey Mason – 6-6 – Losing Geno, Tavon and Stedman means diminished expectations for the 2013 Mountaineers. In fact, I was con-templating a 5-7 or 4-8 season this season, but I eventually moderated my prediction.

Greg McCracken – The 2013 season is one of the toughest to predict with so many unan-swered questions two weeks before the sea-son. I believe the defense will significantly cut down the number of big plays and the of-fense will find a rhythm by mid-season which

leads me to go with a 6-6 season. Three-game stretch of Maryland, Oklahoma State and Bay-lor will be huge. Cannot afford a multiple-game losing streak with a young team. Let’s go Mountaineers.

Patrick Southern – A ton of uncertainty on offense. A defense that was one of the nation’s worst a season ago. And a Big 12 schedule to deal with. Yikes. Prediction: 5-7

Kevin KinderDana’s always been ableTo groom a new quarterbackIf this year’s an exceptionFans will be yelling "Sack!"

The defense is retooledAnd transfers aboundThey’ll have to hit the ground runningfor WVU to be bowl bound.

The lines look betterThe passing game worseThus a 6-6 recordIs the pick of this verse.

Bob Bucy – 12-0. Just as I said in 1988 and 1993, the Mountaineers will go through the reg-ular season unblemished. Much of it may be young, but there is a lot of talent for Holgorsen to work with.

And here are some predictions from Moun-taineer fans who answered our question on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BlueGoldNews).

Seth Ball – 8-4. Our underrated offense and improved defense will be enough to get us to eight wins.

Don Barnes – A surprise to everyone as they run the table and go undefeated. 12-0.

Bryan Douglas Hayes – 3-9, the experi-ment ends

Brian Fawber – 6-6. Learning curve for new weapons on offense; Defense begins to find its way; watch out for the ‘Eers in 2014.

H Jason Hall – 10-2. Unknown offensive firepower is here with a defense that has ma-tured a lot.

Conrad Krasyk – I am looking for this team to be better than expected, so I am going with 8-4. Look for an upset or two.

Bill Tully – 5-7. I was right on the prediction last year with all our “star power.” B12 teams have too much talented depth for week in/week out success.

The Blue & Gold News welcomes all letters from its readers. No unsigned letters will be published. All letters received become the property of YAPs Publishing.

Aaron Mills – I think they are being under-rated and disrespected. 9-3 with losses to Oklahoma, TCU and Oklahoma State

Charlie Morgan – I should think 3-0 in OOC games and 5-4 in conference with a final re-cord of 8-4. Defense is better and hopefully the competition at QB will make the offense bet-ter than hoped for. I am excited about the line-backers and the wide receivers.

Kevin S. Moss – 8-4 with a much-improved defense!!

Adam Pierson – 8-4 is a great season. Won’t be surprised if we lose more. We’re hurt-ing at the most important position in college football - QB. Next year may be a special year for this team.

Zachary T Romeo – 8-4, barring major inju-ries. The defense will be light years better and overall the offense will be close to as good as last year .

Bob Surgeon – 6-6 from the head not the heart

Jeff Surgeon – 8-4. The Big 12 is the tough-est conference top to bottom.

Joshua Taylor – 5-7, too young and need more experience.

Jayson Teasley – 7-5, young on the offen-sive side but the D will step up

Jamie Whitt – 9-3 because Holgs will have a full arsenal at his disposal!

Prediction totals12-0 – two 6-6 – seven11-1 – zero 5-7 – three10-2 – one 4-8 – zero9-3 – three 3-9 – one8-4 – eight 2-10 – zero7-5 – four 1-11 – zero

Average predicted win total – 7.069


2013 Mountaineer Football Roster

OFFENSEWR (x) – Kevin White, K.J. MyersLT – Quinton Spain (16), Nick Kindler (1)LG – Marquis Lucas, Pat Eger (19)C – Tyler Orlosky, Tony MatteoRG – Mark Glowinski, Russell Haughton-JamesRT – Curtis Feigt (7), Nick Kindler (1)IR (y) – Mario Alford, Daikiel Shorts, J. ThompsonWR (z) – Ronald Carswell, Ivan McCartney (11), Terrance GourdineQB – Clint Trickett, Paul Millard/Ford ChildressRB (a) – Cody Clay (6), Garrett Hope, E. WellmanRB (b) – Charles Sims, Dreamius Smith, Andrew Buie (11), Dustin Garrison (8), Wendell Smallwood

SPECIAL TEAMSPunter – Michael Molinari (6) or Nick O'Toole or H. SyverstonPlacekicker – Josh LambertKickoffs – Josh Lambert or Nick O'Toole or Michael MolinariHolder – Michael Molinari (26)LS – John DePalma (13)PR – Alford, Thompson, CarswellKR – Sims, D. Smith, Worley, SmallwoodBold – Returning startersItalics – Returning lettermen

Unofficial Preseason Depth Chart

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown 5 Mario Alford WR 5-9 175 Jr. Greenville, GA53 Tyler Anderson LB 6-2 244 Sr. Morgantown, WV89 Darren Arndt DL 6-2 230 So. Martinsburg, WV48 Justin Arndt LB 5-11 212 RFr. Martinsburg, WV34 Ishmael Banks DB 6-0 182 Jr. Richmond, VA33 Jared Barber LB 6-0 233 Jr. Mocksville, NC26 Travis Bell DB 6-1 188 Jr. Belle Glade, FL50 Al-Rasheed Benton LB 6-2 220 Fr. Newark, NJ41 Alex Brooks LB 5-11 220 Fr. Cleveland, OH95 Christian Brown DL 6-3 308 So. Bridgeton, NJ31 Isaiah Bruce LB 6-1 231 So. Jacksonville, FL13 Andrew Buie RB 5-9 190 Jr. Jacksonville, FL63 Michael Calicchio OL 6-9 325 Jr. Brooklyn, NY15 Dante Campbell WR 6-4 212 So. Clermont, FL94 D.J. Carozza DL 5-11 280 Fr. Parkersburg, WV12 Ronald Carswell WR 6-0 180 So. Macon, GA16 Terrell Chestnut DB 5-11 177 So. Pottstown, PA 7 Ford Childress QB 6-5 234 RFr. Houston, TX40 Hodari Christian LB 6-0 218 Fr. McKeesport, PA13 Thomas Chroniger DB 6-0 205 Sr. Hyattsville, MD98 Will Clarke DE 6-7 273 Sr. Pittsburgh, PA88 Cody Clay FB 6-3 252 So. Alum Creek, WV38 Shane Commodore DB 6-1 180 Fr. Morgantown, WV25 Darwin Cook DB 5-11 203 Sr. Cleveland, OH81 Vernon Davis WR 5-10 176 RFr. Miami, FL92 Trevor Demko DL 6-6 260 Jr. Kulpmont, PA87 John DePalma LS 6-5 244 So. Cumming, GA 9 K.J. Dillon DB 6-1 200 So. Apopka, FL76 Pat Eger OL 6-6 302 Sr. Pleasant Hills, PA24 Sam Eggleston WR 5-11 176 RFr. Houston, TX17 Dozie Ezemma DL 6-2 235 Sr. Pomona, NY62 Curtis Feigt OL 6-7 314 Sr. Berlin, Germany29 Dustin Garrison RB 5-8 182 Jr. Pearland, TX70 James Gayeski DL 6-4 250 So. Deptford, NJ 1 Shelton Gibson WR 6-1 175 Fr. Cleveland, OH64 Mark Glowinski OL 6-5 305 Jr. Wilkes-Barre, PA32 Brandon Golson LB 6-2 220 Jr. St. Mathews, SC84 Terrance Gourdine WR 6-0 190 Sr. Miami, Fla.39 Malik Greaves DB 6-2 205 Fr. Jacksonville, FL52 Tanner Grose LB 5-10 196 Jr. Princeton, WV51 Marvin Gross DE 6-4 225 Fr. Baltimore, MD43 Jarrod Harper DB 6-1 212 RFr. Frostburg, MD73 Russ Haughton-James OL 6-5 312 So. Plantation, FL18 d'Vante Henry LB 6-5 205 Jr. Moore, OK42 Garrett Hope FB 6-3 245 So. Woodlands, TX Darrien Howard LB 6-2 250 Fr. Dayton, OH99 Dontrill Hyman DE 6-4 265 Jr. Warsaw, NC70 Brandon Jackson OL 6-3 338 So. Euclid, OH23 Brodrick Jenkins DB 5-10 183 Sr. Fort Myers, FL 8 Karl Joseph DB 5-10 200 So. Orlando, FL79 Nick Kindler OL 6-6 298 Sr. Camp Hill, PA45 Eric Kinsey DE 6-2 265 So. Miami, FL35 Nick Kwiatkoski LB 6-2 232 So. Bethel Park, PA 7 Nana Kyeremeh DB 5-10 180 So. Worthington, OH 8 Josh Lambert K/P 6-1 199 RFr. Garland, TX77 MarcellLazard OL 6-6 293 Fr. Bloomfield,NJ46 Scott Levine PK 5-11 190 Fr. Clarksburg, WV

DEFENSEDT – Will Clarke (22), Dontrill HymanNT – Shaq Rowell (12), Christian BrownDE – Kyle Rose (1), Eric Kinsey (1), Noble NwachukwuSpur – Isaiah Bruce (12), Wes Tonkery (1), Hodari ChristianSam – Doug Rigg (18), S. Petteway, Al-Rasheed BentonWill – Jared Barber (6), Nick Kwiatkoski (1), Sean WaltersBuck – Brandon Golson, Dozie Ezemma, Tyler AndersonBCB – Ishmael Banks (4), B. Jenkins (11), T. Chestnut (3)FS – Karl Joseph (13), K.J. Dillon, Jeremy TylerBS – Darwin Cook (23), Ricky Rumph, Jarrod HarperFCB – Travis Bell (1), Avery Williams, Brandon Napolean(Career starts are in parenthesis)

Numerical Roster1............................... Shelton Gibson, WR2...............................Dreamius Smith, RB3....................................Charles Sims, RB4........................ Wendell Smallwood, RB5.................................... Mario Alford, WR6................................. Daikiel Shorts, WR6....................................Carlton Nash, DB7.................................Ford Childress, QB7...............................Nana Kyeremeh, DB8......................................Karl Joseph, DB8..................................Josh Lambert, K/P9.................................... Clint Trickett, QB9.........................................K.J. Dillon, DB10........................ Jordan Thompson, WR10........................ Nana Twum Agyire, DB11 ...................................Kevin White, WR11 .................................. Sean Walters, LB12........................... Ronald Carswell, WR13.................................. Andrew Buie, RB13........................ Thomas Chroniger, DB14....................................Paul Millard, QB15............................ Dante Campbell, WR15................................. Ricky Rumph, DB16.............................Terrell Chestnut, DB16.................................Logan Moore, WR17............................... Dozie Ezemma, DL18.................................d'Vante Henry, LB19..................................... K.J. Myers, WR19........................Brandon Napoleon, DB22...............................Avery Williams, DB22..................................Alex Louthan, PK23...........................Brodrick Jenkins, DB24............................. Sam Eggleston, WR24.................................. Jeremy Tyler, DB25.................................. Darwin Cook, DB25................................ Kyle Majnaric, WR26...................................... Travis Bell, DB27.............................William Marable, DB27................................Nick Meadows, LS28.............................. Ellijah Wellman, FB28...................................Daryl Worley, DB29.............................Dustin Garrison, RB31................................... Isaiah Bruce, LB31............................Maurice Zereoue, RB31................................Michael Pulice, FB32............................ Brandon Golson, LB33...................................Jared Barber, LB33................................. Nate Majnaric, FB34............................... Ishmael Banks, DB35............................. Nick Kwiatkoski, LB36............................... Shaq Petteway, LB37...................................Wes Tonkery, LB38....................... Shane Commodore, DB38...............................Cameron Nash, RB39................................Malik Greaves, DB40.............................Hodari Christian, LB40.......................... Houston Syverston, P40....................................Mike Molina, PK41....................................Alex Brooks, LB42...................................Garrett Hope, FB43.................................Jarrod Harper, DB45..................................... Eric Kinsey, DL46....................................Scott Levine PK47...................................... Doug Rigg, LB48........................... Michael Molinari, H/P48....................................Justin Arndt, LB50....................... Al-Rasheed Benton, LB50.................................. Martez Stone, LB51................................. Marvin Gross, DE52................................. Tanner Grose, LB52..............................Tanner Macioce, LB53...............................Tyler Anderson, LB54............................... Dayron Wilson, LB55............................Grant Lingafelter, OL56.................................Jewone Snow, LB57................................. Adam Pankey, OL59..........................Stone Underwood, OL62.................................... Curtis Feigt, OL63.......................... Michael Calicchio, OL64.............................. Mark Glowinski, OL65..................................Tyler Orlosky, OL67................................Quinton Spain, OL69....................................Tony Matteo, OL70.......................... Brandon Jackson, OL70...............................James Gayeski, DL71...................................Tyler Tezeno, OL72................................Brendan Willis, OL73............. Russell Haughton-James, OL76.......................................... Pat Eger, OL77............................... Marcell Lazard, OL78............................... Marquis Lucas, OL79....................................Nick Kindler, OL80............................Jacky Marcellus, WR81.................................Vernon Davis, WR82.............................Devonte Mathis, WR84....................... Terrance Gourdine, WR85............................. Ivan McCartney, WR87................................John DePalma, LS88.......................................Cody Clay, RB89.....................................Chai Smith, WR89...................................Darren Arndt, DL90................................... Shaq Rowell, DL91..................................... Nick O'Toole, P92............................Quincy Redmon, WR92.................................Trevor Demko, DL93....................................... Kyle Rose, DL94....................................... Jon Lewis, DL94................................... D.J. Carozza, DL95.............................Christian Brown, DL97.........................Noble Nwachukwu, DL98...................................... Will Clarke, DL99...............................Dontrill Hyman, DL

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown94 Jon Lewis DL 6-3 240 Fr. Morgantown, WR55 Grant Lingafelter OL 6-5 265 Fr. Chagrin Falls, OH22 Alex Louthan K/P 5-10 205 Fr. Grayson, GA78 Marquis Lucas OL 6-4 312 So. Miami, FL52 Tanner Macioce LB 5-10 210 Jr. Pittsburgh, PA25 Kyle Majnaric WR 6-2 202 So. Akron, OH33 Nate Majnaric FB 6-0 232 Sr. Akron, OH27 William Marable DB 6-0 198 Sr. Va. Beach, VA80 Jacky Marcellus WR 5-8 175 Fr. Immokalee, FL82 Devonte Mathis WR 6-1 210 RFr. Hollywood, FL69 Tony Matteo OL 6-4 296 RFr. Clinton, OH85 Ivan McCartney WR 6-2 182 Sr. Miramar, FL Isaac McDonald DB 6-5 205 Fr. Hialeah, FL27 Nick Meadows LS 5-11 220 Fr. Williamstown, WV14 Paul Millard QB 6-2 219 Jr. Flower Mound, TX40 Mike Molina PK 5-9 150 Fr. Hurricane, WV48 Michael Molinari H/P 5-11 204 Jr. Parkersburg, WV16 Logan Moore WR 5-11 200 Jr. Fairmont, WV19 K.J. Myers WR 6-2 197 So. Jacksonville, FL19 Brandon Napoleon DB 6-0 178 RFr. Rahway, NJ38 Cameron Nash RB 5-8 180 Fr. Piscataway, NJ 6 Carlton Nash DB 5-10 184 Fr. New Smyrna, DE97 Noble Nwachukwu DL 6-2 271 RFr. Wylie, TX65 Tyler Orlosky OL 6-4 296 RFr. Cleveland, OH18 Nick O'Toole P 6-3 220 So. Corona, CA57 Adam Pankey OL 6-5 323 RFr. Hamilton, OH36 Shaq Petteway LB 6-0 225 Jr. Steubenville, OH31 Michael Pulice FB 6-1 220 Fr. Avon, OH91 Quincy Redmon WR 6-4 230 Fr. Cumberland, MD47 DougRigg LB 6-1 237 Sr. Bloomfield,NJ93 Kyle Rose DL 6-4 283 So. Centerville, OH90 Shaq Rowell DL 6-4 305 Sr. Maple Heights, OH15 Ricky Rumph DB 5-10 172 Fr. Daytona Beach, FL Rushel Shell RB 6-0 215 So. Hopewell, PA 6 Daikiel Shorts WR 6-0 201 Fr. Clayton, NJ 3 Charles Sims RB 6-0 213 Sr. Houston, TX 4 Wendell Smallwood RB 5-11 196 Fr. Wilmington, DE 2 Dreamius Smith RB 5-11 217 Jr. Wichita, KS89 Chai Smith WR 5-10 198 RFr. Warmister, PA56 Jewone Snow LB 6-2 242 Jr. Canton, OH67 Quinton Spain OL 6-5 335 Jr. Petersburg, VA50 Martez Stone LB 6-2 242 RFr. Cleveland, OH40 Houston Syvertson P 6-2 220 Fr. Shady Spring, WV71 Tyler Tezeno OL 6-3 280 Fr. Houston, TX10 Jordan Thompson WR 5-7 168 So. Katy, TX37 Wes Tonkery LB 6-2 222 Jr. Shinnston, WV 9 Clint Trickett QB 6-2 180 Jr. Tallahassee, FL10 Nana Twum Agyire DB 6-0 189 So. Chevy Chase, MD24 Jeremy Tyler DB 6-0 195 Fr. Lithona, GA59 Stone Underwood OL 6-4 285 Jr. Brookhaven, MS11 Sean Walters LB 6-1 215 RFr. Hollywood, FL28 Ellijah Wellman FB 6-2 235 Fr. Huntington, WV11 Kevin White WR 6-3 211 So. Macungie, PA22 Avery Williams DB 5-11 183 So. Washington, D.C.72 Brendan Willis OL 6-3 250 Fr. Centreville, VA54 Dayron Wilson LB 5-11 220 Jr. Woodbridge, VA28 Daryl Worley DB 6-2 190 Fr. Philadelphia, PA31 Maurice Zereoue RB 5-8 188 Jr. Hempstead, NY


HOLgOrsEn's ViEWs

By Cam Huffman

LOTS OF DECISIONS TO MAKEDana Holgorsen isn’t into making predictions – and he defi-

nitely has wanted no part of looking back and comparing the 2013 West Virginia University football team to the one that fin-ished a disappointing 7-6 in 2012.

But after three weeks of preseason practices prior to the start of classes at WVU, the third-year head coach seems pleased with what he’s seen from this year’s team so far.

“I am happy with where we are at on all three sides of the ball, especially defensively,” Holgorsen said Aug. 15, which was his final session in front of the media during the preseason camp. “Our first defense is really coming along, and it is where we have the most experience coming back. First team, we are really happy with, and the motivational level they are playing with is extremely satisfying.”

The coach’s statement about defense is music to Mountain-eer fans’ ears. Last season – WVU’s first as a Big 12 member – the defense finished as the worst, statistically, in the school’s football history, costing WVU a shot at a successful inaugural campaign in its new league. So any indication of improvement is reason for those around the program to celebrate.

“It could be in relation to where we were last year, which we definitely are way ahead of where we were,” said Holgorsen on the basis of his evaluation of his defense. “We are talking about many of the same bodies, so we ought to be ahead of where we were last season.”

Holgorsen did caution, though, that the offense, which hasn’t reached the production level of the 2012 group, could be mak-

ing the defense look better than it really is. “I hope, and you don’t know this until you actually start play-

ing, that defensively we are ahead of last year based on coach-ing, experience and schemes,” said Holgorsen. “I hope it is not because we are inadequate on offense. How are you going to know, though, until you start playing?”

Keith Patterson has taken over the role of defensive coordina-tor from Joe DeForest, who’s now working exclusively with the WVU special teams this season. But Holgorsen doesn’t think the improvement is as simple as shuffling of assignments on the coaching staff.

“It’s the same scheme,” he explained. “There are going to be some small changes that Keith is going to like to do compared to what Joe liked to do, but it relatively is the same scheme.

“There are some things that we can do differently this year than we did last year. They are going to be small differences that you really won’t be able to tell from the stands. I like to think that these guys are just a year more comfortable in what we are ask-ing them to do.”

The news on offense hasn’t been quite as positive. West Vir-ginia is trying to replace three of the best offensive weapons in the school’s history – quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiv-ers Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin – and there has, under-standably, been a period of adjustment.

WVU spent most of the camp trying to find a quarterback – a decision has not been announced as to whether redshirt fresh-man Ford Childress, junior Paul Millard or Florida State trans-

fer Clint Trickett has won the job – but the inside receivers have been a major point of frustration during camp, as well. There just hasn’t been another Austin in the mix.

“I have plenty of excuses on why it looks bad, of which none of us want to hear them,” said Holgorsen. “I do not want to hear them. I do not want to look at them. You do not want to hear them. You may write about them, but it is what it is.

“We need to get guys in here that we trust and like. Which one of the guys is going to develop into an All-Big 12 performer? I don’t know yet. There is talent there, and they just need to keep playing. We are not discouraging them. With that said, we play a game in two weeks, and we have to get guys ready to play.”

One possible solution is to use a position of strength to help improve a position of weakness. WVU seems to be loaded at running back with proven performers in Andrew Buie and Dustin Garrison, an impres-sive freshman in Wendell Smallwood and two talented transfers in Dreamius Smith and Charles Sims.

Holgorsen said one or more of those running backs could see some time in the slot.

“We have done some of that,” he said. “Charles Sims (a senior transfer from Houston) could be our best inside receiver right now. We have done a little bit of that with him, a little bit with An-drew Buie and Dustin Garrison. Wen-dell can play inside (receiver). We just need to figure out what the plan is.”

There’s also plenty of competition on special teams. Luckily for Holgorsen and his staff, it’s more about selecting the best out of some quality options in-stead of just finding somebody capable of handling the duties.

“The actual specialists, I’m go-ing to brag on those guys a little bit,” said Holgorsen. “Josh Lambert (a red-shirt freshman placekicker) is doing well. John DePalma (a sophomore long snapper) is light years ahead of where he was last year. That is a very un-der-appreciated position until they are not very good. But he looks very good.

“Our punters are booming the ball. (Sophomore) Nick O’Toole has a strong leg. (Junior) Michael Molinari has done a great job punting and has also been doing a lot of kickoff stuff. Huey (fresh-man walk-on Houston Syvertson) is do-ing great, as well, and has maybe the

strongest leg of all three.” While personnel is always critical to the success of any foot-

ball team, Holgorsen learned last year that leadership is just as valuable. The coach said multiple times throughout camp that the 2012 team did not have the right type of leadership to get back on track once things turned sour after a 5-0 start.

“We’ve been working on that since January,” he said. “We are developing a whole room full of leaders. That’s how you win a championship.

“You don’t win a championship with just one or two guys that you look to. You win one with a whole room full of leaders that take the bull by the horns and say, ‘We’re going to do some special things.’ I like where we’re at right now.”

Dana Holgorsen


OffEnsiVE OutLOOk

By Greg Hunter

NEW FACES AND NEW CHALLENGESThere’s a lot missing from the Mountaineer offense of last

season.Gone are the three biggest stars (Geno Smith, Tavon Austin

and Stedman Bailey).Gone are eight starters (Smith, Austin, Bailey, Josh Jenkins,

Joe Madsen, Jeff Braun, J.D. Woods and Ryan Clarke).Gone is 98 percent of West Virginia’s passing yards (Smith

threw for 4,205 of WVU’s total of 4,292 yards).Gone is 81 percent of the Mountaineers’ receptions (306 of

378) and 85 percent of their receiving yards (3,640 of 4,292)Gone is 83 percent of West Virginia’s total offense yards

(5,426 of 6,526).Gone is 76 percent of WVU’s all-purpose yards (6,055 of

7,932)Gone is 55 percent of the Mountaineers rushing yards (1,221

of 2,234).Gone are six of West Virginia’s top eight rushers (Austin,

Shawne Alston, Smith, Woods, Bailey and Clarke).Gone are the top three receivers (Bailey, Austin and Woods),

who between them accounted for a combined 289 catches last season and 584 in their careers (and who are individually No. 2, No. 1 and No. 19 on WVU’s all-time list).

Gone are 276 career starts, while the returners hold just 62 career starts between them. Offensive tackle Quinton Spain (14 career starts), running back Andrew Buie (11 career starts) and receiver Ivan McCartney (10 career starts) are the only offensive players in 2013 who have double figure career starts under their belts. WVU entered last season with 10 players who had such experience.

All those offensive weapons helped West Virginia rack up some impressive numbers in 2012. The Mountaineers finished the season in the top 10 in the FBS ranks in scoring offense (No. 9, 39.46 points per game), passing offense (No. 10, 330.15 yards per game) and total offense (No. 10, 502.00 yards per game).

Obviously defensive deficiencies (No. 118 in pass defense with 312.54 yards a game, No. 114 in scoring defense with 38.08 points per game and No. 108 in total defense with 472.46 yards per game) were the biggest reason WVU finished the sea-son with a 7-6 record, not something better. But even West Vir-ginia’s star-laden offensive of 2012 could sputter at times, be-ing held to 14 points in each of three blowout losses – Texas Tech (49-14), Kansas State (55-14) and Syracuse (38-14). With a WVU defense that gave up 34-or-more points in nine games, the Mountaineers couldn’t afford any offensive stumbles last season.

What will 2013 hold? No one knows for certain. The defense does return 18 players who have starting experience, compared to just 10 this season on the offensive side. It’s hoped that this year’s defense is significantly improved. It has to be because with so much talent and experience gone, it’s highly unlikely West Virginia’s offense can match last year’s numbers, when it scored 31 points or more nine times and 42 or more six times.

Quarterback – The graduation of Geno Smith leaves WVU with its first true battle for the starting QB job in many years.

There was some interesting competition for the first-team job behind center in 1992-93 (Jake Kelchner and Darren Studstill), 1994 (Chad Johnston and Eric Boykin) and 2001 (Brad Lewis and Rasheed Marshall), but since 2005 (Adam Bednarik and Pat White), the Mountaineers have entered every season with a clear-cut starter at QB.

But 2013 is different. Not only does West Virginia have a quar-terback battle for the first time since Pat White was a redshirt freshman, but WVU actually has a three-way fight for the start-ing job involving redshirt freshman Ford Childress and juniors Paul Millard and Clint Trickett. The Mountaineers haven’t had three quarterbacks genuinely competing for the starting job in

28 years, when Mike Timko, Tony Reda and John Talley each wrestled for the job throughout the 1985 season. Unfortunately for WVU, none of the three ever really seized the reigns, as the Mountaineers managed an uninspiring 7-3-1 record.

How this three-headed battle will work out is still to be deter-mined, even as the 2013 season opener quickly approaches.

Each of the three brings different attributes to the table. Millard has the most experience in Dana Holgorsen’s system,

as the 6-foot-2, 219-pound junior from Flower Mound, Texas, served as Smith’s understudy for the past two years. Having ar-rived at WVU in January of 2011, he’s spent two and a half years in the system, so he should know it the best. Millard, who mar-ried his high school sweetheart, Laura Poe, this summer, subbed in for Smith in 11 games over the previous two seasons (four in 2001 and seven in 2012), but almost all that time was in blowout situations. He was thrust into just a handful of meaningful plays during that time, though he did come through with a big 37-yard touchdown pass to Stedman Bailey at Oklahoma State last year in a fourth-and-13 situation when Smith had to sit out a play be-cause his helmet was knocked off. In his West Virginia career to this point, Millard has completed 16 of 34 pass attempts for 211 yards with three interceptions and three touchdowns.

Millard may have the most experience with WVU’s offensive system, but Trickett has the most game experience at the col-lege level, having played in a total of 17 games, starting two of

them, during his two seasons of varsity action at Florida State. Subbing often for the Seminoles’ normal starter E.J. Manuel, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Trickett threw for 947 yards during his FSU career, having completed 66 of 106 passes with seven TDs and four interceptions. Florida State’s offense is based around a pro-passing style, so Trickett is having to learn a new system at WVU in Holgorsen’s spread attack. But the son of long-time college coach Rick Trickett, who is currently the offensive line coach at Florida State and also had two stints at WVU (1978-79 and 2001-06), appears to be getting a good grasp on Holgors-en’s system since transferring to WVU in May. Immediately eli-gible to play for the Mountaineers because he graduated from FSU with a degree in social sciences this spring, Clint is a fourth-year junior who is used to playing in pressure situations, which is something WVU’s other two QB candidates can’t really claim.

Certainly Childress can’t claim it at all, as the Houston, Texas, native hasn’t yet stepped onto the field for a game in college, but he is probably the most physically gifted of the three. He ar-rived at WVU in January of 2012, so he’s spent the past year and a half working with the offense, but he was redshirted last year and is still seeking his first game action. What Childress lacks in experience he more than makes up for in DNA. At 6-foot-5, 234 pounds, Childress looks the part of a quarterback, and the fast-balls he can whistle to all points on the field shows he has the arm to go with the size. It also doesn’t hurt his football resume

Charles Sims


OffEnsiVE OutLOOkthat his father is Ray Childress, a College Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman from Texas A&M who was a five-time Pro Bowler during his 12-year NFL career.

All three will have to depend on their arms, because none have the running ability of recent Mountaineer quarterbacks. The littlest of the bunch, Trickett, is probably the best scrambler. But none will be compared to Geno Smith or Jarrett Brown, say nothing of Pat White and Rasheed Marshall, when it comes to running the football.

It will be a very interesting three-way battle to follow. The starter may not be known until shortly after noon on Aug. 31, and the possibility certainly exists that the starter in game one may not be the same guy who starts game six or game 12.

Running back – The Mountaineers are missing an awful lot of offensive pieces. The spot with the fewest depar-tures, though, is running back, where juniors Dustin Garrison and Andrew Buie, who have 19 career starts be-tween them, return.

True, powerful short-yardage spe-cialist Shawne Alston has graduated, but WVU has three promising new-comers – senior Charles Sims, junior Dreamius Smith and freshman Wen-dell Smallwood – to add to the back-field mix.

The 5-foot-8, 182-pound Garrison came out of the gate as a true fresh-man in 2011 to lead WVU in rushing. The Pearland, Texas, native ran for 742 yards that season, topped by tying a Mountaineer freshman single-game re-cord with 291 rushing yards against Bowling Green, which was also his first-ever start. A knee injury in practice leading up to the Orange Bowl side-lined him for that victory over Clem-son and slowed him for much of the 2012 season. He did see action in 10 of West Virginia’s 13 games last season but was limited to 207 rushing yards. Garrison says he’s 100 percent healthy now, though, and his elusiveness with the ball in his hands is a trait that can be a huge plus, be it taking a handoff or catching the ball out of the backfield (33 career catches for 244 yards).

The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Buie took up the slack for the injured Garrison in the 2012 Orange Bowl and never broke stride after that. The Jacksonville, Fla., native topped WVU’s rushing list last year with 851 yards. His career best came at Texas, leading the Mountain-eers to a win over the Longhorns with 207 yards on the ground. The third-year junior also catches the ball well, totaling 41 career grabs for 403 yards.

Buie and Garrison each have two season’s worth of experience in the Mountaineer offensive system. That gives them a leg up on their back-field competition, but West Virginia’s coaches insist there will be enough playing time and enough touches for all five of the running backs.

A graduate transfer from the Univer-sity of Houston who arrived at WVU in early July, Sims is an intriguing pros-pect. The 6-foot, 213-pound fifth-year senior, who was the Conference USA

Freshman of Year in 2009, rushed for 2,370 yards and 29 TDs in his three seasons with the Cougars. He also caught 158 passes for another 1,707 yards during his UH career. If those receptions took place at WVU, he would already be seventh on the school’s career list among all players, and easily the best among running backs, topping Noel Devine’s 98.

Statistically Sims’ best year came as a true freshman in 2009, when he rushed for 698 yards on 132 carries with nine touchdowns, and he also caught another 70 passes for 759 more yards with one TD. Houston’s offensive coordi-

nator that year? Dana Holgorsen. Only one Mountaineer running back (Mickey Walczak with 49 catches in 1981) has caught more than 35 passes in a season.

Sims has good size and ex-cellent speed to go with those good hands. Smith, a 5-foot-11, 217-pound junior college trans-fer from Butler (Kan.) C.C., has a combination of power and speed. A first-team all-KJCCC selection last season when he rushed for 984 yards and 17 TDs on 120 car-ries (8.2 yards per attempt), Smith enrolled at WVU this past Janu-ary and had the advantage of go-ing through spring practice with the Mountaineers. A native of Wichita, Kan., Smith originally signed with the University of Kansas coming out of Wichita Heights High, but ac-ademic shortcomings sent him to junior college for two seasons be-fore his path eventually led him to another Big 12 school.

The lone true freshman among this running back bunch is Small-wood, who got a jumpstart on his college career by enrolling at WVU this past January. A product of East-ern Christian Academy in Elkton, Md., the 5-foot-11, 196-pound Smallwood is a native of Wilmington, Del. Even-tually the young running back may be the best of this whole group, and his skill level is evident by the fact that he’s pushing for playing time already despite the fact West Virginia possesses four other running backs with plenty of ex-perience. Smallwood’s role this year is still to be determined, but the Mountain-eers' coaches think he has a very bright future. It’s just a matter when that future begins.

The future for Rushel Shell at West Virginia will have to wait for the 2014 season. The 6-foot-0, 215-pound prod-uct of Hopewell, Pa., transferred to WVU recently after playing his freshman season at Pitt. Shell was ranked the No. 4 running back in the nation coming out of Hopewell High, where he shattered many of the school records previously held by Tony Dorsett. Among Shell’s marks is a Pennsylvania state high school record of 9,078 rushing yards in his four-year prep career. As a true freshman at Pitt last fall, he was second on the team in rushing with 641 yards and four TDs on 141 carries. But Shell decided to leave the Panther program midway through spring drills, and after a

well-chronicled search, he eventually decided to make the move to West Virginia. As a transfer, he won’t be able to participate in any games this coming season, so he’ll have to be content with practice until the 2014 campaign rolls around.

The Mountaineers also have a couple walk-on running backs on the roster. The most interesting of those is Maurice Zere-oue, the younger brother of former WVU star Amos Zereoue. The 5-foot-8, 188-pound Maurice grew up on Long Island in Hemp-stead, N.Y., just like his older brother. Maurice didn’t gain nearly the accolades in high school that Amos did, and so he took an academic path when he decided to enter college. Maurice did come to the state of West Virginia for college, but initially chose Potomac State Junior College. He spent two years at junior col-lege in Keyser, but Pot State doesn’t have a football program, so he didn’t play the sport again until he transferred to WVU last year and tried out for the team as a walk-on. Now a fourth-year junior, Maurice still has a long ways to go before anyone com-pares his ability to his brother’s, but he’s an interesting prospect who has caught the attention of the Mountaineer coaching staff.

In Dana Holgorsen’s offense, running backs like Buie, Gar-rison, Sims, Smallwood, Smith and Zereoue are known as A-Backs. Those are the glory guys who will run it often, catch it a good bit and get their name in the headlines.

Holgorsen’s offense also features B-Backs, which in many ways are like the old-fashioned, guard-in-the-backfield fullback types, though Holgorsen will also use the B-Backs at the H-back and tight end positions at times as well. No matter where they line up, though, they don’t touch the ball often, but that doesn’t make their role less vital than the so-called “skilled players.”

Last year’s senior B-Back Ryan Clarke had two carries, which was two more than he had his junior year. Cody Clay, a redshirt freshman who settled in as WVU’s prime B-Back last season, wound up with two touches himself in 2012, both on receptions. The 6-foot-3, 252-pound Clay may ultimately get a few more op-

KevinWhite

Mountaineer OffenseQuarterbacksFord Childress (6-5, 234, RFr.)Paul Millard (6-2, 219, Jr.)Clint Trickett (6-2, 180, Jr.)A-Backs (running backs)Andrew Buie (5-9, 190, Jr.)Dustin Garrison (5-8, 182, Jr.)Cameron Nash (5-8, 180, Fr.)Charles Sims (6-0, 213, Sr.)Wendell Smallwood (5-11, 196, Fr.)Dreamius Smith (5-11, 217, Jr.)Maurice Zereoue (5-8, 188, Jr.)B-Backs (fullbacks)Cody Clay (6-3, 252, So.)Garrett Hope (6-3, 245, So.)Matt Majnaric (6-0, 232, Jr.)Michael Pulice (6-1, 220, Fr.)Ellijah Wellman (6-2, 235, Fr.)Inside ReceiversMario Alford (5-9, 175, Jr.)Dante Campbell (6-4, 212, So.)Vernon Davis (5-10, 176, RFr.)Sam Eggleston (5-11, 176, RFr.)Shelton Gibson (6-1, 175, Fr.)Jacky Marcellus (5-8, 175, Fr.)Devonte Mathis (6-1, 210, RFr.)Logan Moore (5-11, 200, Jr.)Quincy Redmon (6-4, 230, Fr.)Daikiel Shorts (6-0, 201, Fr.)Chai Smith (5-10, 198, RFr.)Jordan Thompson (5-7, 168, So.)Wide ReceiversRonald Carswell (6-0, 180, So.)Terrence Gourdine (6-0, 190, Sr.)Kyle Majnaric (6-2, 202, So.)Ivan McCartney (6-2, 182, Sr.)K.J. Myers (6-2, 197, So.)Kevin White (6-3, 211, Jr.)Offensive LinemenMichael Calicchio (6-9, 325, Jr.)Pat Eger (6-6, 302, Sr.)Curtis Feigt (6-7, 314, Sr.)Mark Glowinski (6-5, 305, Jr.)Russell Haughton-James (6-5, 312, So.)Brandon Jackson (6-3, 338, So.)Nick Kindler (6-6, 298, Sr.)Marcell Lazard (6-6, 293, Fr.)Grant Lingafelter (6-5, 265, Fr.)Marquis Lucas (6-4, 312, So.)Tony Matteo (6-4, 296, RFr.)Tyler Orlosky (6-4, 296, RFr.)Adam Pankey (6-5, 323, RFr.)Quinton Spain (6-5, 335, Jr.)Tyler Tezeno (6-3, 280, Fr.)Stone Underwood (6-4, 285, Jr.)Brendan Willis (6-3, 260, Fr.)Players listed alphabetically


OffEnsiVE OutLOOkportunities to catch the ball this year, but his primary role – and one he excels at – will al-ways be as a blocker. The Charleston, W.Va., native has won high praise from West Virgin-ia’s coaching staff for his hard work and ver-satility. He can line up in the backfield and act as a conventional lead-blocking fullback. An all-state tight end at George Washing-ton High School, he’s still comfortable at the end of the line, and he’s also athletic enough to flex out in passing situations as an H-back or even an inside receiver. Clay will likely get a few more chances to catch the ball this year, but no matter how many receptions he ends up with, his most important role will still be protecting the Mountaineer quarterback and opening up running room for those glory grabbing A-Backs.

Will Johnson, who like Clay was a tight end in high school, was ticketed to back up Clay, but the Minnesota native left the team midway through preseason camp.

Johnson’s departure leaves the Mountain-eers with two back-up possibilities behind Clay.

Ellijah Wellman, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound freshman from Huntington, W.Va., was the only West Virginia native that WVU signed to a scholarship in the class of 2013. He’s also targeted to be a B-Back. Unlike Clay, Well-man’s high school background was as a running back and middle linebacker (where he won the Huff Award to the top prep de-fender in the state each year). Wellman will be more of a conventional lead-blocking full-back in comparison to Clay, who is more multi-dimensional. West Virginia also re-cently added more depth in this fullback spot, as Garrett Hope, who had been play-ing linebacker, moved over to fullback mid-way through the preseason camp. A special teams standout as a true freshman last sea-son, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Hope, who is a native of The Woodlands, Texas, will give the Mountaineers another physical blocker in the backfield.

Wide receiver – With Austin, Bailey and Woods all now in the NFL, West Virginia has some huge shoes to fill at receiver.

It’s not a question of quantity for the Mountaineers, who had 17 receivers working with coach Lonnie Galloway in preseason camp. The question, though, goes to quality. Austin was the first non-lineman drafted this past year by the NFL, going in the first round to the St. Louis Rams with the eighth overall pick. He had 288 receptions for 3,413 yards in his four seasons at WVU. Bai-ley, who also was picked by the Rams two rounds later, is sec-ond behind only Tavon on West Virginia’s career list with 210 catches for 3,218 yards. He’s No. 2 only because he saw just three years of varsity action before leaving for the NFL.

Now WVU is looking for new names and new playmakers. The Mountaineer coaches will quickly point out that in Holgors-en’s offense, a receiver with a 100-catch, 1,000-yard season is basically an annual event. The only question is who will step up and assume that role. But the fact of the matter is that no cur-rent West Virginia receiver has done it in the past. WVU’s return-ing receivers totaled 33 receptions for 263 yards with two touch-downs in 2012. Among those six returning receivers who caught passes last year, there was just one reception of longer than 15 yards.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t intriguing prospects at re-ceiver. There’s just precious little major college experience in the group.

Among the returnees, only three receivers have ever started a game before. Sophomore Jordan Thompson, whose 13 catches last year are tops among the returning receivers, started three

games, and Dante Campbell, another soph-omore, started one game and record-ing two catches on the season. Unfortu-nately a shoulder injury, which also kept the 6-foot-4, 212-pounder from Clermont, Fla., sidelined in the spring, has greatly cur-tailed Campbell’s practice time in presea-son camp.

The most experienced Mountaineer re-ceiver is one who wasn’t even with the team at the end of last season. Ivan McCa-rtney, who started 10 games and caught 49 passes as a sophomore in 2011, had just nine receptions and one start through the first eight games in 2012 before abruptly leaving the squad in midseason. The Mi-ramar, Fla., native explored transfer op-tions, but early this past summer he de-cided he wanted to return to WVU, and he called West Virginia’s coaches to see if he could come back. Holgorsen and his staff green-lighted McCartney’s return, and he’s been at work ever since trying to knock off the rust. At 6-foot-2, 182 pounds, he ap-pears to be in excellent shape. He’s nearly 40 pounds heavier than when he enrolled at WVU as a freshman in 2010, and he’s say-ing all the right things about wanting to do whatever his team will need him to do.

McCartney, Thompson and Campbell are the only returning receivers with previous starts at WVU to their credit, but they ar-en’t the only returnees who could factor into the receiver picture this year. At the inside receiver, Connor Alria worked his way into the rotation last season, but he left WVU's camp in mid-August and is exploring trans-fer opportunities. Three other walk-ons re-main at inside receiver – former Fairmont State (W.Va.) University quarterback Lo-gan Moore, a fourth-year junior, sophomore Kyle Majnaric and redshirt freshman Sam Eggleston – and each is trying to work his way into playing time at that position.

On the outside, K.J. Myers has quietly had an impressive fall camp. The 6-foot-

2, 197-pound sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., caught only two passes last year as a redshirt freshman, but his leadership, blocking and pass catching during camp appear to be putting him in line for significantly more opportunities this season.

These returnees are getting plenty of competition from a vari-ety of newcomers.

Eventually some of these newcomers may be West Virgin-ia’s most potent weapons at receiver. It’s just a matter of how quickly they understand the system. Several potential contribu-tors weren’t even at WVU this spring, so they are having to learn the offense in rapid fashion.

At the outside receiver, Ronald Carswell is the one completely new face. A 6-foot-0, 180-pounder from Macon, Ga., by way of Itawamba (Miss.) Community College, Carswell started his college career at Alabama, but lasted just one season with the Crimson Tide before moving on to junior college. Now he has a second chance at WVU, where he will be a sophomore in terms of eligibility. His excellent speed helped him haul in 44 passes for 429 yards in 2012, his lone season in the juco ranks.

Four other outside receivers may not yet be familiar names to Mountaineer fans, though each did participate in spring practice.

Kevin White is a 6-foot-3, 211-pound native of Emmaus, Pa., who spent last season playing at the junior college level at Lack-awanna (Pa.) College, where he had 39 receptions for 535 yards last year. He caught some attention with a big Gold-Blue Game performance (five receptions for 72 yards) this past April and now hopes to parlay that into a strong sophomore season at WVU.

Daikiel Shorts

WVU offensive stats through the yearsYear/Rec. Rush Off Pass Off 3rd Con Total Off Score Off1986/4-7 177.5 163.1 45% 340.6 19.11987/6-6 269.7 110.7 30% 380.3 27.01988/11-1 277.9 188.0 53% 465.9 41.1*1989/8-3-1 232.5 184.3 49% 416.8 28.31990/4-7 199.9 156.9 36% 359.8 19.71991/6-5 189.0 136.4 41% 325.4 17.01992/5-4-2 229.3 178.7 39% 408.0 26.01993/11-1 233.8 213.5 34% 447.3 34.01994/7-6 156.6 210.4 35% 367.0 22.81995/5-6 160.7 212.9 37% 373.6 23.01996/8-4 131.8 192.5 30% 324.3 22.61997/7-5 169.7 213.8 39% 383.5 30.01998/8-4 153.8 308.3 44% 462.2 34.21999/4-7 144.3 225.0 37% 369.3 26.52000/7-5 138.6 216.7 28% 355.3 29.72001/3-8 181.1 164.6 33% 345.7 21.42002/9-4 286.9 128.2 30% 415.1 31.22003/8-5 217.2 162.3 34% 379.6 30.82004/8-4 252.8 163.9 36% 416.6 31.22005/11-1 272.4 116.5 45% 388.9 32.12006/11-2 303.0* 158.4 50% 461.4 38.82007/11/2 297.2 159.0 48% 456.2 39.62008/9-4 209.9 150.5 42% 360.4 24.52009/9-4 186.4 191.1 42% 377.5 26.22010/9-4 159.7 213.0 45% 372.7 25.22011/10-3 122.7 346.8* 41% 469.5 37.62012/7-6 171.8 330.2 44% 502.0* 39.5

* indicates all-time WVU team record for a single-season

Lingafelter and Lazard, both of whom are working as tackles, will need to be ready in 2014, because West Virginia’s top three tackles this season include two seniors (Curtis Feigt and Nick Kindler) and a fourth-year junior (Quinton Spain).

Spain is the only returning offensive player who started all 13 games last year. The 6-foot-5, 335-pounder from Petersburg, Va., gives West Virginia something every team wants – a talented and experienced left tackle. The 6-foot-7, 314-pound Feigt, who is a native of Berlin, Germany, started the final six games of the 2012 season at right tackle and will likely hold down that job again this year. Kindler has played in 26 games over the past two seasons, starting one of them. He’ll likely be the primary backup behind both Spain and Feigt this year. Michael Calicchio is a 6-foot-9, 325-pound walk-on who also will provide depth at the tackle spot. The fourth-year junior from Brooklyn began his college career at WVU in 2010 but then transferred to C.W. Post, where he lettered in 2011. He transferred back to WVU last year, though he did not see any game action with the Mountaineers. He could be in line for some opportunities this year, though.

WVU has another promising young offensive lineman, but he won’t get back to practice until at least October. Adam Pankey, a 6-foot-5, 323-pound freshman from Hamilton, Ohio, was push-ing for a starting job at offensive guard in the spring before he suffered a knee injury. Pankey is reportedly mending well from the surgery that followed the injury. He spent most of the presea-son practice sessions alternating between jogging around the field and riding a stationary bike. It’s hoped that Pankey will be able to get back on the practice field by midseason, but if he’s ready to make a real bid for playing time at that juncture remains to be seen.


OffEnsiVE OutLOOk

Daikiel Shorts was another receiver who was a January en-rollee, though he came from the high school ranks. The 6-foot-0, 201-pound native of Clayton, N.J., attended Eastern Chris-tian (Md.) Academy, where he was a teammate of WVU running back Wendell Smallwood. Shorts, who has a little Stedman Bai-ley-look to him, used his early entry into West Virginia to quickly pick up the offense, and he’s definitely part of the conversation when it comes to playing time at receiver. The biggest question is probably what spot, as Shorts moved from outside receiver to inside receiver in the final days of preseason camp because of needs at his new position.

A conventional redshirt freshman, Devonte Mathis is another Mountaineer who followed the pipeline from Miramar, Fla., to Morgantown, just like Geno Smith, Stedman Bailey, Ivan Mc-Cartney and others. A jack-of-all-trades in high school, seeing action at quarterback, running back and receiver, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Mathis is now looking to make his own mark at WVU. He was used mainly at outside receiver in the spring but saw time at inside receiver during the preseason camp.

Another Miramar receiver trying to make a name for himself is Terrance Gourdine. The 6-foot-0, 190-pound senior spent his first two college seasons at Eastern Michigan, where he had one career catch, before transferring to WVU in 2011. A walk-on at West Virginia, he sat out his initial season with the Mountain-eers to fulfill his transfer requirements. Eligible for game action in 2012, he was unable to crack the rotation and did not see any game action. But now a fifth-year senior with maturity under his belt, Gourdine is making a strong push for playing time.

Vernon Davis, a converted cornerback, is also trying make an impact at receiver.

There is plenty of new talent on the outside receiver position, but some of the flashiest newcomers are lining up at the inside receiver spot.

Finding another Tavon Austin is probably impossible, but in their short time at West Virginia, Mountaineer coaches are al-ready smiling when asked about a trio of new slot receivers – Mario Alford, Jacky Marcellus, Shelton Gibson.

All three arrived at WVU this summer, so each is still just learning the system. But they also have obvious raw skills. The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Alford may be the easiest to compare to

Austin, simply because he is small and extremely quick. The Georgia Military College product, who saw time at both running back and receiver at the junior college level, was headed to Ar-izona until newly-hired WVU assistant coach Tony Gibson con-vinced this past February him to change his mind. Alford is trying to learn all the details that go into becoming a slot receiver for the Mountaineers, but if he can figure them all out, he could be very dangerous.

The same can certainly be said for Gibson, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound true freshman from Cleveland Heights, Ohio. A four-star recruit who had scholarship offers from most major college powers, Gibson has already shown in practice that he has the skill to backup the hype. Though a sprained knee slowed him a bit in the first week of preseason camp, his ability, especially to make a big play after the catch, was already drawing rave re-views. Also an outstanding kickoff and punt returner, the Moun-taineers will likely use Gibson on special teams as well as on of-fense this year.

Jacky Marcellus is the third of the three new slot receivers. At 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, the Immokalee, Fla., native is another small slot receiver, but he too has good quickness. A knee injury cut short his senior season in high school, but he seems close to 100 percent now.

Offensive line – WVU’s interior trio last season – guards Josh Jenkins and Jeff Braun and center Joe Madsen – had a total of 126 starts between them. All three were seniors and are now gone. Their replacements likely won’t have any starts, and only a handful of game reps, on their collective resume.

At center, redshirt freshman Tyler Orlosky currently holds the upper hand for the battle for the starting job. The 6-foot-4, 296-pound native of Cleveland, Ohio, spent his true fresh-man season on the scout team, working mainly at guard. But he moved to center this spring and appears to have the lead for the starting job. Tony Matteo, also a 6-foot-4, 296-pound redshirt freshman from Ohio (Clinton), is Orlosky’s primary competition for the starting center spot.

Pat Eger, a 6-foot-6, 302-pound senior, had worked at center in spring drills before an injury sidelined him. Having 19 games at either tackle and guard during his time at WVU, Eger learned the new position, but since the start of preseason camp, he’s worked primarily at guard. His versatility could help the Moun-taineers at any of the offensive line spots, but for the moment, it appears he’s settling back into the guard position, though he still is getting some practice reps at tackle and center should a need arise at those positions.

As preseason camp comes to a close, Eger was pushing hard for a starting job at guard, but at the moment, it appears that Marquis Lucas at left guard and Mark Glowinski at right guard were holding down the No. 1 spots.

A junior college product from Lackawanna (Pa.) College, Glowinski arrived at West Virginia in the summer of 2012, but he

redshirted last season. Now a 6-foot-5, 305-pound junior, the Scranton, Pa., native certainly will see action and likely will start this season. Lucas, a 6-foot-4, 312-pound third-year sophomore from Miami, Fla., has spent the past cou-ple of years working for this opportunity. After a redshirt season in 2011, he played in just one game last season – a few snaps of mop-up duty in the blowout win over Kansas. But it appears that Lucas is on the cusp of earning a start-ing job this season, unless Eger makes a late charge to win that spot.

Further depth at the guard positions will come from a pair of sophomores – Russell Haughton-James and Bran-don Jackson. Stone Underwood, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound ju-nior college transfer, had played center during his time at Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) Community College, but the Moun-taineers moved him over to guard midway through the pre-season camp. He also has a redshirt year available, so if he doesn’t see any game action this season, he would still have two years of eligibility remaining starting in 2014.

The three high school offensive line recruits West Virginia signed in this class – Tyler Tezeno, Grant Lingafelter and Marcell Lazard – all appear promising, but like most true freshmen offensive linemen, each will likely redshirt during their rookie season.

JordanThompson

AndrewBuie

Gone from West Virginia's 2012 offense are 276 career starts, while the 2013 offensive returners hold just 62 career starts between them.


DEfEnsiVE OutLOOk

By Greg Hunter

Does experience equal improvement?At every turn, West Virginia’s defensive coaches and players

were reminded of their woeful 2012 statistics.The questions came during each preseason media session –

Will you? Can you? How?After all, the Mountaineers’ 2012 defensive statistics were his-

torically bad. WVU allowed more points last year (38.1 per game) than at

any time in its history. In fact, in the last century, only one West Virginia defense (1978, 33.1 points per game) gave up over 30 points a game, so the 2012 unit, which was five points a game higher than that, was in a stratosphere all by itself.

The West Virginia defense allowed 34 or more points in nine of the 13 games last season, and six times it gave up 45 or more. Again, those were numbers without precedent at WVU.

Obviously points are what count the most, and the Mountain-eers were No. 114 in scoring defense among the 120 teams who formed the FBS ranks of college football. West Virginia was also near the bottom in pass efficiency defense (No. 119, 166.72),

pass defense (No. 118, 312.54 yards per game) and total de-fense (No. 108, 472.46 yards per game). About the only defen-sive category where WVU didn’t rank in the lower echelon of the FBS was rushing defense (No. 60, 159.9 yards per game), and that was still the worst statistical season West Virginia had had against the run in over a decade.

There were a lot of reasons for the Mountaineers’ defensive problems last year – four of the five defensive assistants in 2012 were new, the 3-4 scheme was also new and, probably most im-portantly, WVU lost a lot of very good defenders from the 2011 squad. Gone were stalwarts like Bruce Irvin, Najee Goode, Keith Tandy, Julian Muller and Eain Smith. The first three of those wound up in the NFL. West Virginia was left with little defen-sive experience or depth. It wound up having to play seven true freshmen on defense, including an unprecedented (at least in the last 30 years) three in the d-line.

But last year’s trial-by-fire has left the 2013 West Virginia de-fense with considerably more experience and depth. The Moun-

taineers return 24 defensive lettermen this year (compared to 17 last year), and 15 of them have started at least one game in the past (compared to just nine with such experience entering last year).

There were some further coaching changes on the West Vir-ginia defense this past offseason, as Tony Gibson and Brian Mitchell were brought in to oversee the safeties and cornerbacks respectively.

In addition, linebacker coach Keith Patterson added the role of defensive coordinator to his duties, replacing last year’s coor-dinator, Joe DeForest, who will work exclusively with West Vir-ginia’s special teams this year. Defensive line coach Erik Slaugh-ter is the only Mountaineer assistant coach – offensive or defensive actually – whose job description remains exactly the same this season as it did last.

And while West Virginia will again base its defense out of a 3-4 look, as it did last year, Patterson’s scheme will feature some differences from that which DeForest employed.


DEfEnsiVE OutLOOkWill any of that make this year’s unit better than it was in

2012? All those with the Mountaineers certainly believe that to be the case, but the real proof will come starting Aug. 31.

Defensive line – One season a weakness, the next sea-son a strength. That’s how rapidly things can change in college football.

West Virginia entered 2012 with just three defensive linemen – Will Clarke, Jorge Wright and Shaq Rowell – who had any sig-nificant experience the season before. WVU was forced to play three true freshmen d-linemen – Christian Brown, Eric Kinsey and Korey Harris – to provide badly needed depth for the unit.

Now three lettermen are gone from last year’s defensive front – seniors Wright and J.B. Lageman, as well as Harris, who was dismissed from the team after getting arrested in the offseason.

But the Mountaineers still have five holdovers who saw considerable action last year, including two starters, Clarke and Rowell. In all, Slaughter has eight defensive linemen at his disposal this year who appear capable of handling Big 12 action. And more importantly, none of them are true freshmen, un-like those first-year players who weren’t physically ready for the role that was forced upon them last year.

Clarke and Rowell are the se-nior leaders of this year’s d-line. With 22 and 12 career starts respectively, they are among the most experienced Mountaineers this season. A 6-foot-7, 273-pound defensive end from Pitts-burgh, Pa., Clarke had 26 tackles last year, including 6.5 for lost yardage. In his career, he’s been credited with 3.5 sacks, which is the most of any return-ing Mountaineer. That low sack num-ber may say something about the need WVU faces in finding pass rushers year, and the long, lanky Clarke certainly has the skill to be part of that pressure package.

At 6-foot-4, 305 pounds, Row-ell came to West Virginia from Maple Heights, Ohio, via Iowa Western Com-munity College, a couple years ago. A backup in 2010, in which he recorded eight tackles, he stepped into the start-ing noseguard role last year and quickly proved himself to be a force in the mid-dle. With 42 tackles, he helped control the interior line, and much is expected of him again this season.

Clarke and Rowell will almost cer-tainly remain starters this coming year, but there is still competition for the third starting d-line position. Kyle Rose and Eric Kinsey each saw plenty of play-ing time in the defensive line last year, as a redshirt freshman and true fresh-man respectively. Each even started a game. This year they are competing to become full-time starters, though red-shirt freshman Noble Nwachukwu also is in that mix.

Rose and Kinsey each played in all 13 games last season. Rose, a 6-foot-3, 283-pound sophomore from Cen-terville, Ohio, wound up with 25 tack-les, while Kinsey, a 6-foot-2, 265-pound sophomore from Miami, Fla., was cred-ited with four stops. Neither recorded a

sack or a tackle for loss last year, though Kinsey came to WVU from Miami’s Northwestern High School with the reputation as a strong pass rusher.

Nwachukwu, whose last name is pronounced WATCH-uh-koo, came to WVU from Wylie, Texas, in 2012 as a 6-foot-2, 240-pound defensive lineman. He was the one true freshman d-lineman that the Mountaineers redshirted last year. He may not have seen any game action, but that doesn’t mean his redshirt year was a waste. He added over 30-pounds of muscle during that time, and at 271 pounds, he’s now physically ready to com-

pete at the FBS level. Between Rose, Kinsey and Nwa-

chukwu, only one will start, but all three will almost certainly see significant play-ing time this coming season, be it with the regular defense or in one of the pass rushing packages. Rose can even slide down and play noseguard on occasion, and last year Kinsey saw a bulk of his ac-tion while playing defensive tackle in pass rushing situations.

While Rowell will likely remain the starter at noseguard, and Rose can play there as well, the primary backup at that position figures to be Christian Brown. The 6-foot-3, 308-pound sopho-more from Bridgeton, N.J., saw action in 11 games as a true freshman last season. Brown isn’t any bigger than he was in 2012, but the year in the weightroom has made him much stronger, and he’s drawn praise from the WVU coaches during the camp. He had 11 tackles last year, and he’ll likely have the opportunity to increase that number significantly this year.

The one brand-new face com-peting for playing time in West Virginia’s defensive line this sea-son is junior college transfer Dontrill Hyman. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound junior from Warsaw, N.C., by way of Hinds (Miss.) Community College, has terrific skills, but he still is trying to learn the Mountaineer system, having just ar-rived in Morgantown a week or so be-fore the start of preseason camp. A second-team NCJAA All-American last year at Hinds, he had 14 sacks, 20.5 tackles for loss and 62 total tackles in his two junior college seasons. His tran-sition to D-I is going well, but it’s still un-clear how quickly he can develop into an every-down player. Hyman will likely begin the season as Clarke’s backup, and he will probably have some role for WVU as a designated pass rusher in nickel and dime packages.

Trevor Demko, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound junior, also will provide depth in West Virginia’s defensive line.

A pair of true freshmen – Marvin Gross (6-4, 225 lbs.) and Jon Lewis (6-3, 240 lbs.) – show promise, but both need a year in the weightroom to get bigger and stronger before they can contend for playing time. Each will al-most certainly redshirt this year.

Linebackers – West Virginia is mix-ing and matching linebackers, and the

entire two-deep still is in flux. It’s not a matter of numbers, as there are as many as 12 linebackers competing for the eight two-deep spots at the four linebacker positions. There is also plenty of experience among those dozen players, as nine of them have played significant snaps for WVU in the past and seven have started a game at some point in their career. Senior Doug Rigg (18 career starts) and sophomore Isaiah Bruce (12 starts last year as a redshirt freshman) are the most experienced of the bunch, but guys like Jared Barber (six career starts), Tyler Ander-son (one career start), Wes Tonkery (one career start) and Nick Kwiatkoski (one career start) also have plenty of playing time, plus some starting experience, on their resume.

On top of those nine, three newcomers are also pushing for playing time – juco transfer Brandon Golson and a pair of true freshmen, Al-Rasheed Benton and Hodari Christian.

There are a lot of decisions still to be made in terms of how the linebacker two-deep will look, but the one guy who will al-most certainly see his name with the first unit is Bruce, who was WVU’s second leading tackler last year with 94 stops.

But even Bruce may undergo some change. In West Virgin-ia’s defensive alignment, there are two inside linebackers (known as the Sam and the Will) and two outside linebacker (Spur and Buck). Bruce spent all last season playing inside linebacker, usually at the Sam. But in preseason camp, Bruce has seen in-creasingly more time on the outside at the Spur. The 6-foot-1, 231-pound sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., certainly runs well enough to play the Spur, where he’ll be involved in more pass coverage and blitzes than he would inside, and he’s also smart enough to understand all the assignments that go with playing multiple positions.

The decision on what linebacker spot Bruce ultimately plays actually will have more to do with what the WVU coaches want from those around him. In their effort to get their four best line-backers on the field at the same time, the decision will be more about whether inside ‘backers Jared Barber, Nick Kwiatkoski and/or Doug Rigg are among those top four, or if Spur Wes Tonkery in that quartet. WVU’s starting Will, Sam and Spur will likely come from this group. The only question is where do the Mountaineers use Bruce and who will be the other two to start along side him. The Buck linebacker spot calls for a slightly dif-ferent skill set, and Golson, as well as Dozie Ezemma and Tyler

Mountaineer DefenseDefensive LinemenDarren Arndt (6-2, 230, So.)Christian Brown (6-3, 308, So.)D.J. Carozza (5-11, 280, Fr.)Will Clarke (6-7, 273, Sr.)Trevor Demko (6-6, 260, Jr.)James Gayeski (6-4, 250, So.)Marvin Gross (6-4, 225, Fr.)Dontrill Hyman (6-4, 265, Jr.)Eric Kinsey (6-2, 265, So.)Jon Lewis (6-3, 240, Fr.)Noble Nwachukwu (6-2, 271, RFr.)Kyle Rose (6-4, 283, So.)Shaq Rowell (6-4, 305, Sr.)LinebackersTyler Anderson (6-2, 244, Sr.)Justin Arndt (5-11, 212, RFr.)Jared Barber (6-0, 233, Jo.)Al-Rasheed Benton (6-2, 220, Fr.)Alex Brooks (5-11, 220, Fr.)Isaiah Bruce (6-1, 231, So.)Hodari Christian (6-0, 218, Fr.)Dozie Ezemma (6-2, 235, Sr.)Brandon Golson (6-3, 220, Jr.)Tanner Grose (5-10, 196, Jr.)d’Vante Henry (6-5, 205, Jr.)Darrien Howard (6-2, 250, Fr.)Nick Kwiatkoski (6-2, 232, So.)Tanner Macioce (5-10, 210, Jr.)Shaq Petteway (6-0, 225, Jr.)Doug Rigg (6-1, 237, Sr.)Jewone Snow (6-2, 242, Jr.)Martez Stone (6-0, 242, RFr.)Wes Tonkery (6-2, 222, Jr.)Sean Walters (6-1, 215, RFr.)Dayron Wilson (5-11, 220, Jr.)SafetiesThomas Chroniger (5-11, 205, Sr.)Shane Commodore (6-1, 180, Fr.)Darwin Cook (5-11, 203, Sr.)K.J. Dillon (6-1, 200, So.)Malik Greaves (6-2, 205, Fr.)Jarrod Harper (6-1, 212, RFr.)Karl Joseph (5-10, 200, So.)William Marable (6-0, 198, Sr.)Isaac McDonald (6-5, 205, Fr.)Ricky Rumph (5-10, 182, So.)Jeremy Tyler (6-0, 195, Fr.)CornerbacksIshmael Banks (6-0, 182, Jr.)Travis Bell (6-1, 188, Sr.)Terrell Chestnut (5-11, 177, So.)Brodrick Jenkins (5-10, 183, Sr.)Nana Kyeremeh (5-11, 180, So.)Brandon Napoleon (5-10, 178, RFr.)Carlton Nash (5-10, 185, Fr.)Nana Twum Agyire (6-0, 189, So.)Avery Williams (5-11, 183, So.)Daryl Worley (6-2, 190, Fr.)Players listed alphabetically

Darwin Cook


DEfEnsiVE OutLOOkAnderson, are working there.

Only senior safety Darwin Cook has more game experience than Rigg. A 6-foot-1, 237-pound fourth-year se-nior from Oradell, N.J., Rigg has played in every game for WVU since arriv-ing on campus prior to the start of the 2010 season, except for two games he missed as a sophomore when he was banged up. He started nine games as a sophomore and nine more as a ju-nior, when he was the team’s fifth-lead-ing tackler with 58 stops. More of a run-stopper than pass defender, Rigg has played the Will linebacker in the past but normally lines up at the Sam now.

Barber is much like Rigg in many ways, right down to the size, where the junior from Mocksville, N.C., is 6-foot-1, 233 pounds. Like Rigg, Barber is prob-ably better against the run, as he re-corded 34 tackles last year, when he started four games.

Kwiatkoski, a 6-foot-2, 232-pound sophomore from Bethel Park, Pa., is probably the best athlete of this trio of inside ‘backers. Kwiatkoski arrived at WVU as a strong safety but moved down to linebacker while redshirting in his initial season with the Mountaineers in 2011. He played in 12 games last season as a redshirt freshman, starting one and recording 28 tackles as well as three pass breakups.

Shaq Petteway is also very much in the mix for playing time at one of the in-side linebacker spots. Though a high school linebacker, Petterway, a 6-foot-0, 225-pound junior from Steubenville, Ohio, played safety as a true freshman at WVU in 2011. He saw game action at the bandit safety that year and was heavily used on special teams, finish-ing with eight tackles in all. He moved back to linebacker prior to last sea-son, bouncing between what was then called the Star (now Spur), as well as the Sam and even the Buck. He never started a game at any of them but did see a good bit of action on the defense, and was again a special teams standout, combining for 42 tackles in all.

Redshirt freshman Sean Walters, another converted safety, and true freshman Al-Rasheed Benton, also are battling for a spot on the depth chart at inside linebacker. Another true fresh-man linebacker, Darrien Howard, had wanted to join the Moun-taineers for preseason camp, but NCAA Clearinghouse issues kept him out for the entire stretch. WVU coaches still hope that he’ll be admitted, but even if he does get into school at this late date, his opportunities to earn playing time this season have probably slipped by, and he’d likely be redshirted.

At the Spur, Bruce appears to be the first option, though Wes Tonkery could very well end up the starter there if Patterson de-cides the defense is better with Bruce inside. Another in the line of converted safeties, Tonkery is a 6-foot-2, 222-pound ju-nior who also played running back for Bridgeport (W.Va.) High School. After a redshirt year in 2010, Tonkery saw time on spe-cial teams and at bandit safety as a redshirt freshman. He spent most of that season backing up Terence Garvin, but when Garvin was forced to miss the Orange Bowl with an injury, Tonk-ery got the start in that memorable victory over Clemson. When WVU converted from the 3-3-5 odd stack to the 3-4 last sea-son, Tonkery moved from bandit safety to Star linebacker, though in reality, the positions weren’t that much different. He again backed up Garvin, recording 10 tacles and an intercep-tion along the way. This year his position is now called Spur, and

with Garvin having graduated, and playing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tonkery is at-tempting to earn a starting job.

Hodari Christian, a 6-foot-0, 218-pound true freshman, also could be in the mix at the Spur. The McKeesport, Pa., na-tive graduated from high school a semes-ter early, allowing him to get a jumpstart on his college career by enrolling at WVU this past January. Quiet as a mouse off the field, he made some noise in spring prac-tice and could earn some playing time this fall.

Junior college transfer d’Vante Henry could also have been part of the picture at the Spur. The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder junior arrived at WVU from Arizona Western Col-lege earlier in the summer. He worked out with the team through most of June and July but returned home to Moore, Okla., for what was described as a “personal is-sue” shortly before the start of preseason camp. He never participated in any of the camp practices, and his status with the club remains unclear.

One junior college transfer who did ar-rive at WVU for camp was Brandon Gol-son. A product of Georgia Military Col-lege, where he was a teammate of current Mountaineer receiver Mario Alford, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Golson is an ex-tremely athletic linebacker who could po-tentially provide a huge impact at the Buck linebacker. Golson has the speed and strength to be an excellent pass rusher, as he showed at Calhoun (S.C.) High School, where he had 30 sacks in his junior and senior seasons. But he’s also athletic enough to drop into pass coverage, pro-viding West Virginia with the exact skills it needs at the Buck. Golson arrived at WVU just a week before the start of preseason camp, so he didn’t have the advantage of learning much about the defensive system before he hit the practice field in August. If he can figure things out, Golson very well could be West Virginia’s starting Buck, but if he wants to be an every down player,

he’ll have to pick things up quickly.The Mountaineers do have a couple nice backup options at

the Buck if Golson doesn’t work out. Dozie Ezemma played in 12 games last year, primarily in pass rushing situations, and re-corded five tackles and one sack. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound se-nior from Pomona, N.Y., started his college career at Division II New Haven and spent two seasons playing for the Chargers. But he decided he wanted to try the FBS level, and he came to WVU as a walk-on in 2011. He sat out as a transfer that first year be-fore working his way into the lineup as a pass rush specialist last year. Now a fifth-year senior, Ezemma’s best attribute is still get-ting after the quarterback, though he’s improved his all-around game.

Tyler Anderson, another former walk-on, also can help at the Buck. The 6-foot-2, 244-pound senior from Morgantown also has seen practice time during this camp at inside linebacker. He’s versatile enough and smart enough to lend a hand at what-ever position is necessary. In his career, Anderson has totaled 32 tackles, and he also had an interception last season against James Madison.

Jewone Snow also could factor in at the Buck or one of the in-side linebacker positions. But his health situation has left his sta-tus in doubt. After starting seven games at middle linebacker for WVU as a redshirt freshman in 2011, recording 42 tackles along the way, shoulder injuries have severely hampered Snow ever since. He only played in a few games last season, and his status for this coming year remains in doubt, as he still is battling injury.

WVU defensive stats through the yearsYear/Rec. Rush Def Pass Def Sacks 3rd-Dn % Total Def Score Def

1986/4-7 193.1 188.5 28 44.8 381.6 26.01987/6-6 144.5 135.5 27 40.1 280.0 17.61988/11-1 147.5 152.4 44 44.8 299.9 17.31989/8-3-1 128.2 203.9 39 34.8 332.1 18.41990/4-7 129.0 191.9 22 39.5 320.9 19.71991/6-5 156.1 174.0 23 35.2 325.4 20.41992/5-4-2 153.1 219.9 18 38.6 373.0 21.61993/11-1 127.0 235.1 27 39.6 362.1 17.71994/7-6 115.6 231.3 36 40.7 346.9 22.01995/5-6 135.0 164.5 34 33.1 299.5 19.11996/8-4 61.5 157.5 59 24.7 217.5 12.41997/7-5 137.5 223.4 46 38.9 350.9 23.31998/8-4 171.3 179.5 38 34.5 350.8 22.31999/4-7 192.0 218.4 24 35.3 410.4 26.52000/7-5 142.3 245.9 31 33.1 388.2 29.72001/3-8 213.2 136.7 24 32.6 349.9 24.42002/9-4 115.8 215.1 16 35.7 330.8 21.22003/8-5 130.7 249.8 16 35.0 380.4 21.32004/8-4 126.5 202.0 24 38.8 328.5 19.62005/11-1 109.7 201.1 29 36.9 310.8 17.82006/11-2 93.3 243.3 31 41.2 336.6 21.72007/11-2 112.9 188.8 40 36.0 301.7 18.12008/9-4 131.6 197.3 25 42.0 328.9 17.02009/9-4 126.7 209.8 29 32.3 336.5 21.72010/9-4 86.5 174.6 45 26.3 261.1 13.52011/10-3 144.8 203.5 31 35.8 347.2 26.82012/7-6 159.9 313.7 23 45.9 473.6 38.1

ShaqPetteway


DEfEnsiVE OutLOOk

Safeties – No starting positions for WVU, on offense or de-fense, are more set in stone than free and boundary safety. Karl Joseph and Darwin Cook return as the starters at those two spots.

The biggest question for those positions comes in terms of depth, as West Virginia has only one player, K.J. Dillon, with safety experience behind the two returning starters.

Depth may be a concern, but as long as they’re healthy, Cook and Joseph should give WVU an excellent tandem on the back end of the defense.

A 5-foot-10, 200-pound hammer, Joseph won a starting free safety role as a true freshman last year. He may have started as a youngster, but the Orlando, Fla., native wound up starting all 13 games for WVU. He was the team’s leading tackler with 104 stops and earned freshman All-American honors. Even more is expected from the hard-hitting Joseph in year two.

Cook’s 2012 season was hampered by an injury, which kept him out of the starting lineup for three games and out of action completely for one. But in between, the Cleveland, Ohio, na-tive started 10 games and amassed 75 tackles, the fourth most on the team. A 13-game starter in 2011, when his 99-yard fum-ble return for a TD in the Orange Bowl began West Virginia’s av-alanche of points, Cook has played in 38 games in his career, started 23 (more than any other current Mountaineer) and re-corded 169 tackles and three interceptions. Not bad for a high school defensive end who didn’t even know how to backpedal when he came to WVU from Shaw High School.

Dillon is listed as the backup to Joseph at the free safety, but the 6-foot-1, 200-pound sophomore from Apopka, Fla., also could see plenty of action in West Virginia’s nickel and dime de-fenses. In those scenarios, he’ll likely move down and play the Spur linebacker, helping the Mountaineers in their underneath coverage or providing another speedy blitzer off the edge. As a true freshman last season, Dillon played in all 13 games, finishing with 20 tackles, most of which came on special teams.

After Joseph, Cook and Dillon, WVU’s safeties get very young.Ricky Rumph is a 5-foot-11, 182-pound sophomore who

saw action in nine games, totaling nine tackles, as a true fresh-man last season. But his action in 2012 came at cornerback. The Mountaineer coaches moved him to safety early in the presea-son camp, so he’s adapting to a new position.

A trio of youngsters – redshirt freshman Jarrod Harper, true freshman Malik Greaves and true freshman Jeremy Tyler – also are in the mix for a spot on the depth chart at safety. A re-cord-setting running back from Frostburg, Md., the 6-foot-1, 212-pound Harper has all the tools he needs to be an excel-lent college safety. All he lacks is game experience. The 6-foot-

1, 195-pound Tyler, who is a native of Lithonia, Ga., has earned high praise from the WVU coaches during camp and seems likely to avoid a redshirt during his rookie season.

Isaac McDonald is another young safety who could have been in the safety mix. But the 6-foot-5, 205-pound true fresh-man from Hialeah, Fla., missed all of preseason camp while he awaited on the academic green light from the NCAA Clearing-house. He eventually did gain qualifier status, but it came just as camp was wrapping up. He’s now enrolled and has started prac-ticing with the team, but a redshirt would seem likely since he missed so much time in August.

Cornerbacks – Quantity isn’t a problem for the Mountaineers at cornerback this year, as there are seven players in contention for the two positions. It’s not an overly youthful group either, as five of the seven have seen game action in the past.

But after watching a secondary, particularly the cornerbacks, got roasted so often by opposing passing attacks last year, this area still must be considered a question mark … at least until it proves otherwise.

West Virginia actually began preseason camp with eight cornerbacks, but that number dropped to seven when Nana Kyeremeh was sidelined after a few days with shoulder compli-cations. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound sophomore, who played in all 13 games last year as a true freshman, starting one of them, underwent sur-gery and will miss the entire 2013 season. He has a redshirt available, so he’ll be a third-year sopho-more when he returns to action in 2014.

WVU’s first-year assistant coach Brian Mitch-ell still had plenty of contenders for the cornerback spots, even after the loss of Kyeremeh.

By the time camp concluded, the starting jobs were being held by players who had each spent some time at safety in the past – Travis Bell and Ishmael “Icky” Banks.

The 6-foot-1, 188-pound Bell, a junior from Belle Glade, Fla., had played in 24 of West Virginia’s 26 games as a true freshman and sophomore in 2010 and ’11, all of them at safety. He even started one when Terence Garvin was hurt in 2011. But after three games last season, a shoulder injury side-lined Bell for the rest of the campaign. He quali-fied for a medical redshirt, so he came back as a fourth-year sophomore this season. He remained at safety until the last couple days of spring prac-tice, when the coaches decided to try him at cor-nerback. The switch proved so effective that now

Bell, who has 24 career tackles to his credit, appears to be in line for a starting job at the boundary corner.

The 6-foot-0, 182-pound Banks, a junior from Richmond, Va., always was a natural corner, though he did see some playing time at safety last year when the depth in that unit became per-ilously thin. He did start four games at cornerback in 2012 and played in 11 games in all, as he finished with 20 tackles. He now appears to have the leg up on the starting job at the field corner.

Those starting cornerback spots aren’t cemented just yet, though.

Fifth-year senior Brodrick Jenkins, who has 11 career starts, is still very much in the mix. The 5-10, 183-pounder from Fort Myers, Fla., has recorded 78 tackles and three interceptions in his career. Avery Williams, a 5-foot-11, 183-pound sophomore from Washington, D.C., also remains in contention. After playing five games as a true freshman in 2011, Williams missed all the 2012 season with a neck injury and took a medical redshirt. Now healthy, he is battling for playing time at cornerback.

The same is true for sophomore Terrell Chestnut and redshirt freshman Brandon Napoleon. After redshirting in 2011, Chestnut worked his way into the lineup at the boundary corner position at midseason and eventually earned a starting role. But a knee in-jury a couple plays into the Pinstripe Bowl knocked him out of that game, as well as for all of spring practice. He’s healed now, though, and also in the thick of the cornerback fight. So is Napo-leon, the 6-foot-0, 178-pounder from Rahway, N.J., who is the son of former Mountaineer running back Eugene Napoleon. A high school quarterback, the younger Napoleon has pleased the WVU coaches with his development at cornerback.

Six cornerback prospects should be plenty, but another thrust his way into the mix during preseason camp. Daryl Worley was an outstanding safety and wide receiver at William Penn Charter in Philly the past few years, and the Mountaineers expected the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder would become a safety once he got to West Virginia. But after the coaches got a closer look at his size, speed and athleticism, they decided to try him at cornerback, and so far that’s where he’s remained. In fact, even though WVU doesn’t really need another corner, especially a young one, Wor-ley has been so good through camp that he may eventually push for not only playing time but also a starting position as a true freshman this season.

WVU's defense allowed more points last year (38.1 per game) than any season in its history

Travis Bell


spECiaL tEaMs OutLOOk

By Tony DobiesWest Virginia has made decent improvements in special

teams each year under head coach Dana Holgorsen. After not being a threat in the return game, Tavon Austin

changed that. The coverage units were once the laughing stock of the Big East and are now a formidable bunch. The specialists have been the issue, and this year it seems the Mountaineers have an influx of newcomers or inexperience that could provide WVU with some potential improvements at those areas.

Placekicker – In 2008 with current Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee at the helm for the kicking, punting and kickoff du-ties, the Mountaineers were one of the best kicking teams in the Big East. In that year, McAfee boomed 85 percent of his field goals through the uprights. He also made all 36 of his extra points that season.

Since then, the kicking game hasn’t been the same. In Tyler Bitancurt’s first year on campus, he did well for a

freshman. He hit 13-of-15 field goals and didn’t have a kick blocked. It didn’t translate to a successful rest of his career, however.

In his four years, he was 50-of-73 on field goals (68 percent) – a very significant drop from McAfee’s four years on campus. In addition, Bitancurt had nine field goals blocked.

Last season alone, Bitancurt was 11-of-19 and could be con-sidered one of the key reasons why WVU lost to TCU. In that game, Bitancurt missed four of his five field goals (50 yards, 43 yards, 55 yards, 36 yards) in the overtime loss.

Bitancurt ranked No. 79 in the country in field goals made per game, but his field goal percentage was among the worst of the kickers in the top 100.

Perhaps the biggest knock on Bitancurt was his leg power. He wasn’t very consistent or accurate from beyond 45 yards. He was 1-of-4 from 45 yards or longer in 2012, forcing the Moun-taineers’ offense to take more unconventional risks on fourth downs in that area of the field.

Bitancurt has now graduated, and WVU is hoping that it can find a more consistent kicker for the future. It seems from all ac-counts that it may have done just that. Josh Lambert, a 6-foot-1, 199-pound redshirt freshman from Garland, Texas, has won the praise of the Mountaineer coaches throughout preseason camp. while Bitancurt was a senior.

Lambert has the credentials to be WVU’s kicker for the next four years. He was a two-year starter at Garland High School and was named All-District 10-5A first-team kicker as a senior. He was the Chris Sailer National Kick-ing Event Field Goal Last Man Standing champion.

His numbers in high school weren’t outstanding (9-of-16 on field goals with successful kicks from 47, 48 and 51 yards), but he has shown sparks of be-ing more consistent than those num-bers would normally infer.

Of course, how Lambert will handles the pressure of kicking before full sta-dium can’t be accurately answered un-til he goes out and performs when the lights are on.

The Mountaineer coaches had so much confidence in Lambert that for the first week of preseason camp, he was the only placekicker at practice. West Virginia has recruited three walk-ons – Scott Levine, Alex Louthan and Mike Molina – to eventually challenge Lambert, but WVU didn’t want to take up a camp spot (by NCAA rule, only 105 players are allowed to participate

in preseason drills; when classes start at the school, that number has no limit). Eventually, when a couple scholarship freshmen position players did get into camp prior to the start of the fall semester, WVU did bring Molina in to give him some practice work. But all indications are that Lambert will handle all the field goals and extra points.

While all indications point to Lambert being the guy to do all the fields goals and extra points, he has yet to lockup the kickoff chores. Nick O’Toole and Michael Molinari are each challenging Lambert for that duty.

Punter – This is perhaps the position of most con-cern for West Virginia considering it has struggled in that area for the last four years.

In his senior season (2008), McAfee averaged 44.7 yards per punt with 25 inside the 20-yard line. In that season, he had 20 punts of more than 50 yards.

A year later in 2009, Scott Kozlowski kept the po-sition basically up to par with McAfee. He averaged 44.4 yards per punt and had nearly as many 50-yard punts. Then it took a significant drop.

The combination over the last three seasons of Bi-tancurt, Molinari, Gregg Pugnetti and Corey Smith was underwhelming. With those four, WVU averaged 39.6 yards per punt. In the last two seasons, WVU had a combined 25 punts land inside the 20-yard line and 15 of more than 50 yards. Compare those to McAfee’s senior year, and it will give you a good idea of how much the position has struggled.

Molinari is the only one of those four who returns in 2013. Now a junior, the Parkersburg native has shown improvement, but is it enough to ultimately win the job?

West Virginia went into the junior college ranks this past year, and used a scholarship on Nick O’Toole to help solidify the punting. A 6-foot-5, 220-pound sophomore, O’Toole played one season at Fullerton College and ranked third in the California Community College Athletic Association with an aver-age of 41.8 yards per punt and a long of 62 yards. He finished that season with 15 punts downed inside the 20-yard line. He also had an illustrious high school punting career at California powerhouse Mater Dei.

O’Toole hasn’t disappointed in fall camp, but he’s also not been handed the keys to the punting position just yet either. Molinari is definitely in the mix of the competition, and freshman walk-on Houston Syvertson from Shady Spring, W.Va., also has wowed observers at times.

O’Toole may ultimately win the job, but Molinari and Syvertson aren't going down without a fight.

Kick returners – It will be nearly im-possible to replace Austin as a return specialist. He returned every punt for the Mountaineers last year, averag-ing 11.0 yards per try and taking one 76 yards for a touchdown. He was also WVU’s primary kickoff returner, aver-aging 25.4 yards in that category and bringing one of those back 100 yards for a TD.

This year, West Virginia may have a return-by-committee strategy unless a player or two steps up.

In fall camp, West Virgnia has had a variety of players re-turning punts and/or kickoffs. Receivers Mario Alford, Ron-ald Carswell, Shelton Gibson, Vernon Davis, Jacky Marcellus and Jordan Thompson, as well as running backs Charles Sims, Dreamius Smith and Wendell Smallwood, and defensive back Darryl Worley, have been getting most of the practice reps in the return game.

The only one out of that group who has returned a kick in a game for the Mountaineers before is Thompson, who had five kickoff returns last year for an average of 13.4 yards per try.

The speedy Sims could prove an explosive weapon for WVU on kickoff returns, but the fifth-year senior who transferred to West Virginia from Houston never returned any kickoffs or punts during his three seasons of varsity action with the Cougars.

Special teams coach Joe DeForest said he would like to have two players for punt returns and four for kickoffs.

Snapper, holder, coverage units – While much of the rest of the special teams unit is changing, the snapper and holder will be familiar. Molinari will retain the holding duties, a chore he has done without a bobble for the past two years.

John DePalma stepped in as a true freshman and handled all of WVU’s long snapping. The 6-foot-5, 244-pound sopho-more from Cumming, Ga., is being backed up by Nick Mead-ows, a 5-foot-11, 220-pound true freshman walk-on from Wil-liamstown, W.Va.

The coverage teams are still being formed, though last year true freshmen Garrett Hope and K.J. Dillon were among the bet-ter ones on those units. Those two figure to be key members of most of the special teams phases this year, along with guys like Shaq Petteway, Brodrick Jenkins, Wes Tonkery and Avery Williams. Redshirt freshmen Sean Walters, Brandon Napoleon and Jarrod Harper also will likely factor into these special teams units as well.

SOME AWFULLy BIG SHOES TO FILL

Mountaineer Special TeamsPlacekickersJosh Lambert (6-1, 199, RFr.)Scott Levine (5-11, 190, Fr.)Alex Louthan (5-10, 205, Fr.)Mike Molina (5-9, 150, Fr.)Michael Molinari (5-11, 204, Jr.)PuntersJosh Lambert (6-1, 199, RFr.)Alex Louthan (5-10, 205, Fr.)Michael Molinari (5-11, 204, Jr.)Nick O’Toole (6-5, 220, So.)Houston Syvertson (6-2, 220, Fr.)Long SnappersJohn DePalma (6-5, 244, So.)Nick Meadows (5-11, 220, Fr.)HolderMichael Molinari (5-11, 204, Jr.)Players listed alphabetically

JoshLambert


OppOnEnt prEViEWs

By Matt Keller & Cam Huffman

THE SECOND TIME THROUGH THE BIG 12

OklahomaSept. 7 in Norman, Okla.

2012 record: 10-3 (Cotton Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 31 ....... Louisiana-MonroeSept. 7 ................ West VirginiaSept. 14 ...........................TulsaSept. 28 ............at Notre DameOct. 5 ................................TCUOct. 12 ............... vs. Texas (Dallas)

Oct. 19 ..................... at KansasOct. 26 ................... Texas TechNov. 7 ........................ at BaylorNov. 16 ................... Iowa StateNov. 23 ...........at Kansas StateDec. 7 ........ at Oklahoma StateHead coach: Bob Stoops (Iowa, '83)Stoops' record at OU: 139-34 in 13 seasonsLettermen returning: 45Starters returning: 12 (7 off., 4 def., 1 spec.)OU's record vs. WVU: 3-2Last meeting: OU, 50-49, '12

William & MaryAug. 31 in Morgantown, W.Va.

2012 record: 2-92013 Schedule

Aug. 31 ........... at West VirginiaSept. 7 .......................HamptonSept. 14 ................ at LafayetteSept. 21 ..............Rhode IslandOct. 5 .....................at VillanovaOct. 12 .............................PennOct. 19 ....................... at MaineOct. 26 ............ James MadisonNov. 2 .............New HampshireNov. 9 ................... at DelawareNov. 16 ........................TowsonNov. 23 ................ at RichmondHead coach: Jimmye Laycock (William & Mary, '70)Laycock's record at W&M: 215-160-2 in 32 seasonsLettermen returning: 40Starters returning: 17 (8 off., 7 def., 2 spec.)W&M's record vs. WVU: 0-15-1Last meeting: WVU, 49-34, '72

While the buzz and excitement is decidedly less than it was for Wes Virginia’s inaugural run through the Big 12 Conference, there’s still much to embrace about the 2013 football schedule.

First, all six home games are against foes that have never played at new Mountaineer Field. And of those, only Oklahoma State and William & Mary have ever appeared in Morgan-town at all.

West Virginia gets marquee home contests against conference favor-iteOklahoma State and also Texas, and it hosts a Thanksgiving weekend game against Iowa State that should make for a bundle’em-up ending.

Eight bowl teams dot the slate, and the third and seventh winningest pro-grams of all-time in Texas and Okla-homa essentially bookend a nine-games-in-10-weeks march that will determine whether head coach Dana Hol-gorsen’s third team can exceed perhaps the lowest expectations in a decade. Many, if not most, pundits and pre-dictions call for WVU’s streak of 11 consec-utive bowl games to end, and it could cer-tainly be jeopardized by that gamut, one in which the Mountain-eers must play four preseason top 25 pro-grams. The Big 12 foes combined for a 75-53 record last year, and only Kansas’ 1-11 mark kept that from being a robust 74-42 (63.8) winning percentage. Every Big 12 school but the Jayhawks went bowling last year, a nine-for-10 ratio that is unprecedented in col-lege football history. In all, four of WVU’s 2013 foes (Texas, Oklahoma, TCU and Maryland), have won Associated Press national titles, and another, Oklahoma State, came within a game of playing in the BCS title game just two years ago.

But before one dashes off to fret over the challenges – and there are many – in a rebuilding year, consider that the last four times Holgorsen has had, as an assistant, to replace the majority of his offensive yards, his teams have churned out 11 (Okla-homa State, 2010), eight (Houston, 2008), eight (Texas Tech, 2006) and nine (Texas Tech, 2005) wins. Hol-gorsen has always referred to his sys-tem as a plug-and-play, meaning the Mountaineers will plug in new players and simply keep rolling – or so goes the idea. The specialists should be better and the defense should, pre-dictably, make major strides in cover-age and overall ability under new co-ordinator Keith Patterson.

Consider, too, that one team, Georgia State, is playing its inaugu-ral season at the FBS level after go-ing 2-10 last year, and the home

opener is against William & Mary, an FCS program that went just 2-9 last season. Kansas, in its second sea-son under Charlie Weis, should be improved, though the overwhelm-ing question is to what degree, and Maryland, off a 2-10 year, figures to be better as well.

As for individual talent, West Vir-ginia will match-up against a pair of big-time receivers in Oklahoma State’s Josh Stewart and Tracey Moore and a running back in Baylor’s Lache Seastrunk who has already predicted he would win the Heisman Trophy. The Mountaineers get an-other chance to see if they can stop the Longhorns’ defensive end Jack-son Jeffcoat off the edge – remember Geno Smith’s fumbles at Texas last season – and see if they can again create some magic as it did last year in front of the largest crowd in UT

history and winning at night on the road.

Or going to Okla-homa 31 years to the week when West Vir-ginia pulled what leg-endary WVU head coach Don Nehlen called the victory that put his program on the map, in 1982. The Mountaineers will be trying to pull off a similar upset that would likely vault this arguably un-derrated team into the Top 25, and the national consciousness.

In all, it shapes up to be one of those most Mountaineer-like of sea-sons, the ones in which West Virginia, under-dog and undervalued, comes out of nowhere and presents itself as a legitimate team, carry-ing with it the hopes of a state and, maybe more importantly, the expec-tations of nobody but themselves.

So sit back and enjoy as we bring you a quick team-by-team look into what awaits in 2013. The schedule’s already made; the memories are yet to come.

Like West Virginia, the Tribe might not settle its quarterback bat-tle until the season-opener, if then.

Brent Caprio and Mike Graham are still locked in a battle for the QB job at the FCS program, with Cap-rio seeming the surer bet because of his consistency. The spot hasn’t produced well in recent years, and could again struggle, as the Tribe rebuild off a 2-9 season in which they averaged 21 ppg.

The offensive line, paced by cen-ter Matt Crisafi – a starter for 29 straight games – has been hurt by inconsistency and a backfield that, again like West Virginia, is shuffling players.

Darnell Lewis (power) and Keith McBride (balance) should get ma-jority carries, with Mikal Abdul Sa-boor trying to break into a starting role off a decent frosh season (242 yds). Receiver Tre McBride (6-1, 200 lbs.) is the marquee threat off an All-CAA sophomore season (897 yds, 10 TDs).

Defensively, linebacker Luke Rhodes (72 tackles as a freshman) and tackle George Beerhalter give W&M strength in the middle. Phys-ical safety Jerome Couplin led con-ference defensive backs with 91 tackles and will anchor the back-field with corner DeAndre Hous-ton-Carson. The latter comes off 11 starts as a freshman and blends size (6-1, 205 lbs.) and speed.

Not since 2007 has Oklahoma en-tered the season with such an un-proven quarterback.

Of course, that was the year when the Sooners earned a spot in a BCS bowl under future NFL player Sam Bradford, only to be crushed by West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.

Now, Oklahoma tries to shift from a pocket passer in Landry Jones, who is now with the Pittsburgh Steel-ers, to Tebow-esque quarterback Blake Bell (6-6, 263 lbs.). The Bell-dozer will settle into an offense that figures to throw far fewer times than it did last season against the Mountain-eers, when Jones set a school record with 554 yards in a 50-49, last-minute victory in Morgantown.

Running back Damien Williams (5-11, 211 lbs.) mixes speed and strength and should be the feature guy, with fullback Trey Millard also a major possibility for significant carries because of an inexperienced line that comes off a season in which it was battered and beaten quite often.

Wideouts Sterling Shepard (621 yds.) and Trey Metoyer (259 yds.) are solid, and mixed with Jalen Saunders (62 rec.) should be stout.

Defensively, Oklahoma was the weakest it has been in years, finish-ing 64th in total defense and No. 50 in scoring. Recruiting focus was on the line.

Placeicker Michael Hunnicut is a proven commodity.

Big 12 Preseason Media PollRank, Team (1st place votes) Points

1. Oklahoma St. (15) ...3652. Oklahoma (8) ...........3553. TCU (9) ....................3474. Texas (8) ..................3375. Baylor (2) .................2826. Kansas State (1) ......2407. Texas Tech ...............1618. West Virginia ...........1269. Iowa State..................9610. Kansas.....................56

WVU’s Preseason National Team Rankings•notop25preseasonrankings

WVU’s Big 12 Preseason Predictions•6th (USA Today magazine)•7th (Football Outsiders, Gold Sheet, College Football Matrix)•8th (Athlon, Phil Steele, Compughter Rankings, Pick Six)•9th (Lindy, The Sporting News, Arena Fanatic)•10th (McIllece Sports, Cap Heresy)

WVU Individual Preseason Honors• Isaiah Bruce: third-team all-Big 12 (Phil Steele’s)• Andrew Buie: third-team all-Big 12 (Phil Steele’s)• Will Clarke: third-team all-Big 12 (Phil Steele’s)• Karl Joseph: second-team all-Big 12 (Phil Steele’s)• Charles Sims: Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the

Year• Quinton Spain: third-team all-Big 12 (Phil Steele’s)• Jordan Thompson: fourth-team all-Big 12 (Phil

Steele’s)

Georgia StateSept. 14 in Morgantown, W.Va.


Aug. 30 .......................SamfordSept. 7 .................ChattanoogaSept. 14 .......... at West VirginiaSept. 21 ...... Jacksonville StateOct. 5 ..................... at AlabamaOct. 12 .............................. TroyOct. 19 .............. at Texas StateOct. 26 .... at Louisiana-MonroeNov. 2 ......... Western KentuckyNov. 16 .....Louisiana-LafayetteNov. 23 ........ at Arkansas StateNov. 30 ............South AlabamaHead coach: Trent Miles (Indiana State, '87)Miles record at GSU: firstseasonLettermen returning: 46Starters returning: 16 (7 off., 7 def., 2 spec.)GSU record vs. WVU: 0-0Last meeting: have never met


OppOnEnt prEViEWs

MarylandSept. 21 in Baltimore, Md.


Aug. 31 .... Florida InternationalSept. 7 ............... Old DominionSept. 14 ............ at ConnecticutSept. 21 ...vs. W. Virginia (Baltimore)

Oct. 5 ...............at Florida StateOct. 12 ......................... VirginiaOct. 19 .............at Wake ForestOct. 26 .......................ClemsonNov. 9 ....................... SyracuseNov. 16 ............at Virginia TechNov. 23 ............Boston CollegeNov. 30 ................at N.C. StateHead coach: Randy Edsall (Syracuse, '80)Edsall's record at UM: 2-10 in 1 seasonLettermen returning: 37Starters returning: 14 (7 off., 5 def., 2 spec.)UM's record vs. WVU: 21-26-2Last meeting: WVU, 31-21, '12

BaylorOct. 5 in Waco, Texas

2012 record: 8-5 (Holiday Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 31 ........................WoffordSept. 7 .......................... BuffaloSept. 21 ...... Louisiana-MonroeOct. 5 .................. West VirginiaOct. 12 ............at Kansas StateOct. 19 .................... Iowa StateOct. 26 ..................... at KansasNov. 7 ......................OklahomaNov. 16 ... vs. Texas Tech (Arlington)

Nov. 23 ...... at Oklahoma StateNov. 30 .........................at TCUDec. 7 .............................TexasHead coach: Art Briles (Texas Tech, '79)Briles' record at BU: 23-25 in 5 seasonsLettermen returning: 47Starters returning: 15 (6 off., 7 def., 2 spec.)BU's record vs. WVU: 0-1Last meeting: WVU, 70-63, '12

Oklahoma StateSept. 28 in Morgantown, W.Va.

2012 record: 8-5 (Heart of Dallas Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 31 ....vs. Miss. State (Houston)

Sept. 7 ........at UT-San AntonioSept. 14 ......................... LamarSept. 28 .......... at West VirginiaOct. 5 ..................Kansas StateOct. 19 ..............................TCUOct. 26 ................ at Iowa StateNov. 2 ................ at Texas TechNov. 9 .......................... KansasNov. 16 .......................at TexasNov. 23 ..........................BaylorDec. 7 ......................OklahomaHead coach: Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State, '90)Gundy's record at OSU: 59-30 in 7 seasonsLettermen returning: x45Starters returning: 14 (7 off., 7 def., 0 spec.)OSU's record vs. WVU: 2-2Last meeting: OSU, 55-34, '12

Texas TechOct. 19 in Morgantown, W.Va.

2012 record: 8-5 (Meineke Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 30 ........................ at SMUSept. 7 ......... Stephen F. AustinSept. 12 ............................TCUSept. 21 ................ Texas StateOct. 5 ....................... at KansasOct. 12 .................... Iowa StateOct. 19 ............ at West VirginiaOct. 26 .................at OklahomaNov. 2 ............ Oklahoma StateNov. 9 .................Kansas StateNov. 16 ........... vs. Baylor (Arlington)

Nov. 28 .......................at TexasHead coach: Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech, '02)Kingsbury's record at TTU: 0-0,firstseasonLettermen returning: 53Starters returning: 15 (5 off., 8 def., 2 spec.)TTU's record vs. WVU: 1-1Last meeting: TTU, 49-14, '12

The Panthers come off a 1-10 season, and have taken a pair of payday games against WVU and Alabama in the first six weeks of their initial year in the FBS.

In just its fourth season of foot-ball, GSU figures to be somewhat improved with a solid offensive line and Kentucky transfer Alex Smith at tight end.

The quarterback play remains in flux, with Ben McLane, Ron-nie Bell and Clay Chastain battling. Chastain is the expected starter, and will rely on back Travis Evans sans a legit go-to wideout.

Defensively, Georgia State, which is based in Atlanta, is dot-ted with transfers from higher-level schools. The line, beat up much of last year, should be improved and must take some pressure off under-sized linebackers.

The back of the 4-3 set includes three seniors, led by corners Brent McClendon and Jamal Ransby. Both are shorter than 5-10 and should have difficulty matching up versus the Mountaineer passing game.

Georgia State is clearly over-whelmed talent-wise, but has no-where to go but up after a season of injuries and youth. This should be the easiest game on the slate for the Mountaineers, and comes at a nice time.

The Terps struggled with injuries last season, but do return 12 starters.

No position was hit harder than quarterback, where C.J. Brown (6-3, 210 lbs.) now looks to be the starter, beating out Perry Hills and Ricardo Young. The senior has five career starts and threw for 842 yards last season.

Brandon Ross and Albert Reid (a one-time WVU commit) figure to share the running back chores now that probable starter Wes Brown is suspended for a year following an off-season arrest.

Maryland does boast two solid re-ceivers in Stefon Diggs (848 yds., 15.7 ypc last year) and Deon Long, a junior college transfer who origi-nally signed with West Virginia before attending New Mexico, then drop-ping down a level. Long led the juco ranks with 1,625 receiving yards and 25 touchdownss last year, and he has the physical tools to play at a high level.

The defense lost both ends and needs shored up its linebacking corps, but the backend is solid with corners Jeremiah Johnson and Dex-ter McDougle.

Injuries and lack of consistency also hurt special teams last year. Maryland should be much improved with another year of experience and the very dangerous return ability of Diggs.

The Bears return 12 starters and welcome arguably the finest tandem of preseason skill position players in back Lache Seastrunk and receiver Tevin Reese.

Seastrunk ran for 1,012 yards last year and mixes well with bull-dozer Glasco Martin (6-1, 220 lbs.), a change-up back.

Reese is a smallish at 5-foot-10 but has 4.31 speed and benefits from Art Briles’ spread ystem, much like touted frosh Robbie Rhoades.

Four of five ofensive line starters are gone, but the left side strength should help quarterback Bryce Petty (6-3, 225 lbs.) as the junior becomes the latest NFL-sized signalcaller to ride the system’s wave to excellent production.

The defense, which has allowed an average of 30 points the last three years – 37.2 the last two seasons – should get a better rush and has ex-perience throughout.

Penn State transfer Shawn Oak-man will help at DE, and the lineback-ers have increased speed with Sam Holl and Eddie Lackey.

The secondary allowed 324 yards per game and a 62.7 completion percentage in 2012. Safety Ahmad Dixon and corner Joe Williams are the anchors.

Both kickers are back, along with gifted return men Antwan Goodley and Levi Norwood.

The Big 12 preseason favor-ite, OSU has the depth and talent to make another major bowl run despite a quarterback battle that could rage all season.

It doesn’t seem to matter much, as the quarterback corps has had the Midas touch in the past. Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh are fighting for the spot, and both could play this season.

The offense, which has scored 30 points in 30 of its last 31 games, should keep rolling with Josh Stew-art (15.3 ypc), Tracy Moore (1,067 yds.) and Charlie Moore all taller, experienced receivers. Add in a line that continues to perform despite losing NFL draft picks and a back-field that is trying for its seventh straight season with a 1,000-yard rusher (expect Scout.com top 30 power back Josh Stewart to start), and the Cowboys are arguably the top offense in the conference.

The specialists are, for the first time in awhile, unproven with kicker Bob Stonebraker and punter Mike Reichenstein replacing the excel-lent Quinn Sharp.

The pass defense should im-prove (No 110 last year), but the line loses three starters, and de-spite a plethora of seniors, there isn’t much reason to believe OSU can consistently stop most league offenses.

The youngest head coach of a BCS football program, Kliff Kings-bury is bringing the Air Raid style back to his alma mater, where he played under guys like Mike Leach and Dana Holgorsen.

After an 8-5 season last year un-der now-Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville — one that included losses in four of the last six games — the Red Raiders’ first assign-ment is to find a quarterback to re-place Seth Doege.

Sophomore Michael Brewer, who has battled injuries during ball camp, and true freshman Davis Webb are the top two candidates. Brewer was the backup behind Doege last season, throwing for 375 yards and four touchdowns.

The starter will have some proven targets in Eric Ward (1,053 yards and 12 touchdowns last year) and speedster Jace Amaro.

The biggest question marks come on the offensive line, where a pair of sophomores and a redshirt freshman will be among the start-ers, and the secondary. The Red Raiders will have to replace D.J. Johnson and Cody Davis, two solid defensive backs, from a defense that wasn’t exactly stingy against the pass in 2012.

Texas Tech will be able to throw the football, but can it stop oppo-nents from doing the same?


OppOnEnt prEViEWs

TexasNov. 9 in Morgantown, W.Va.

2012 record: 9-4 (Alamo Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 31 ....... New Mexico StateSept. 7 ..........................at BYUSept. 14 ..................... Ole MissSept. 21 ..............Kansas StateOct. 3 .................. at Iowa StateOct. 12 ........ vs. Oklahoma (Dallas)

Oct. 26 ..............................TCUNov. 2 .......................... KansasNov. 9 ............. at West VirginiaNov. 16 .......... Oklahoma StateNov. 28 .................. Texas TechDec. 7 ........................ at BaylorHead coach: Mack Brown (Florida State, '74)Brown's record at UT: 141-39 in 14 seasonsLettermen returning: 53Starters returning: 20 (10 off., 9 def., 1 spec.)UT's record vs. WVU: 0-2Last meeting: WVU, 48-45, '12

Kansas StateOct. 26 in Manhattan, Kan.

2012 record: 11-2 (Fiesta Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 30 ...............North DakotaSept. 7 ......Louisiana-LafayetteSept. 14 ........... MassachusettsSept. 21 ......................at TexasOct. 5 ......... at Oklahoma StateOct. 12 ...........................BaylorOct. 26 ................ West VirginiaNov. 2 ..................... Iowa StateNov. 9 ................ at Texas TechNov. 16 .............................TCUNov. 23 ....................OklahomaNov. 30 .................... at KansasHead coach: Bill Snyder (William Jewell, '63)Snyder's record at KSU: 159-83-1 in 22 seasonsLettermen returning: 42Starters returning: 8 (7 off., 1 def., 0 spec.)KSU's record vs. WVU: 2-1Last meeting: KSU, 55-14, '12

TCUNov. 2 in Fort Worth, Texas

2012 record: 7-6 (Wild Wings Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 31 .............. vs. LSU (Arlington)

Sept. 7 ................SE LouisianaSept. 12 ............. at Texas TechSept. 28 ........................... SMUOct. 5 ...................at OklahomaOct. 12 ......................... KansasOct. 19 ....... at Oklahoma StateOct. 26 ............................TexasNov. 2 ................. West VirginiaNov. 9 ................. at Iowa StateNov. 16 ...........at Kansas StateNov. 30 ..........................BaylorHead coach: Gary Patterson (Kansas State, '83)Patterson's record at TCU: 109-30 in 11 seasonsLettermen returning: 43Starters returning: 16 (6 off., 9 def., 2 spec.)TCU's record vs. WVU: 1-1Last meeting: TCU, 39-382OT, '12

Iowa StateNov. 30 in Morgantown, W.Va.

2012 record: 6-7 (Liberty Bowl)

2013 ScheduleAug. 31 ..............Northern IowaSept. 14 ............................Iowa Sept. 26 .......................at TulsaOct. 3 ..............................TexasOct. 12 ............... at Texas TechOct. 19 ....................... at BaylorOct. 26 ........... Oklahoma StateNov. 2 .............at Kansas StateNov. 9 ...............................TCUNov. 16 ................at OklahomaNov. 23 ........................ KansasNov. 30 ........... at West VirginiaHead coach: Paul Rhodes (Missouri Western, '89)Rhodes' record at ISU: 18-20 in 3 seasonsLettermen returning: 36Starters returning: 11 (5 off., 4 def., 2 spec.)ISU's record vs. WVU: 0-1Last meeting: WVU, 31-24, '12

KansasNov. 16 in Lawrence, Kan.


Sept. 7 ............... South DakotaSept. 14 ........................ at RiceSept. 21 ........... Louisiana TechOct. 5 ..................... Texas TechOct. 12 ..........................at TCUOct. 19 .....................Oklahoma Oct. 26 ...........................BaylorNov. 2 .........................at TexasNov. 9 ........ at Oklahoma StateNov. 16 ............... West VirginiaNov. 23 ............... at Iowa StateNov. 30 ...............Kansas StateHead coach: Charlie Weis (Notre Dame, '78)Weis' record at KU: firstseasonLettermen returning: 33Starters returning: 13 (5 off., 6 def., 2 spec.)KU's record vs. WVU: 0-2Last meeting: WVU, 59-10, '12

Notre Dame transfer Dayne Crist didn’t pan out well for Kansas head coach Charlie Weis under center. The former blue chip quarterback threw more interceptions than touchdowns in 2012, and he spent most of the lat-ter part of the season standing on the sidelines.

Weis is hoping BYU transfer Jake Heaps won’t follow that same path.

Heaps, who set BYU freshman re-cords in passing yards, touchdowns and wins in 2010, will try to help turn around a KU team that finished 1-11 last season.

Michael Cummings, a mobile quar-terback who showed some positive signs when replacing Crist at the end of the year, is also in the mix.

Justin McCay, a former Oklahoma receiver who had to sit out last sea-son as a transfer, should help. He has big play potential and became familiar with the offense last year on the Kan-sas scout team.

Senior Jayhawk running back James Sims, who led the Big 12 in rushing last year with 1,013 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground, de-spite missing three games with a sus-pension, is also a huge weapon and an NFL prospect.

On defense, the Jayhawks will run almost entirely out of nickel and dime packages, hoping to combat the of-fenses in the Big 12. KU gave up 36.1 points a game in 2012.

The eyes of Texas are definitely upon head coach Mack Brown.

After winning a national title in 2005 and losing in the BCS Championship game in 2009, Brown’s Longhorns have gone 5-7, 8-5 and 9-4 the last three seasons, and UT fans are get-ting restless.

Brown, though, seems confident that with 19 starters returning, the most of any FBS squad, from a Long-horn team that played well down the stretch and beat Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl, he can field a club that lives up to the expectations of Texas football.

He has some experience at quar-terback, where David Ash, who aver-aged 224.9 passing yards a game last year, has started 18 games since be-ing thrown to the wolves as a fresh-man. Ash, though, didn’t have a great spring, and Case McCoy, the brother of Texas legend Colt McCoy, is still waiting for another shot.

Manny Diaz didn’t have a great de-but in his first year as the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator, as UT allowed 29.2 points per game. But the group did play better late in the year, and it will have nine starters back, including Jackson Jeffcoat, one of the league’s top pass rushers.

Defensive end Alex Okafor is now in the NFL, as is safety Kenny Vac-caro, and those will be two important holes to plug.

The Horned Frogs’ first year in the Big 12 wasn’t without its chal-lenges. TCU finished 7-6, its lowest win total in eight years.

But with a freshman quarterback who won three conference games on the road back in the mix, many feel that veteran head coach Gary Patterson is poised to put his team back in the position it enjoyed for much of its time in the Mountain West Conference — on top.

While most teams in the Big 12 are looking for a QB with any expe-rience, TCU actually has two. Trev-one Boykin threw for 2,054 yards and 15 TDs as a freshman, and he didn’t even play the full season. Ca-sey Pachall actually started the first four games of the year and won them all before leaving the school and entering a treatment program after being arrested for driving un-der the influence. Pachall, who is 15-2 as the starter for the Horned Frogs, was back in time for spring drills and will likely get his old job back.

Defensive end Devonte Fields, one of the top defenders in the league, will also be back on the field after he serves a two-game suspension.

In the scoreboard-busting Big 12, TCU is the one team that em-phasizes defense, allowing just 22.6 points a game last season

Kansas State appears to have some holes, but it’s not easy to count the Wildcats out after they surprised everybody by winning a Big 12 title in 2012.

Like many teams in the confer-ence, K-State is searching for a quarterback to replace Heisman fi-nalist Collin Klein.

Daniel Sams, the backup to Klein last year, is feeling some heat from junior college transfer Jake Waters. Sams, though, is a dual-threat guy who could run a similar attack to the one Klein perfected.

There’s also a major void to fill on defense in the form of Ar-thur Brown, a linebacker who was drafted in the second round by the Baltimore Ravens.

Bill Snyder, the Wildcats’ 73-year-old head coach, has proven his ability to reload in the past, and he has used the junior college route to find immediate help in the past.

He also has a solid running back in senior John Hubert, who could take some of the pressure off of K-State’s first-year signalcaller. Hubert rushed for 947 yards, the fourth most in the Big 12, and 15 touchdowns last season, averaging five yards per carry.

On defense, senior safety Ty Zimmerman will have to become a leader.

The Cyclones have been competi-tive every season since Paul Rhoads took over as Iowa State’s head coach in 2009, but they still haven’t put any consistent pressure on the teams at the top of the Big 12.

They finished 6-7 in each of the last two seasons, and this time around they’ll have to replace 11 starters, the most of any Big 12 teams.

Still, Rhoads seems confident this team is ready to go toe-to-toe with every opponent it will face.

And ISU fans have shown opti-mism as well, buying a school-record 43,000 season tickets for the 2013 season.

Part of that optimism comes from having a set starter at quarterback for the first time in the Rhoads era.

Sophomore Sam Richardson has just two career starts, but he threw eight touchdowns and only one inter-ception last year and made plays with both his arm and his legs.

Richardson certainly won’t have to do all of the running, though, with six running backs all looking for playing time in Rhoads’ physical offense. That depth should help ISU improve on last year's 150.1 rushing average.

Defense is a huge question for Iowa State. Last year, they ranked 109th nationally with only 15 sacks, and that was with since-graduated Jake Knott and A.J. Klein, two of the best linebackers in the conference.


QuartErbaCk battLE

By Michael Carvelli

THREE CONTENDERS FOR qB jOBChildress, Millard, Trickett each fighting for the starting spot

As West Virginia went into spring practice, it appeared that the battle to become the school’s next starting quarterback would be a two-horse race.

On one side, you had Paul Millard.The rising junior was one of the first recruits brought in when

Dana Holgorsen and his coaching staff arrived in 2011. Millard had spent his first two seasons at WVU backing up Geno Smith.

On the other side, Ford Childress.The redshirt freshman with all the physical tools that make

a successful quarterback. The 6-foot-5 signalcaller with a big arm came to WVU with the heavy expectations of becoming the quarterback of the future.

So the battle ensued. The two went back and forth through-out 14 practices and the yearly Gold-Blue Spring Game, but as the Mountaineers closed out the spring, no progress in naming a starter had been revealed.

Millard and Childress had battled to a stalemate, and there was still plenty for them to prove to the coaching staff before they were willing to hand the keys to the offense over to a new quarterback.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been 100 percent pleased with any quarterback, but they’re not where they need to be right now,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said during the spring.

“They still make inexperienced mistakes every day … There has never been a quarterback race more even than them.”

After not seeing anyone pull away during spring, the staff needed to do something to amp up the competition a little more. Something that would cause an even larger sense of urgency

among the two quarterbacks who were already on the roster.Enter Clint Trickett.A two-year backup to E.J. Manuel at Florida State who saw

some playing time as a redshirt freshman, Trickett made the de-cision to transfer to West Virginia for his final two seasons of eli-gibility in the state where he grew up when his father, Rick, was the offensive line coach for the Mountaineers (2001-06).

The chance to get to come home and play for the school he had also grown up watching was too much for him to turn down.

“During the second recruiting process, some of the schools were pretty quick to say (the job) is yours if you want it, and I didn’t really like that,” Trickett said. “You’re really going to have to compete wherever you go, and I didn’t really trust what those other coaches were saying.

“Dana just said, ‘Hey, I’m not promising you anything, but you’re going to get chances.’ That’s all I could ask for.”

Trickett’s road to Florida State started when he wasn’t re-cruited by WVU, which was still running an offense that relied on having a more mobile quarterback – something that didn’t fit Trickett’s playing style quite as well.

“I wanted to come here out of high school, but it didn’t work out. I didn’t really get recruited because it was such a different offense then,” he said. “When Geno left, I wanted to come here after the fall, but I failed a class and didn’t have enough credits, so I had to go back in the spring.

“I took a couple visits, but I knew I was coming here. It was a no-brainer. I’m from here, I’m a West Virginia kid, so it was easy.”

This is actually Trickett’s second competition for a starting job since the 2012 season ended. When he realized he had to stay at Florida State for the spring semester, he battled with highly touted freshman Jameis Winston to become the Seminoles’ starter.

Winston would go on to earn the starting job from Trickett.If he would have won the job at Florida State, Trickett would

have had quite the decision to make.“It would have been a little tougher,” Trickett said. “I would

have had to thoroughly sit down with my family. It was pretty much an easy one, though.”

Even though Holgorsen brought in Trickett after the spring, the quarterbacks who were there didn’t see it as a message that the coaches didn’t believe they could perform.

It was just a chance to go up against more competition and prove themselves as the guy who should run out with the first-team offense on Aug. 31 against William & Mary.

“It just opened up the competition even more,” Millard said.“I never thought that it was something about them not liking

what they saw. That never crossed my mind.”They all claim to be close off the field, and the three quarter-

backs even joke around with one another whenever they get some downtime in between drills during practice. But there’s al-ways a bit of uncomfortablility in a situation like this.

Even though they’re teammates, they still have a job to do. And that job involves competing, and eventually beating, the other two out to earn that position in the starting lineup.

“This has challenged all of us to not even take one snap off and just be as good as you can each snap,” Childress said. “I’m good friends with Paul and Clint. We all hang out all the time.

“But on the field, I’m not too fond of them.”On paper, Childress has all of the tools to become the starter

who fits in perfectly with Holgorsen’s offense. He’s bigger, stron-ger and his four years of eligibility means that he also might have the most amount of potential and upside moving forward.

But he has yet to take a single snap in a college game.

Millard had limited experience in his first two seasons as Smith’s backup, and although Trickett is new to the WVU of-fense, he was put in plenty of situations in big games at Florida State where he was needed to step up and make plays.

An injury to Manuel during Trickett’s freshman season at FSU thrust him into action against then-No. 1 Oklahoma and gave him his first career start against Clemson.

Millard has played in 11 games throughout his WVU career, primarily in mop-up duty for Smith once games have gotten out of hand. Last season, he completed nine of his 19 pass attempts for two touchdowns and threw a pick.

For his career, Millard has completed less than 50 percent of his passes (16-of-34) with three scores and three interceptions.

His biggest play came against Oklahoma State last season when he came on the field after Smith lost his helmet. Millard found Stedman Bailey for a 37-yard touchdown pass.

The experience at quarterback helps, for sure, but Holgorsen has said a major factor that will affect his decision is something you can’t measure. It has to be seen once they get out on the field and run the Mountaineers’ offense.

“They all make good decisions at times, but because of in-experience they make poor decisions that get them in trouble,” Holgorsen said. “The guy that reduces the poor decisions will be the guy that wins the job.”

The coaches and players believe that the way the offense is set up is simple enough that anyone – no matter how much ex-perience they have – can step in and have success. The system has proven to work throughout Holgorsen’s time at West Vir-ginia, Oklahoma State, Houston and Texas Tech.

Since Holgorsen became the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech, the only quarterback who hasn’t thrown for 4,000 yards has been former Red Raider quarterback and current Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

“With the simple offense, you can make an impact no matter how old you are,” Childress said. “It’s just nice to know the sys-tem can do that. It’s been proven time and time again, so what-ever happens, we know it’s going to be a productive offense.”

It’s going to come down to the intangible things like that ability to make a key decision or to have the poise and presence that a quarterback needs.

“The decision isn’t made on paper,” Dawson said. “You have to take into account the number of reps they’ve all had com-pared to each other. It just comes down to finding out who gives us the best chance to win, and that’s a decision we’ve got to make.”

As of right now, because of their experience in the offense, Millard and Childress have taken the most reps of the three. But they’ve tried to help Trickett get as much experience and as many reps as they possibly can in camp.

“We’re trying to give Clint more reps based on the fact that he hasn’t had a lot of reps,” Dawson said. “He is behind if you look at the whole number of reps that each guy has taken and the only way to get Clint up to speed is to give him more. That’s happening by design.”

FordChildress

“The closer it is, the harder it is. Those decisions aren’t easy when you’re talking about who is going to play and not going to play. It affects kids’ lives. Someone is going to be the guy and somebody is not." – Dana Holgorsen


QuartErbaCk battLE

And throughout that adjustment period, Trickett said that both Childress and Millard have been quick to help him with whatever he might need.

“They haven’t been like, ‘I’m not going to help you because you’re new.’ They’ve helped me learn how to handle Coach Dawson and Coach Holgorsen,” Millard said. “They’re good guys.”

And just like Trickett can look to the guys who have been at WVU, the other two can go to Trickett for advice as well because of his experience playing in big games.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Childress said. “He’s played in big games and he’s been through three years of college football, so he’s a good guy to be around and see what kind of tricks he can show me.”

The coaches have constantly talked about how this year’s team is looking to find leaders – something they didn’t have a season ago. And often times that leadership role tends to fall on the shoulders of the quarterback.

Replacing someone like Geno Smith, who was constantly ap-plauded by the coaching staff and his teammates for being a tremendous leader, will be difficult for anyone to do. But for the three signal callers competing to fill his shoes, it’s been difficult in a way to try to take over full leadership of the team without knowing for sure whether or not they’ll start.

“When you’re in a competition, it’s hard to be that guy,” Trick-ett said. “Naturally, I feel like I do have some leadership qualities in me and now I’m just showing my leadership through my ac-tions instead of my words.

“But whenever the decision is made – if I’m the guy – then the more vocal part of me will come out.”

While Trickett just got to WVU a few months ago and is still trying to win over his new teammates and become a leader, that’s a role that Millard spent most of his spring practice trying to perfect.

After waiting in the wings for Smith to leave for two seasons, Millard feels that his time has come.

“I’ve been here for two and a half years now, and one thing I pride myself in is my work ethic and how hard I work,” Millard said. “I’m a competitive guy, and I came here to play football. I didn’t want to come to school here and not play.

“It’s definitely different (than he expected), but it’s just like life. Life throws you curveballs and the best guys can hit those cur-veballs and poke them opposite field and run with it. That’s what I’m trying to do. I didn’t expect all that’s happened, but that’s what life’s about, so I just have to go out there and compete ev-ery day.”

Much like his older counterparts who made their decision to come to WVU when they noticed that they would have an opportunity to compete for the job, Childress saw that Smith would be on his way out after his true freshman sea-son. He knew it could give him four years to start.

And he’s hoping that’s the way the competition turns out.

“Obviously I want to start now,” Chil-dress said. “The whole reason I came here was because I had a great oppor-tunity to start for four years, and that’s what I’m planning on doing.

“It’s going to come down to find-ing someone who can lead the offense, and have everyone else look at you and know that you’re the guy who can really step up and do it.”

But it’s not just the quarterback posi-tion that West Virginia will have to figure out by the time the season starts, as the Mountaineers have also been trying to find the receivers for the quarterback to throw the ball to.

After losing Tavon Austin, Sted-man Bailey and J.D. Woods to the NFL, West Virginia wasn’t really sure about the depth it had at receiver. But with

newcomers like Kevin White emerging in the spring, KJ Myers, Jordan Thompson and Ivan McCartney providing the minimal experience they can and other new faces like Mario Alford, Ronald Carswell and Shelton Gib-son ready to make a name for themselves, it looks like WVU might have a decent amount of weapons to work with. But much like that quar-terback position, there isn’t much experience at the wide receiver position.

“I was pleasantly surprised (with the receiver depth) when I got here,” Trickett said. “When you lose those three guys who we lost, you’re worried about how much depth we’ve got. Es-pecially on the outside, we’re pretty deep.

“I came here for the spring game and I saw a little bit of it, but even then we didn’t have all of the guys we have now. Coach was like, ‘This team’s going to be a lot different than it is this spring.’ I trusted him about that, and he was right.”

When the Mountaineers wrapped up camp last week, the staff was still looking at the three quarterbacks and evaluating where they were. Holgorsen said the staff is getting closer to de-termining who their guy is going to be.

Holgorsen and Dawson made it a point to give each of the three quarterbacks an equal amount of reps with the first-team offense when the Mountaineers went into team sessions. They wanted to make sure that all three had the same opportunity to show that they had what it takes to take over if their name was called in a game.

But as the end of camp drew closer and closer, it became obvious that the Mountaineers needed to put a more exact timetable on when the decision would be made.

“Within the next few days, it’s over with,” Dawson said during the final week of preseason camp. “If you want to push and make a great impression, now’s the time to do it. It’s getting to the point where that’s the case on offense and with the defense too. Once the decision is made, a lot of kids know the decision before it’s even made.

“It’s pretty clear who’s playing well and who’s not," added WVU's offensive coordinator.

The important thing for those players is that, when they might not play as well as the other guys on certain days in practice, they bounce back and not dwell on the days that have passed. Holgorsen said they need to focus on the next day.

“I’ve said it since the beginning of camp, if you have a bad day you need to be prepared to come out and have a good day,” Holgorsen said.

“I anticipate that, by the end of practice, we’ll be 100 percent sure of the direction we’re going to go in.”

And a lot of signs point to Trickett, who was the one to take every snap with the first-team offense during the team session that media members got to watch toward the end of camp.

But like they have since they got to West Virginia, Holgorsen and his staff have played their cards close to the vest. They hav-en’t given many specifics on who has an edge, saying we’ll find out when the Mountaineers take the field Aug. 31.

They’ve seen Millard and Childress both make progress from where they were in the spring.

“Paul and Ford have elevated their game,” Holgorsen said. “Is that because there’s another competitive body or because they’ve had all spring and all summer and 17 days of camp to take reps?”

No matter what the reason might be, that progression has kept the task of making the final decision and naming their starter even tougher for the Mountaineer staff.

“The closer it is, the harder it is,” Holgorsen said. “Those deci-sions aren’t easy when you’re talking about who is going to play and not going to play. It affects kids’ lives. Someone is going to be the guy and somebody is not.

“And it’s hard to deal with if you’re not the guy.”

ClintTrickett

PaulMillard

were in or how they were supposed to adjust to offensive alignments. Those items will have to be addressed, of course, but the first year WVU coordinator was more concerned with those is-sues, like pursuit tech-niques, that are import-ant no matter what front or coverage is being run.

“Sometimes defen-sive staffs focus on add-ing so much defense …” Patterson said, trailing off as he contemplated the effects of overload-ing defenders with too many keys to process or alignments to consider.

“We kind of changed our approach and just did a basic install,” the defensive coordina-tor continued. “I think that forces you to em-phasize getting good at something. We’ve taken our teaching methods and the way we’ve in-stalled it and changed it. We went a week and a half and played nothing but base defense. If you cannot play base de-fense, you aren’t going to be a good defense. If I have to come out the first week and zone pressure or blitz, we’re in trouble. We’ve just played base fronts and base coverages. We’ve forced fits at time, but 90 percent of the time we were just bringing four and playing base coverage.”

The results have been good so far. Patterson noted that, com-bined with the work his squad did in the spring, that the natu-ral reactions and initial steps are good. Now he can really begin zoning in on the finest points of technique, and then add things like nickel and dime packages in the last few days of camp.

“Where we are now compared to the spring, we’re now fo-cused on that detail. Not on the responsibility, but how we get there,” he emphasized. “I sense we are getting into that attention to detail. That’s what I challenge our coaches with. If that guy is an nth of an inch from where he is supposed to be, then coach him. I think we have made huge strides, because we are coach-ing attention to detail. Footwork, reactions, pad level, power base – all those little things we can focus on because we aren’t adding scheme.”

Of course, West Virginia’s defense can’t just sit back, rush four guys and play deep thirds the whole game. Patterson, as well as anyone, knows that getting pressure on the quarterback and moving him off the spot are keys to combating pass happy Big 12 teams. However, it’s his belief that to get there, players must first be comfortable with the elements that lead to good play. He also wants his defense to create rather than react, which leads to the suspicion that there won’t be as many game-to-game ad-justments as there were a season ago. How that plays out re-mains to be seen, but for now, it’s pursuit – both literally and fig-uratively – that loom large in WVU’s defensive system.


sitEs & sigHts

Chasing improvement … and ballcarriersAs West Virginia chases an improved football record in 2013,

one of the key factors in achieving that goal is, coincidentally, pursuit. It’s a key element in changing the mindset and base per-formance of the defensive unit, and coordinator Keith Patterson has been emphasizing it with a series of drills this fall.

As is often the case, though, it’s not just the action of chas-ing a ballcarrier that is the subject of Patterson’s scrutiny. It’s the techniques and fundamentals that go into it that have him ex-positing like a professor in front of an auditorium full of students. (That is, in fact, precisely what he’s doing, although his pupils are on the field with him rather than holding down seats in a classroom.)

Take in any practice session at WVU this fall, and you’ll see the defense, both in position groups and as a whole, run what at first blush appears to be a strange combination of sprints on the field.

Without an opposing offense, the running seems to be almost random, but after a few repetitions, it becomes apparent that each player is working on his own initial assignment. Even then practicing pursuit angles, chasing down imaginary ball carriers, and finally sprinting to the end zone as if a turnover has been gained. Even simulated tackles, with appropriate arm wrap-up, are part of the drill. One of the keys is getting every player in the proper position from which he can execute his assignment and get on the correct path to track and pursue the ball carrier – fun-damentals which were lacking last year.

“So many times, pursuit is someone trying to make a play with all the right intentions, but playing outside the framework of the defense,” said Patterson, his voice gravelly from constant in-struction since the start of fall camp. “They are giving great ef-fort, but they aren’t playing smart. So, in pursuing the football, we are very detailed in how we are going to attack the ballcarrier in space. If you don’t work on that, you won’t get better at it. So we break it down to its smallest element.

“We work that, and then piece it together into the whole de-fense,” added Patterson. “For example, in some of those pur-suit drills we run in practice, we’ll take video clips of those, and then apply them to what a player might see in 11-on-11. We’ll show them something they did, and they’ll say, ‘That’s a track-ing drill coach.’ That way, everyone sees it and knows their responsibilities.”

That emphasis spreads to personal video study and the meet-ing room, as on-field practice time is limited. It’s the only way, in Patterson’s view, that something as fundamental as chasing the ball becomes second nature.

“You have to spend time and become a student of the game, and that’s where we’ve challenged our kids,” he rumbled. “You can’t just play by the seat of your pants.”

To assist in that effort, Patterson and the defensive staff also changed the way they taught the defense this year. Stealing a page from WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen’s playbook, Patter-son went to a shorter, more basic installation of his system.

In doing so, he was able to get his players to concentrate more on the techniques of playing than on what formation they

Kevin KinderThrough his website, BlueGoldNews.com, and the Blue & Gold News magazine, Kevin has covered West Virginia athletics for more than two decades.

By Kevin Kinder

Mountaineers In The NFLPlayer, Position Team Years In NFLTavon Austin, WR St. Louis Rams RStedman Bailey, WR St. Louis Rams RDon Barclay, OL Green Bay Packers 1Jeff Braun, OL Miami Dolphins RSelvish Capers, OL New York Giants 2Terence Garvin, LB Pittsburgh Steelers RNajee Goode, LB Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1Bruce Irvin, OLB Seattle Seahawks 1Will Johnson, FB Pittsburgh Steelers 1Adam Jones, DB Cincinnati Bengals 7Ellis Lankster, DB New York Jets 4Joey Madsen, OL Pittsburgh Steelers RPat McAfee, P Indianapolis Colts 5Ryan Mundy, DB New York Giants 5Ryan Nehlen Buffalo Bills RChris Neild, DL Washington Redskins 2Darius Reynaud, RB Tennessee Titans 5Kent Richardson, DB Cleveland Browns RGeno Smith, QB New York Jets RKeith Tandy, DB Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1J.T. Thomas, LB Chicago Bears 2Pat White, QB Washington Redskins 1J.D. Woods, WR Pittsburgh Steelers RCurrently on a Canadian Football League rosterScooter Berry, DL Montreal Alouettes 2Noel Devine, RB Montreal Alouettes 2Jock Sanders, WR Saskatchawn Roughriders 3Currently on an Arena Football League rosterJulian Miller, DB Utah Blaze RJoe Sykes, DL San Antonio Talons 2

ErikSlaughter


DEfEnsiVE sCHEME

By Matt Keller

COMMUNICATION KEy FOR PATTERSONWest Virginia’s defense during the last two seasons has mim-

icked the real estate market. It’s up, it’s down, it remains about space and location, location, location.

And despite the Mountaineer defense not utilizing either effec-tively during its inaugural trip through the Big 12 – playing and looking more out of place than at any time in the school’s recent history – there’s renewed optimism brewing in Morgantown.

That confidence percolates from the trifecta approach of first-year defensive coordinator Keith Patterson: direct upfield push and pressure, getting numbers to the ball, and tackling effec-tively in space. With that, the thought is that the turnovers will come.

It’s a “turned on it’s ‘eer” approach from that of Joe DeFor-est, West Virginia’s former coordinator turned special teams coach who harped upon creating turnovers while lessening the importance of total yardage and, perhaps the biggest detriment, actual defensive stops. Propriety dictates one should note that DeForest was forced to play eight true freshmen, and four of the redshirt variety, and that much of the mental issues were youthful indiscretion. Still, rely-ing upon the fickle mistress that is a turnover isn’t a statis-tically sound investment.

Consider: Houston and Oklahoma State, schools near and dear to WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen. Houston ranked No. 82 out of 120 FBS teams in turnover margin in 2011, then rose to fourth last year. DeForest’s own OSU squad was No. 1 in turnover margin in 2011, then fell to No. 58 last year.

A tipped pass, a fortunate bounce, a lucky deflection. Those are intangibles.

Patterson’s thought is a defense must be based upon more surefire principles, controllable ideals like swarming, tackling, sound reactions and physicality and fundamen-tals. And once that base is established, then the grip and strip tactics come into play. Turnovers cannot be the pri-mary object. They must be a bi-product of the primary.

“It’s an awareness issue more than anything,” Patter-son said. “It’s about being physical, more than anything. I think that’s how you cause turnovers. Getting people play-ing with tremendous effort and the more players you get around the ball, your chances for turnovers go up.”

Even that’s not the be-all, end-all. There’s more than one way to skin the proverbial cat.

“It’s been kind of interesting,” said Patterson, who also served as the defensive coordinator at Pitt and Tulsa. “There’s been years when we have been really incredi-ble at forcing turnovers. In years that we’re not, suddenly sacks and TFLs seem to go up. We talk about it all the time. It goes back to making players ball conscious. At-tacking the ball and ball carrriers and loose ball security in attacking the ball when we see it loose.”

There have been other changes as well. West Virginia is no longer playing head-up on opposing offensive linemen. Instead, they are “shading,” or aligning and playing gaps. And instead of taking initial sidesteps to create misdirection, as WVU did un-der DeForest, Patterson has preached direct slashing into the backfield for quicker disruption. The Mountaineers will still loop and stunt, but that aspect will be lessened in favor of chang-ing the line of scrimmage and pushing into the opposing pocket to create greater discomfort for opposing quarterbacks and ball carrriers.

But, again, the more-than-one-way matra holds. Like a tight, itchy sweater that doesn’t breathe … it can be the fit, the feel, the fabric.

“That’s the gist of our package,” Patterson explained. “We’re a multiple 3-4. That’s the way we’re personneled. Being multi-ple means we can move from a 3-4 scheme to a 4-3 scheme

to a 3-3 stack team. That’s a handful to prepare for in a week. If they see us send four down linemen onto the field, they prob-ably know what front and coverage is coming. But when you have those type guys, guys who can play with their hand on the ground, can stand up – and I think we might have a few of those guys – then when you move from a four-man front to a three-man with the same people on the field, that’s an issue.

“Some of that goes back to those tall, lengthy bodies. When you put that 6-foot-6 guy in proximity to the quarterback, he is still impacting him. Maybe impacting his vision, squeezing the throwing lane. When they drop, they don’t have to be great cover guys. Just their presence (affects offenses). Our (graduate assistant), Tanner Antle, he was 6-foot-4 and played that buck position (at Tulsa), but he could also play that willie linebacker

spot in the 3-3 stack. We were playing Boise, and he had that tall presence, and he would drop into the boundary and sit, and Kellen Moore would never throw the comeback route because of the length of him and his ability to jump. Once you get those body types, and you can move with some suddenness, and they have the length, they don’t have to be great cover guys. It’s hard to throw off of them.”

And with that change, Patterson noted, defenses need longer players.

Guys with significant wingspans who are multifaceted players and can move and morph into a myriad of positions and align-ments at a moment’s notice.

It’s exactly what West Virginia has been building, getting tall linebackers and defensive linemen in the last two classes.

It’s become a space game. The offense wants to create it, and the defense wants to elim-

inate it.

And what better way than the combination of speed and bod-ies who shrink the field, the space, the one indisputable advan-tage spread offenses are trying to exploit – simply by walking upon it.

“What we do on defense, everything that I like to try to do, are things the spread offense doesn’t like,” Patterson said. “That’s why I build our package to defend spread offenses.

"I don’t believe in ever letting an offense dictate," continued West Virginia's defensive coordinator. "That’s why we have a plan and adjustments for everything. Just because they line up in this, they can’t force me to do this. Just because they have a certain formation and structure, they are not going to force me to do this. I’m going to do this, this or this. Spread offenses are all about match-ups. Get the ball in this guy’s hand, in space,

versus a guy that I’m a better athlete than. If he misses, it’s a 10-yard gain. That’s the way the game has changed more than anything. Those are nothing but long handoffs. All the bub-ble screens, the tunnel screens, checking the backs out of the backfield and getting the ball quickly, to me, all those are long handoffs.

“We really challenge our players to become students of the game and understand the defense and what we are trying to ac-complish,” added Patterson. “It’s a process, and it takes time to do that. It’s being consistent every day. We have a communica-tion progression that we follow and talk about every day. I tell our players that a silent defense is a defeated defense. You have to be able to communicate. If you can’t communicate, that tells me you don’t understand what we are doing. You’re going to leave somebody playing on an island.”

And no man is one onto himself – at least that’s the hope in this latest reincarnation of the Mountaineer defense.

Each week, we present multiple up-dates on recruiting targets at Blue-GoldNews.com. Be sure to check out those reports, along with all of the late breaking information on the recruiting scene, at your top source for WVU athletics news. We also

provide game recaps of West Virginia’s football verbal commitments, with exclusive comments from selected players each week. It’s the perfect complement to the in-depth articles you read each week in the Blue & Gold News! Partnered with FOXSportsNEXT and Scout.com, BlueGoldNews.com provides the most comprehensive cover-age of West Virginia University athletics on the web. You can also fol-low us on Twitter (@BlueGoldNews) or on Facebook. at http://www.facebook.com/bluegoldnews


rECruiting rOunDup

By Kevin Kinder

A BAKER'S DOzEN WORTH OF COMMITSSince we last met, West Virginia’s 2014 football recruiting

class has more than doubled, jumping from six commitments as of June 19 to a baker’s dozen as of press time.

Three linemen and four defenders make up the seven most recent additions to the class.

The Mountaineers added four verbal commitments during the last week of July, with a pair of offensive linemen and two defen-sive players coming on board. Junior college cornerback Jaylon Myers (6-1, 190 lbs., Hutchinson CC/Hutchinson, Kan.) was the first, committing to WVU on the July 24, and he brings the height and size that defensive coordinator Keith Patterson is looking for, especially in the secondary. While length and wingspan are more commonly associated with basketball recruiting, Patter-son believes that those attributes can help against passing at-tacks by disrupting the quarterback’s vision and cutting down

on throwing lanes. Myers can do that, and he combines that skill with a physical style of play that allows him to execute

press coverage right off the line. A native of South Carolina,

Myers played at Georgia Mili-tary College, the alma mater of current WVU players Mario Al-ford and Brandon Golson, be-fore heading to Hutchinson for this season. That tie, which was mined by current WVU assistant coach Tony Gibson in the re-cruitment of Alford and Golson, has now yielded a third commit-ment for West Virginia.

The day after Myers’ pledge, the Mountaineers nabbed an-other juco when offensive line-man Justin Scott told the coach-ing staff he was committing. Scott (6-6, 285 lbs., Pierce College/Woodland Hills, Ca-lif.) had offers from schools across the nation, including Washington State, Wyoming, Cincinnati, Kansas and UTSA, and also had interest from Florida, Miami, Ten-nessee, Michigan State and Ohio State, among others. After visits to the Bearcat and Mountaineer campuses, though, he didn’t see the point of waiting any longer to make his choice.

“I just felt the love from everyone on my visit,” Scott told BlueGoldNews.com after his trip to WVU. “The players, the coaches, and everyone there. The facilities were fantastic, and I love that it’s a college town. I liked everything about my visit, so when I got back home I thought, ‘Why wait?’”

Like every other offensive line commitment of the past couple of years, Scott, who is a native of Detroit, Mich., stands tall. He’s also very nimble afoot, which should give him the chance to play tackle in Division I.

He’s held down the left tackle spot during his junior college ca-reer and should get more good work on the competitive Cali-fornia juco scene. He’s also a likely December graduate, which would give him a head start on his final two years of college eligi-bility, which he will have three years to complete.

Defense was on the agenda a few days later when Flor-ida native Tyree Owens tabbed West Virginia as his college destination.

A defensive end who shows speed and quickness throughout his game, Owens is still learning the nuances of playing the spot. But as he develops those techniques and skills, he could have a big impact on the edge. Evaluators love that potential, and have him pegged as the No. 55 defensive end in the country going into his senior season. So too did schools such as Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Virginia, Boston College, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, North Carolina State and Wisconsin, all of which made scholar-ship offers.

Owens (6-4, 240 lbs., Oviedo HS/Oviedo, Fla.) recorded 80 tackles and six sacks as a junior, and he is expected to exceed those numbers this year. His pursuit skills and ability to find the ballcarrier in traffic should make him more than just a pass rusher, and while it may take him a bit of time to develop he’s the kind of prospect that West Virginia has often been able to turn into a standout performer.

On the penultimate day of July, WVU went two-for-one, grab-bing a pair of offensive line commitments. The first, Walter Ra-uterkus, is a bit of an under-the-radar prospect from Avon, Ohio, but there’s nothing inconspicuous about his size.

At 6-foot-6, 285 pounds and still growing, the tackle prospect stands out even among his fellow offensive linemen. He also has drawn notice for his pass protection ability in Avon’s spread of-fense, which is very similar to West Virginia’s Air Raid implemen-tation, and he believes that yet another year in that system will help him prepare for college.

Rauterkus acknowledges that he’ll probably be destined for a redshirt, but he has no problem with that decision should it come.

“I think Coach Crook saw my potential,” Rauterkus told Blue-GoldNews.com the day he committed. “I don’t think I’m done growing, and I can add a lot more weight with my size. I haven’t gotten anywhere near my peak yet.”

Another lineman, Jamie Herr of Eastern Christian Academy, joined the Mountaineer commitment parade. He follows cur-rent Mountaineer freshmen Daikiel Shorts and Wendell Small-wood from that Maryland prep power, and chose WVU over of-fers from Florida State, Syracuse, Tennessee, Boston College, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Rutgers. Herr (6-5, 265 lbs., East-ern Christian Academy/Elkton, Md.), like Rauterkus, plays in the same sort of offense as WVU, and thinks that, along with his rap-port with his former and future teammates, will help him accli-mate quickly.

“I talk to Daikiel and Wendell almost weekly,” Herr told FOX-SportsNEXT. “They’re my teammates, so I felt if I went out there with them, they’ll treat me the way they did in high school, and I’d have fun with them out there.”

In the first week of August, WVU pulled in a pair of lineback-ers to bring its current commitment total to 13. The first, Davonte James, had listed West Virginia as his leader for quite some time, and while he played out the suspense a bit during his announce-ment, it came as no surprise when he tabbed the Mountaineers.

“I loved the family environment and everything about their ath-letic facilities,” he told FOXSportsNEXT. “It definitely helps to have seen players like Darrien Howard and others before him go to West Virginia. I also liked the fact they play some of the top teams in the nation like Texas, Oklahoma and others.”

James (6-3, 225 lbs., Springfield HS/Springfield, Ohio) also had offers from GA Tech, Cincinnati, Purdue, Illinois and Indiana.

Completing the duo was enthusiastic Devante Averette (6-0, 218 lbs., Ellsworth CC/Iowa Falls, Iowa). A very active player who racked up 79 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 15 TFLs as a freshman, he too is slated to graduate in December and enroll at West Virginia in January of 2014. A potential spur on the WVU defense, Aver-ette can truly play all over the field, having taken snaps at defen-sive end, outside linebacker, inside linebacker and even corner-back at Ellsworth.

West Virginia’s Football Commitments For The Class of 2014Player Pos. Ht. Wt. 40 School–HometownClass of 2014Devante Averette LB 6-0 218 4.5 Ellsworth (IA) C.C.–Melvindale, MIAmanii Brown OL 6-5 264 5.0 Morgantown H.S.–Morgantown, WVWilliam Crest QB 6-4 190 4.6 Dunbar H.S.–Baltimore, MDJamie Herr OL 6-5 265 5.1 Eastern Christian Acad.–Elkton, MDDavonte James LB 6-3 220 4.6 Springfield H.S.–Springfield, OHJosh Krok OL 6-8 290 5.2 McKinley H.S.–Niles, OHJacob McCrary WR 6-0 175 4.5 Coral Reef H.S.–Miami, FLJaylon Myers DB 6-1 190 4.4 Hutchinson (KS) C.C.–Augusta, SCTyree Owens DE 6-4 240 4.7 Oviedo H.S.–Oviedo, FLLamar Parker WR 5-9 165 4.4 Booker T. Washington H.S.–Miami, FLWalter Rauterkus OL 6-6 285 5.0 Avon H.S.-Avon, OHRicky Rodgers WR 6-2 195 4.5 Gateway H.S.–Monroeville, PAJustin Scott OL 6-6 285 5.1 Pierce (CA) C.C.–Detroit, MIClass of 2015Stone Wolfley TE 6-4 240 4.7 Morgantown H.S.–Morgantown, WVJovon Durante WR 6-1 185 4.5 Jackson H.S.–Miami, FL

DavonteJames


COMMEntarY

FROM THE STANDSwith Kevin DiGregorio

WVU fans divided on the football season to comeI’ve come across two schools of thought in my limited trav-

els in and around various parts of Mountaineer country over the past few months.

One says that the West Virginia University football team will be lucky to win four games in the upcoming season. The other says WVU will shock the prognosticators, and much of the world, and win at least 10.

Hmmm.

I think they’re all wrong. That also suggests you are all wrong, as I’ve come across exactly zero people who fall in the mid-dle of those two extremes. Now, I realize some pundits and would-be pundits have forecast a more mundane six-, seven- or eight-win season for the Mountaineers in various media out-lets, but I haven’t talked to any of those folks personally. No, according to my completely unscientific and perhaps too unreli-able pseudo poll of WVU fans across the state – and to a much lesser extent, across the country – the Mountaineers will finish the year at 4-8. Or 10-2.

“Do you think they can even get that many wins?” Bart asked me the other day at the gym. It was at least the 10th time he’s asked that in recent months.

“Seriously, four wins is all I see,” he continued. “William & Mary is a given. Georgia State is a lock. Then … I don’t know … maybe Maryland and Kansas. Can they beat Maryland this year?”

They can, I assure him. And there are other wins on the schedule besides that. More on that later.

Then there’s Dan. Like Bart, he gives me his prediction for the upcoming Mountaineer football season almost every time I see him at the gym. And I see him often.

“I’m telling you,” he said one day last week, “the Mountain-eers are going to be good. They’re going to surprise everyone. They’re going to get 10 wins … at least.”

(I always wonder whether Dan and Bart ever run into each other at the gym.)

I said nothing verbally but apparently said a lot with my facial expression or body language or both.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Dan asked. “You wait and see. The only losses are Okla-homa away and either Oklahoma State at home or Texas at home. Ten wins. I guaran-tee it.”

That’s not a good guarantee, I suggest to him. It’s not a good bet. There are more losses on the schedule than just those. But more on that later.

Ed agrees with me. Sort of. “It doesn’t look good for the Mountaineers,”

he tells me.But like Bart, Ed goes overboard. “I

don’t see more than four or five wins on the schedule.”

There are more, I suggest to him. You just have to believe.

Ron concurs, sort of. “I don’t see more than three losses,” he

says. “And with a few breaks, WVU will lose only one or two.”

That’s too optimistic, I propose. West Virginia is not that good.

And so it goes, with Jeff and Michael and Anne and … well … name someone. Or someone I’ve talked to in my completely unscientific poll.

I even ran into someone in Tennessee who told me WVU would turn things around this year and put up big numbers in terms of wins.

And then there was a guy in North Carolina who assured me the Mountaineers would be lucky to compete with anyone in the Big 12. And then there was another guy in Tennessee, sev-eral more in North Carolina, a few in Pennsylvania and even one in Mississippi. But none of them said anything different. They all thought the Mountaineers would either win about four or about 10, nothing in between

In my now 20 years of writing this column – and yes, this of-ficially begins the 21st year of “From the Stands” – and my 34

years of missing very few home football games at WVU, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such polarization among the faithful. Nor-mally, everyone falls into the same camp. Or at least, there is a heavy lean in one direction or another. Either the Mountaineers are going to win 10 or 11, or they’re going to win eight or nine, or they’re going to be lucky to win five or six most fans believe.

Not this year.And so, this year everyone will be wrong. That’s my guess. As I said in the prediction piece of this issue, “WVU will finish

7-5. Or 6-6. Or maybe 8-4. I’m not smart enough to know, but I believe WVU will be average to a cut slightly above that.”

I come to that conclusion three ways. First, I think the Mountaineers will be better defensively than

last year (which admittedly is not saying much, as last year’s squad was perhaps the worst defensive team I’ve seen in Mor-gantown) but will also be less explosive offensively, having lost Geno Smith, Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin. Simply put, WVU will be a pretty decent team but not one that can come close to running the table.

Second, when I quickly count the wins and losses on the schedule I come up with an 8-4 record. I see four sure wins (Wil-liam & Mary, Georgia State, Maryland and Kansas), two sure losses (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State), and six toss-ups or pos-sible victories. Out of those, I think WVU will beat Texas, Texas Tech and Iowa State at home and win at least one on the road out of Baylor, Kansas State and TCU. That puts them at 8-4, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the record shrink a game or two with WVU finishing at 7-5 or even 6-6.

Third, if you take the mean from my completely unscientific poll – averaging 10-2 with 4-8 – you get a record of 7-5. Simple math.

In the end, what I can say for sure is something that I in-cluded in my prediction and almost always say when I have to make a forecast for WVU’s season – I’m not smart enough to know.

I don’t think anyone else is either.See you in the stands.

Kevin DiGregorioA native of Charleston and 1983 West Virginia University graduate, Kevin has been a columnist for the Blue & Gold News since 1992

Shelton Gibson


VarsitY spOrts rEpOrt

By Greg McCracken

ON yOUR MARK, GET SET … GO

2013 WOMEN’S SOCCERTue. Aug. 13 Rutgers (exhibition) .......................(W, 3-0)Sat. Aug. 17 at Georgetown (exhibition) ............(W, 1-0)Fri. Aug. 23 at Penn State ............................... 7:30Sun. Aug. 25 vs. Syracuse (Penn State) .................. 2:30Fri. Aug. 30 Central Michigan .......................... 5:00Sun. Sept. 1 Morehead State ........................... 1:00Fri. Sept. 6 at Duke ......................................... 6:00Sun. Sept. 8 vs. North Carolina (Duke) ............11 a.m.Fri. Sept. 13 Eastern Kentucky ......................... 5:00Sun. Sept. 15 Kentucky ...................................... 1:00Fri. Sept. 20 Richmond ..................................... 7:00Sun. Sept. 22 Wright State ................................. 1:00Fri. Sept. 27 at Oklahoma State* ...................... 8:00Sun. Sept. 29 at Baylor* ..................................... 1:00Fri. Oct. 4 Texas* .......................................... 7:00Fri. Oct. 11 Iowa State*................................... 7:00Sun. Oct. 13 TCU .............................................. 1:00Fri. Oct. 18 Kansas ......................................... 7:00Fri. Oct. 25 at Oklahoma................................. 8:00Sun. Oct. 27 at Texas Tech ............................... 7:00Nov. 6, 8 & 10 at Big 12 Tourney (Kansas City) ...........TBA

* Indicates Big 12 Conference opponent2013 MEN’S SOCCER

Sun. Aug. 18 Ohio State (exhibition) ..................(W, 1-0)Fri. Aug. 23 at Villanova (exhibition) ...................... 4:00Fri. Aug. 30 Central Connecticut State ............ 7:30Mon. Sept. 2 Radford ........................................ 2:30Fri. Sept. 6 at Georgetown ............................. 4:00Sun. Sept. 8 at Indiana ..................................... 7:30Mon. Sept. 13 Wright State ................................. 7:30Sun. Sept. 15 at St. John’s ................................. 7:00Sat. Sept. 21 Michigan ....................................... TBDWed. Sept. 25 Penn State ................................... 7:00Sun. Sept. 29 Akron* .......................................... 7:00Sat. Oct. 5 Northern Illinois*........................... TBDTue. Oct. 8 Stony Brook ................................. 7:00Fri. Oct. 11 at Hartwick* .................................. 7:00Tue. Oct. 15 High Point .................................... 7:00Sat. Oct. 19 Georgia State ............................... TBDTue. Oct. 22 at American .................................. 3:00Sat. Oct. 26 Western Michigan* ....................... 7:00Fri. Nov. 1 at Buffalo* .................................... 7:30Fri. Nov. 8 Bowling Green* ............................ 7:00Fri. Nov.15 MACsemifinals(at No. 1 seed) ........... TBDSun. Nov.17 MACfinals(at No. 1 seed) ................... TBD

* Indicates Mid-American Conference opponent2013-14 MEN’S BASKETBALL

Mon. Nov. 4 Fairmont State (exhibition) .................. TBAFri. Nov. 8 Mount St. Mary’s ........................... TBATue. Nov. 12 at Virginia Tech (ESPN) .................... 1:00Sun. Nov. 17 Duquesne...................................... TBAThu. Nov. 21 Georgia Southern.......................... TBASat. Nov. 23 Presbyterian .................................. TBATue. Nov. 26 vs. Old Dominion (Cancun)(CBS SN) ..... TBAWed. Nov. 27 vs. Wisc./St. Louis (Cancun)(CBS SN) ... TBAMon. Dec. 2 Loyola ........................................... TBAThu. Dec. 5 at Missouri (ESPN2) .......................... 7:00Tue. Dec. 10 Gonzaga (ESPNU) ............................ TBASat. Dec. 14 vs. Marshall (Charleston) ..................... TBASun. Dec. 22 Purdue (ESPNU) ............................... TBASun. Dec. 29 vs. William & Mary (Charleston) .......... TBASat. Jan. 4 at TCU (Big 12 Network) ........................ 4:00Mon. Jan. 6 at Texas Tech (ESPNU) ..................... 7:00Sat. Jan. 11 Oklahoma State (Big 12 Network) ......... 4:00Mon. Jan. 13 Texas (ESPNU) .................................. 7:00Sat. Jan. 18 at Kansas State (Big 12 Network) .......... 1:30Wed. Jan. 22 Texas Tech (Big 12 Network) ................. 8:00Sat. Jan. 25 at Oklahoma State (ESPN or ESPN2) .... 2:00Tue. Jan. 28 at Baylor (ESPN2) ............................. 7:00Sat. Feb. 1 Kansas State (Big 12 Network) .............. 1:30Wed. Feb. 5 Oklahoma (ESPNU) ........................... 7:00Sat. Feb. 8 at Kansas (ESPN) ............................. 4:00Mon. Feb. 10 Iowa State (ESPNU) .......................... 7:00Sat. Feb. 15 at Texas ......................................... TBASat. Feb. 22 Baylor (Big 12 Network) ......................... 1:30Wed. Feb. 26 at Iowa State (Big 12 Network) .............. 8:00Sat. March 1 TCU ............................................... TBAWed. March 5 at Oklahoma (ESPNU) ....................... 9:00Sat. March 8 Kansas (ESPN or ESPN2) .................... noonMarch 12-15 Big 12 Championships (Kansas City)... TBA

Remainder of games times & TV slate will be released at a later date

2013 FOOTBALLSat. Aug. 31 William & Mary (Fox Sports 1) ............noonSat. Sept. 7 at Oklahoma* (FOX) ........................7:00Sat. Sept. 14 Georgia State (Mountaineer Network) .....noonSat. Sept. 21 vs. Maryland (Baltimore’s M&T Stadium) ... TBASat. Sept. 28 Oklahoma State* .......................... TBASat. Oct. 5 at Baylor* ...................................... TBASat. Oct. 19 Texas Tech* .................................. TBASat. Oct. 26 at Kansas State*........................... TBASat. Nov. 2 at TCU* ......................................... TBASat. Nov. 9 Texas* ........................................... TBASat. Nov. 16 at Kansas* .................................... TBASat. Nov. 30 Iowa State* ...................................TBA

2013 VOLLEYBALLSat. Aug. 24 Gold/Blue scrimmage................... TBDFri. Aug. 30 vs. Eastern Illinois (Toledo) ......... 10 a.m.Fri. Aug. 30 vs. Loyola-Chicago (Toledo) ............. 5:00Sat. Aug. 31 at Toledo ...................................... 2:00Fri. Sept. 6 Norfolk State ............................... noonFri. Sept. 6 Canisius ....................................... 6:30Sat. Sept. 7 Fordham ...................................... noonSat. Sept. 7 Navy ............................................. 6:30Fri. Sept. 13 at Morehead State ....................... 7:00Sat. Sept. 14 vs. Campbell (Morehead State) ........11 a.m.Sat. Sept. 14 vs. Hampton (Morehead State) ............. 4:30Tue. Sept. 17 at Duquesne................................. TBDFri. Sept. 20 Liberty .......................................... 1:00Fri. Sept. 20 Georgetown ................................. 6:30Sun. Sept. 22 UMBC .......................................... 1:00Fri. Sept. 27 Kansas State* .............................. 6:30Wed. Oct. 2 at TCU* ........................................ TBDSat. Oct. 5 at Texas Tech* .............................. 2:00Wed. Oct. 9 Baylor* ......................................... 6:30Sat. Oct. 12 at Iowa State*............................... TBDWed. Oct. 16 Robert Morris ............................... 6:30Sat. Oct. 19 Kansas*........................................ TBDWed. Oct. 23 Texas* (ESPNU) ............................... 7:00Sat. Oct. 26 at Oklahoma* ............................... TBDTue. Oct. 29 Marshall ....................................... 6:30Sat. Nov. 2 Texas Tech* .................................. TBDWed. Nov. 6 at Kansas*.................................... TBDSat. Nov. 9 at Kansas State* .......................... TBDWed. Nov. 13 Iowa State*................................... 6:30Sat. Nov. 16 TCU* ............................................ TBDThu. Nov. 21 at Texas* ...................................... TBDSat. Nov. 23 at Bayor* ...................................... TBDWed. Nov. 27 Oklahoma* ................................... TBDSat. Nov. 30 at Buffalo ...................................... TBDDec. 5-21 vs. NCAA Tournament .................. TBD

2013-14 WOMEN’S BASKETBALLFri. Nov. 1 Concord (exhibition) ............................ TBAFri. Nov. 8 Ohio State ..................................... TBAFri. Nov. 15 vs. Mississippi (Honolulu, Hawaii) .......... TBASat. Nov. 16 vs. Washington St. (Honolulu, Hawaii) ... TBASun. Nov. 17 vs. Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii) ...........................TBASun. Nov. 24 Virginia .......................................... TBASat. Nov. 30 at Youngstown State ..................... TBATue. Dec. 3 Coppin State ................................. TBASat. Dec. 7 Fairleigh Dickinson........................ TBASat. Dec. 14 Marshall (Charleston) .......................... TBAWed. Dec. 18 Delaware State ............................. TBASat. Dec. 21 at Duquesne.................................. TBASun. Dec. 29 vs. Elon (Charleston) ........................... TBAThu. Jan. 2 at Kansas ...................................... TBASat. Jan. 4 at Oklahoma State ........................ TBAWed. Jan. 8 Baylor ............................................ TBASun. Jan. 12 Texas ............................................. TBAWed. Jan. 15 at Iowa State ................................. TBASat. Jan. 18 Oklahoma ...................................... TBAWed. Jan. 22 at Texas Tech ................................ TBASat. Jan. 25 at Texas ......................................... TBAWed. Jan. 29 Iowa State ..................................... TBASat. Feb. 1 at TCU ........................................... TBASat. Feb. 8 Kansas State................................. TBAThu. Feb. 13 at Oklahoma.................................. TBASun. Feb. 16 TCU ............................................... TBAWed. Feb. 19 Oklahoma State ............................ TBASat. Feb. 22 at Kansas State............................. TBAWed. Feb. 26 Texas Tech .................................... TBASun. March 2 at Baylor ........................................ TBATue. March 4 Kansas .......................................... TBAMarch 7-10 Big 12 Championship (Okla. City) ....... TBA

Mountaineer Scoreboard

This past weekend in Morgantown, traffic was moving slow, lines at the stores were long and good luck get-ting seated in a restaurant without at least a 30-minute wait.

In Morgantown, those are all the signs that another academic year at West Virginia University is underway. It also means that the fall WVU ath-letic teams are ready to kickoff their respective seasons.

Leading the way will be the highly successful women’s soccer program under the direction of head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, who is in her 18th season at WVU. The Mountaineers are looking to repeat the success of their first year in the Big 12 Confer-ence, which saw them win the reg-ular-season championship. The Big 12 coaches have already tabbed the Mountaineers as the team to beat this season when seven of the nine coaches voted WVU first in the Big 12 preseason poll.

Texas Tech received the other two first place votes and is picked to finish second. The Mountaineers return nine starters from last year’s squad, and WVU’s goals are the same as they are every year – win the conference championship and make the NCAA Tournament.

The coaches also voted five WVU players to the preseason All-Big 12 team. Senior midfielder Kara Blosser, senior forward Frances Silva, junior defender Jess Crowder, junior Kate Schwindel and freshman Ashley Law-rence all made the squad. A native of Toronto, Lawrence was the only first-year player to earn a spot on the pre-season squad.

As usual, the Mountaineers will be playing a tough schedule. It starts Aug. 23 when the Mountaineers com-pete in the Penn State Invitational. First up will be the fourth-ranked Nit-tany Lions and then a matchup with Syracuse on Aug. 25.

WVU’s men’s soccer team finished 9-6-2 in 2012 but missed the NCAA Tournament, so the goal this year is to get back to the postseason. Head coach Marlon LeBlanc had a se-nior-heavy team last season that just didn’t find a way to win enough of the crucial games. His team is younger this season, but he played many freshmen last season and believes that will pay dividends this fall.

“We’ve got a good group,” noted LeBlanc. “I think we’re at the point

now where we’re probably never re-building but more so retooling. The in-coming guys are going to very good. Part of that is when you lose a big class, you bring a big class in.”

Leading WVU this year will be junior forward Andy Bevin, a second-team all Mid-American Conference pick last season. LeBlanc also believes that Ryan Cain, Jamie Merriam and Ma-jed Osman will join Bevin in leading the Mountaineer offensive attack. The coach knows that he has some work to do to rebuild his midfield and de-fensive backfield.

“Defensively, I’m not that con-cerned, because our coaching of our defenders is pretty good,” said LeB-lanc. “We were in the top five in the country in fewest shots allowed last year. We’ve always been a stingy de-fensive team, and we’re not going to concede a whole lot of goals.”

The WVU volleyball team is also hard at work and focused on get-ting its first-ever Big 12 win this sea-son. Last year was tough for a young West Virginia squad, which was 0-16 in the Big 12 and 8-22 overall. But the Mountaineers do return all six starters from last season. The team received some exciting news recently when ESPNU announced that it will tele-vise West Virginia’s match against the defending national champions Texas Longhorns on Oct. 23 live from the WVU Coliseum.

“We are excited to be a part of an-other program first for WVU volleyball this season with our program’s first televised match,” said head coach Jill Kramer. “Joining the Big 12 Con-ference has certainly elevated the national exposure for our volleyball program.”

Head coach Sean Cleary of the women’s cross country team an-nounced last week that he has hired former Mountaineer Erin O’Reilly as an assistant coach.

O’Reilly, a 1993 West Virginia Uni-versity graduate, has spent the last 10 seasons as an assistant at Bos-ton College. She was a member of the Mountaineer coaching staff from 1994-2002.

“It’s very exciting to have Erin come back and join the staff here,” said Cleary. “While she spent some time in Boston progressing her coaching ca-reer, she has always been a Moun-taineer, and our student-athletes will benefit greatly by having her on staff."


rants 'n raVEs

By Bob Bucy

GETTING REACqUAINTED WITH OLD FRIENDS

West Virginia’s football team may have left behind a lot of old rivals when it moved to the Big 12, but it is trying to reconnect with its traditional foes.

WVU director of athletics Oliver Luck announced last month the Mountaineers’ football rivalry with Virginia Tech will be re-newed for a two-game series beginning in 2021.

“During my three years as athletic director at West Virginia University, I have heard from legions of Mountaineer fans, par-ticularly those in the Southern part of the state, who have ex-pressed their strong sentiments to renew the football rivalry with Virginia Tech,” Luck said. “This game is great for college football. We all know that the two schools have extraordinary fan bases, and both schools will be counting down the days until the Hok-ies and the Mountaineers meet again.

“I want to thank Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver and Coach Frank Beamer for their efforts in helping to get the two teams back on the football field. It will be a great day for all involved when the rivalry is renewed.”

Both schools will battle for the Black Diamond Trophy once again, starting with the 2021 game being played in Morgan-town on Sept. 18, with the second year of the deal taking place in 2022 in Blacksburg on Sept. 24. The Black Diamond Tro-phy, which was started in 1997, went to the winner of the annual game, and was used as a symbol of the Appalachian region’s rich coal history.

WVU last played Virginia Tech in 2005, with the Hokies claim-ing a 34-17 decision in Morgantown. The series eventually ended as Virginia Tech left the Big East Conference to begin its current membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as con-tests in 2004 and 2005 were played as non-conference games. When the series resumes in 2021, there will be a 16-year hiatus in the border rivalry.

The series has been played 51 times, beginning in 1912 with West Virginia owning a 28-22-1 overall advantage. The Moun-taineers own a 16-9 record in games played in Morgantown and 5-1 in games played at a neutral site, while Virginia Tech has a 12-7-1 mark in games played in Blacksburg.

The most current portion of the series was played every year from 1973 until 2005, a span of 33 years. The Mountaineers edged the Hokies during that time, 17-16.

Virginia Tech is not the only old rival WVU is hoping to face again. Luck recently said that he is negotiating with counterparts at both Pitt and Penn State in hopes of renewing those series, at least on a two-game basis.

* * * * * *West Virginia University officials recently announced a broad

partnership with IMG College designed to bring new national and corporate support and brand recognition to the University’s athletic program. The agreement is effective with the 2013-14 academic year.

The 12-year agreement, guaranteed to pay to WVU more than $80 million over 12 years, plus revenue-sharing opportunities over the length of the partnership, includes management of lo-cal game broadcasts and coaches’ shows for radio and televi-sion; publications such as media guides and schedules; digital platforms including social media and web sites; corporate spon-sorships; at-event promotions and game day hospitality; stadium and venue signage including scoreboards and ribbon boards; and advertising in university-owned and leased athletic facilities.

WVU retains some existing sponsorships with corporate enti-ties such as athletic apparel and footwear, health care, financial services and pouring rights.

“It was time for WVU Athletics to grow our multimedia and sponsorship sales, especially with our recent move to the Big 12 Conference,” said West Virginia’s director of athletics Oliver Luck. “With the resources, services and proven track record that IMG College brings, WVU now has the opportunity to expand its revenue base by engaging new national sponsors while building our athletic and university brand. I’m extremely pleased with this move.”

WVU joins several other Big 12 schools that have partnerships with IMG College, including Baylor, Kansas, TCU and Texas. IMG currently represents more than 90 universities nationwide as well as the NCAA and its 88 championships.

“West Virginia athletics under the direction of Oliver Luck has done a great job building its corporate partner program, and we’re thrilled to add our resources to expand on these efforts,” said Ben Sutton, president of IMG College. “West Virginia is one of last major schools to handle multimedia and sponsorship sales in house. The university’s decision to entrust IMG to grow its sponsor and revenue base while building the school brand continues to validate IMG’s collegiate services and burgeoning national marketing platform.”

Under the contract, IMG will identify a dedicated team to be based in Morgantown.

Also, radio broadcasts will move to IMG Audio, the largest in-dependent radio network in the U.S. IMG will partner with West Virginia Media Holdings to develop television inventory, includ-ing coaches shows and other ancillary TV programming to be determined.

* * * * * *The outsourcing of WVU’s multi-media rights, which since

the mid-1960s had been handled in-house by the Mountaineer Sports Network, will mean some changes in terms of radio sta-tions that will broadcast the game, the content that will be avail-able, etc.

But one thing that won’t change is the play-by-play announcer for WVU football and men’s basketball.

Tony Caridi, who has handled those duties for MSN since 1996, will remain as the chief announcer for the new network, which will be known as the Mountaineer Sports Network by IMG.

Besides his play-by-play duty, Caridi will host the sports’ re-spective coaches’ shows. Caridi will also host a television show to be developed covering WVU sports.

Under terms of Caridi’s agreement, he will continue to appear on “Northside Automotive Statewide Sportsline,” a popular radio show on the MetroNews Radio Network airing weeknights from 6-7 p.m.

Caridi’s recent broadcast partners on MSN – Dwight Wallace (color) and Jedd Drenning (sidelines) – also are expected to be part of the crew with IMG.

“I’m excited to continue my relationship with the Mountain-eer Sports Network from IMG and the wonderful and passionate fans that love the Mountaineers,” Caridi said. “It’s an honor and privilege to be associated with a network that’s always been re-spected as one of the nation’s best, particularly as coverage of Mountaineer sports now expands.”

Caridi, who began working with MSN in 1987, initially doing play-by-play of television games and also working as a feature reporter, is a multiple winner of the state’s Sportscaster of the Year Award.

“Following our recent agreement with WVU to carry Moun-taineer sports, we had two immediate objectives: to quickly build our affiliate network, and bring Tony Caridi back to the booth calling Mountaineers sports,” said Joe Potter, Senior Vice Presi-dent, Operations for IMG College. “Over the past several weeks, affiliate pick up has been extremely strong, and now we’re abso-lutely thrilled Tony has committed to our broadcasts.”

* * * * * *West Virginia men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins an-

nounced last month that Aaric Murray, who would have been a senior this coming season, is no longer with the program.

“We came to a mutual agreement that it would be in his best interest to finish his collegiate career somewhere else,” said Huggins.

Murray, who graduated in May from WVU, averaged 8.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game last year as a junior.

Future WVU Football Schedules2014

Home – Towson, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas StateAway – Maryland, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa StateNeutral – Alabama (8/30 in Atlanta, Ga.)

2015Home – Liberty, East Carolina, Maryland, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa StateAway – Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas State

2016Home – Maryland, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas StateAway – East Carolina, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa StateNeutral – BYU (9/14, Landover)

2017Home – East Carolina, TBA, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa StateAway – Maryland, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas State

2018Home – TBA, TBA, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas StateAway – East Carolina, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa State

2019Home – TBA, TBA, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa StateAway – Maryland, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas State

2020Home – TBA, TBA, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas StateAway – TBA, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa State

2021Home – Virginia Tech, TBA, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa StateAway – TBA, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas State

2022Home – TBA, TBA, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas, Kansas StateAway – Virginia Tech, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa State

*All dates and games are subject to change

RonaldCarswell


OLiVEr LuCk intErViEW

By Michael Carvelli

WVU'S READIES FOR yEAR TWO IN THE BIG 12One on one with WVU's director of athletics

It’s been more than a year since West Virginia University made the move from the Big East to the Big 12 Conference. The Blue & Gold News recently sat down for an exclusive interview with the man who played a big role in getting WVU into its new con-ference, director of athletics Oliver Luck.

In the first part of that conversation, Luck discusses the grow-ing pains that came with the first year in the new conference, WVU’s agreement with IMG and the possibility of the power con-ferences branching off and forming a new, separate federation under the NCAA umbrella.

* * * * * *Blue & Gold News – Getting ready for year two in the Big 12,

what are your thoughts on the Big 12 and what did you learn that you can use in the second year?

Oliver Luck – I think the biggest shock, if you will, that we had to learn is that the Big 12 is deep. I’m talking about all sports. Even if there are only three other wrestling programs or two gymnastics programs, they’re all good.

As I’ve said before, we had to learn that our B-game or our C-game was not necessarily good enough on any given day. We’ve got to bring our A-game. That’s, to be honest, a little bit different than our history in the Big East.

(Women’s soccer head coach) Nikki Izzo-Brown, she’s a great coach, and they did really well (last year) and won a Big 12 Con-

ference championship. I asked her after the season, now that you’ve had the time to reflect on it, what’s the biggest difference. And she said, well, in the old Big East, there were some pretty good women’s soccer teams like Notre Dame – which is typically a top-10, top-15 program – and it’d be a tough game that we might win or tie, whatever, but we’d fight and scratch and claw and get out of there with a 1-1 tie. But then we’d go play Provi-dence and we’d win 4-0. In this conference, every week we have a Notre Dame.

That’s evident because we won the regular season champion-ship and then got bounced in the first game of the tournament. We were the No. 1 seed, and I think TCU was the No. 8, and we lost 2-0. I was at that game, and we played poorly. That’s really the biggest challenge that, quite honestly, all the teams face.

When you look at wrestling, where we’ve had historically a pretty good program because we can recruit Pennsylvania well, and the Eastern Wrestling League was good and all of a sudden, over the years, you’re comparing yourself against Edinboro and Shippensburg and Clarion. Nothing against those schools, but in a lot of cases, they don’t have the full allotment of scholarships. Wrestling is very important at those schools, but it’s not quite like when you wrestle against schools like Oklahoma State or Iowa State. I think there is a realization that we have gone into a very competitive conference, a great conference, and that’s great.

It’s forcing us to upgrade everything we do, and that’s a good thing. But that’s probably the biggest lesson that came out of the first year.

B&GN – One of the challenges we heard about in the first year, a sort of constant theme, was the travel aspect of things. Men’s basketball talked about it a lot, and obviously that sched-ule just came out. It looks like everyone sort of tried to help be-cause there aren’t as many 9 p.m. games, some back-to-back road games where you can stay out and you don’t have to go out and back. What did the league try to do to help that?

Luck – We asked for three things really in terms of basketball, for both the men and the women. I haven’t studied the sched-ules closely, but we asked for three things.

It was to try to get one game, maybe two, before the start of the winter semester. You still have to travel, but at least when you get back at 3 a.m. or whatever it is, the kids don’t have to get up for class the next morning. That will help us. We asked for some stay-over games and as many early tips as possible.

That depends on television, and because of the season, we had last year, it’s probably easier for the Big 12 and the TV part-ners to say we don’t need WVU in primetime; we can put them in with the early game. It’s an indication that they were willing to work with us, and they thought those requests were reasonable at the end of the day.


OLiVEr LuCk intErViEWB&GN – Any other travel situations, outside of basketball?Luck – I don’t think we have as many back-to-backs (in foot-

ball), without a bye week being stuck in between. Hopefully this will go on, and it’s not just a one-year deal. But having said that, I also realize it’s hard to make schedules. I used to make sched-ules for a league, and sometimes you can’t accommodate every-one. I think the conference was more than willing to try and will be willing to try as we go into the next few years.

B&GN – Those sports are chartering, but some of the other sports that travel just as much like volleyball, they don’t have that luxury. What are you trying to do with their travel, because it can be even more daunting?

Luck – Volleyball and baseball are probably the two that travel a lot. Women’s soccer has to get out there as well, so there’s team travel going on, and we try to make it as simple as we can. We’re not chartering for those teams, but down the road, who knows, we may have the resources to begin to charter for those teams. It’s a pretty steep number, so we just try to minimize the travel.

These kids are getting used to it. It’s a different era now with student-athletes than in the past. You can go talk to girls on our volleyball team. First of all, look where they come from. With the exception of football, all of these kids have played club ball. And what do you do in club ball? You travel. My daughter, who plays college volleyball (at Stanford), she has played – as a club kid throughout junior high and high school – in more communities across the country than she does now that she’s playing college volleyball.

They get used to travel. They understand how to pack a bag. People that don’t travel as much for business maybe don’t re-alize how accustomed these kids are to traveling. It’s what they grow up with with club sports. Basketball has AAU teams that go all over the place, and baseball goes everywhere, so does volleyball and swimming. Our rifle team is over in Europe shoot-ing this summer, and (rifle head coach) Jon Hammond goes to shoot over there in whatever intercontinental competitions they have. It’s much more a part of what these kids are used to now. It certainly wasn’t the case when I was a kid.

"I think what’s happening, in the bigger picture, is that these 'Power Five' conference schools are beginning to move in a certain direction and the other members of Division I are typically not going to have, just based on their television packages, the funds to do a lot of the things that the 'Power Five' schools are." – Olver Luck

B&GN – Financially in general, are you comfortable with where you’re at and where you’re headed? Because, obviously, you had to do some things to get out of the Big East and into the Big 12 that, at least short term, put some constraints on you.

Luck – There are always going to be some constraints. The bottom line is that Big 12 revenue is much bigger than what we had been receiving in the Big East, and certainly much big-ger than what the remnants of the Big East have with the Ameri-can Athletic Conference. I think mid-term and long-term we’re in great shape.

This year we’re on a 67-percent share of the Big 12 revenue and the following year it’s 86 or 87 percent and then 100 per-cent. But I think at the end of the day it was, financially, the only decision that made any sense long term for the University. Short-term pains, sure, but there are a lot of long-term gains.

B&GN – Knowing that there is additional revenue coming to you as you escalate up in that Big 12 money, is it hard in a way because I know all the programs are making requests and you have so say no to some people … Is it hard not to start throwing all of that money out the window already or how do you do that?

Luck – The good news is that with the way the university works, which is the same as almost all businesses, is that if it’s a guaranteed revenue stream, like the TV money that’s guaran-teed or the IMG money that’s guaranteed for the next number of

years, we can take that and talk to our folks about it and say, ‘Let’s look at our budget for the next 10, 12 years and figure out what we need in terms of operational dollars and we can look at our revenue streams and, obvi-ously, the more money you’re guaran-teed, the more you can count on it.’

We can’t necessarily count on ticket money because ticket sales go up and down a little bit. We can’t count on MAC money, because it can also go up and down. But now, two of our revenue four legs are guaran-teed, so this will allow us to look over the next 10 years and see what we can bond, because we know we’ll have that revenue coming in, and we can look at what we need to spend money on.

There are a lot of needs here, par-ticularly as we start to ramp up a lot of the Olympic sports. We have a swim team that doesn’t have a 50-me-ter pool (the 38-year-old pool at the WVU Natatorium is just 25 meters), and there are very few elite swimmers who will accept a scholarship with-out a 50-meter pool. That’s a real simple issue that is holding our swim team back. It’s a little bit like baseball. In the past, kids came to look at our baseball field and they were like, ‘Well, I’m not sure I want to play here.’

Our football and basketball infrastructure is good. There needs to be some improvements over at the football stadium, because we really haven’t done too much at the stadium in 30 years, but a lot of the Olympic sports require some upgrades. We don’t have our own indoor tennis facility on campus. I get pictures from every coach who goes on their first swing through the Big 12. They’ll come back and say look at what Kansas State built with their tennis facility or look what someone else did with their swimming complex, and they’re beautiful facilities.

They’ve been able to do that over the years because they’ve made some pretty substantial TV money going back a while, more so at least than what we’ve been making. The short an-swer is that everyone is going to clamor for the dollars, and there’s never enough to go around, but we’ll just have to set pri-orities and spend it wisely.

B&GN – You mentioned IMG. The Mountaineer Sports Net-work was a good in-house program, but you decided that it was better to outsource it. What ultimately went into that decision?

Luck – I have to be very careful with what I say, as you know, because we’re in the middle of a lawsuit (with the West Virginia Radio Corporation). But I’ll just say that I believe this puts us in a better position to maximize the value of our assets. And the money is guaranteed. We’re insuring ourselves, in a sense, in the event of any kind of economic downturn.

I think we’d all agree that this isn’t the wealthiest state in the country, and we’re expanding our ability to attract sponsors in a very big way because of the IMG network – and that would have been true if it had been Leerfield or any of the other companies that have a national presence. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I thought it was the wisest thing for the University to do. There’s only one school in the “Power Five” grouping of schools that doesn’t partner with either Leerfield or IMG, and that’s Michigan State. I don’t like leaving money on the table if it’s not in the best interest of the school.

B&GN – We’ve talked in the past about the cost of full atten-dance (in terms of additional money for scholarship athletes) and why that isn’t implemented yet. It’s sort of in the news now, do you think that’s something that could happen in the near future and are you guys prepared when that happens?

Luck – We’ve budgeted for it. It’s really not that bad, but it de-pends on the details of it. I’ve already asked our CFO to plan that into his annual budget. I thought it was going to happen a year ago. I think what’s happening, in the bigger picture, is that these

“Power Five” conference schools are beginning to move in a certain direc-tion and the other members of Divi-sion I are typically not going to have, just based on their television pack-ages, the funds to do a lot of the things that the “Power Five” schools are.

The big boys, I think, sincerely be-lieve they can do more for their stu-dent-athletes. Whether that would be providing a stipend, providing some travel dollars. There are cases when parents of kids, who are following their teams around at the NCAA Tour-nament, have to sleep in their car at night because they can’t afford a ho-tel. Should we provide a little stipend for parental travel?

People forget that kids are going to school all over the country now. Our kids don’t just come from Ohio, Penn-sylvania and West Virginia. They’re coming from Florida and Texas and Kansas, and how do they get home when mom needs help or whatever else could happen? I think there’s a growing divide between the issues

that the “Power Five” schools want to do, things they want to implement, and what some of the smaller schools want or don’t want because they might not necessarily have the money to do that. And I respect that, but just because they may not have those funds doesn’t mean that Texas or Florida or Georgia or West Virginia shouldn’t be able to do it. That’s a very interest-ing development that’s bubbling up, and I think ultimately those “Power Five” schools – because it’s all about football – will begin to coalesce and have a stronger voice in terms of doing some of the things that they really think they want to do.

They don’t want to have professional players or employees. It’s not like they’re just jettisoning the NCAA model, but I think there are certain things that the bigger schools would like to do and there’s a sense that those initiatives have been held back by some of the smaller schools just because they didn’t have the dollars.

B&GN – What’s your opinion on that? There’s talk of a Divi-sion IV and talk of even separating completely. What are your thoughts on that?

Luck – I don’t think separating is wise. And I really don’t think there are that many, if any, athletic directors who want that. I do think that there’s some value in looking at a separate, stand-alone, federation under the NCAA umbrella that may be football only.

Football drives our business; that’s the reality. You guys come in here to talk about football. You’re not here to talk about volley-ball or women’s soccer, and I love those sports. But there’s a le-gitimate debate that should take place of whether or not football should fall under the same rules as the swim team.

I don’t know. There’s a strong argument that they shouldn’t, because football is generating all of this revenue. No other orga-nization in the nation would have 17 different business lines, one of them hugely profitable, the second pretty profitable and ev-erything else isn’t that much. Long ago we would have jettisoned all of those things, but now we have it for a lot of good reasons, including Title IX, which I’m a big supporter of and love what it has done for women’s athletics.

But I think that there’s a sense that football can be managed better, quite honestly, and there’s a real reason to begin to look at that.

The spark for this whole thing could be all of this stuff that’s going on between the O’Bannon case and autograph issues. A lot of this stuff is sort of coming to a head, and that may be the spark where the “Big Five” conference schools say we don’t want professionals, we don’t want strikes, we don’t want lock-outs, but there are some things we can do that should help these kids.


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“Fields Of Glory – Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium” – Join “Fields of Glory,” as we head down a country road to Mountaineer Field, home to one of college football’s powerhouses – the WVU Mountaineers. Get an in-depth look at game day in Morgantown, inc luding some u n i q u e W V U tradit ions, such as the “Pride of West Virginia” and the Mountaineer mascot. Plus you can sing along to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” like the Mountaineers do after every home win. Brent Musburger narrates this series which cap tures the pageantry and traditions from the “cathedra ls” of college football.

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2 0 0 8 To s t i t o s F ies ta Bowl – West Virginia vs. Oklahoma – In one of the biggest games in the i r school’s history, all the stars of the ninth-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers shown bright in beating the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners 48-28 in the 2008 Tostitos Fies ta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The Mountaineers rallied behind their proud leader, Coach Bill Stewart, and after the game publicly lobbied for him to be their next head coach. West Virginia responded promptly, naming him as head coach the day after the i r emot ional Fiesta Bowl victory. D V D c o n t a i n s t h e c o m p l e t e 2008 Fiesta Bowl broadcast by Fox without commercial

“The Legends Of West Virginia” – T h i s D V D features more than 60 minutes of the officially licensed “COACHES TAPE” just like the pros use in scouting players for the pro football draft. These are the video highlights supplied to the pro football head coaches and team scouts as they make their select ions dur ing the pro football draft, which is rapidly becoming a s b i g a s t h e championship game. Watch highlights of former Mountaineer football greats like Brandon Myles, Dan Mozes, Marc Bulger, Amos Zereoue , Rasheed Marshall, Chris Henry and Kay-Jay Harris, as well as many other legends of college football.

2005 Mountaineer Football Highlight DVD – “Sweet As Sugar” – The 2005 Mountaineers mixed strong veteran leadership with youthful energy into a formula that truly jelled. An 11-1 record was a great achievement for these Mountaineers, who worked hard, sweated , c r ied , l a u g h e d a n d celebrated together. The national experts d id not expect much , bu t t he 2005 Mountaineers delivered a Big East title, a BCS bowl berth and one of the best seasons in school history. Fans enjoyed watching a team that had just the right mix of veteran l e a d e r s h i p a n d youthful exuberance to deliver a season that was” Sweet As Sugar.”

2 0 0 6 N o k i a Sugar Bowl – West Virginia vs. Georgia – Steve Slaton rushed for a record 204 yards and the No. 11 Mountaineers gave a much needed boost to the beleaguered Big East Conference, upsetting eighth-ranked Georgia 38-35 on a Monday night in the first Nokia Sugar Bowl played outside of New Orleans. WVU used a lightning attack to fuel a 28-0 first quarter lead. The powerful Bu l ldogs came charging back, but WVU cemented the victory on a fake punt by Phil Brady helped West Virginia run out the clock. This DVD contains t h e c o m p l e t e 2006 Sugar Bowl broadcast by ABC without commercial

2005 Mountaineer B a s k e t b a l l Highlight DVD – “Elite Company” – Character, heart and class all defined the 2005 West Virginia University men’s basketball team. These Mountaineers represented WVU with the fight and pride of a champion. By putting together a six-week run to capoff the season, West Virginia boldly went where no WVU men’s basketball team had been in 46 years. Along the way, the world of college basketball found out what Mountaineer baske tba l l was about. Crisp shooting and a never-say-die attitude gave this team and its fans one wild ride to close out the season. It was a ride that put the 2005 Mountaineers in “Elite Company.”

2006 Mountaineer B a s k e t b a l l Highlight DVD – “Sweet Memories” – Never before in the history of West Virginia basketball has one senior class meant so much to the program, the University and the state. Five young men defined character and class and took WVU basketball to heights it hadn’t reached in almost 50 years . They were giant killers until they became giants themselves. Lofty rankings and national exposure put them among college basketball's elite, but they never forgot they were s tuden t /a th le tes first and foremost. Along the way, these seniors left a legacy of “Sweet Memories" which will last a lifetime.

2007 Mountaineer B a s k e t b a l l H i g h l i g h t DVD – “Young C h a m p i o n s ” – Yo u n g … u n s e a s o n e d … untested … just a few words used in the preseason to describe the 2007 WVU basketball team. But youth is a wonderful thing, and it’s full of surprises. With little expected of them, the young Mountaineers came out of the shadows of past WVU basketball teams to create its own identity. They emerged as winners, as game after game they delivered, much to the delight of the Mountaineer nation. Young at heart, but savvy at the game of basketball, the 2007 Mountaineers brought an NIT championship back to West Virginia.

2007 Mountaineer Football Highlight D V D – “ I t ’ s M o u n t a i n e e r Pride” – As much of a success story as the 2007 season was, it was also a major transition time for WVU football. The Mountaineers f a c e d m a n y obstacles throughout the year, but they remained focused and came together in the end to score a dramatic victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. F r o m A u g u s t through January, WVU withstood many blows, but a resilient group of young men kept the program moving forward. The Fiesta Bowl win was a shining moment that proved to never u n d e r e s t i m a t e the strength of a Mountaineer.

2006 Mountaineer Football Highlight D V D – “ S t a y H u m b l e , S t a y H u n g r y ” – Individual success comes through team success. That is the philosophy of WVU football, and it was never more evident than in 2006. Players worked together as a team, and in the end, the players, coaches and fans reaped the benefits. Nothing or no one is more important than the team. Despite past successes, WVU remained humble yet hungry in its drive to achieve even more. Throughout the season, the M o u n t a i n e e r s played at a fast, physical and furious pace, leading West Virginia to great heights individually and to a Gator Bowl title as a team.

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