Stepping Up
November 30, 2003 01:37 PM | General
November 30, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Running back Jason Colson says he slept well the night before his first college start against Temple Saturday.
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| Jason Colson ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns Saturday against Temple (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Yet even though Colson took most of the reps in practice during the week, West Virginia running backs coach Calvin Magee didn’t tell Colson he was the starter until a few minutes before game time.
“I think that was better,” said Colson after the game.
He was replacing starter Quincy Wilson, who suffered a high ankle sprain against Syracuse and unsuccessfully tested it out before Saturday’s game.
“Quincy tried to go in warm-ups but he wasn’t 100 percent and he knew he wasn’t going to be his same old self,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.
Compounding things was the fact that backup Kay-Jay Harris broke his finger in practice during the week. Rodriguez wasn’t going to give Harris a lot of carries with a broken finger in cold weather so the plan was to give Colson the bulk of the playing time.
The freshman responded with a 28-carry, 104-yard, two-touchdown effort in his first college start to help West Virginia defeat Temple 45-28 and lock up a share of the Big East conference title.
“I thought Jason played really well for his first start,” said Rodriguez.
Colson’s longest run was only 16 yards, but he showed surprising durability despite nursing a sore shoulder and frequently running against nine-man defensive fronts.
“It was kind of different for me,” Colson admitted. “Not having that much playing time it was something I had to get used to.”
Colson says running against a stacked defensive front was something he had a tough time getting used to. He had only seen nine-man fronts on film.
“You have to hit the hole and read your blocks,” said Colson, who played in a Wing-T offense in high school. “I could have done a little better on some plays and it took me a while in the beginning of the game to get a feel for it.”
Jason got plenty of advice on the sidelines. Coach Magee told him to be patient and take care of business.
Wilson was also nearby giving Colson some words of wisdom. “Just do what you’re coached to do, let the line block, run hard and everything else will take care of itself,” he said.
Wilson remembers what it was like starting for the first time earlier this year against Wisconsin.
“I was nervous in the Wisconsin game and I played a lot last year,” Wilson said. “It’s different when you’re starting. You feel like there is so much more at stake and I think he performed even better than I thought he would.”
For his part, Colson was happy with his performance, “I think I could have done a little bit better but I think I played to the best of my ability,” he said.
Colson says significant playing time last week at Syracuse helped him prepare for this week’s game against Temple. He finished the Syracuse game carrying the football 13 times for 56 yards.
“I think that game gave me a lot of confidence. I had a lot of playing time last week and that carried over into this week,” Colson said.
Having a third-team tailback run for a 100 yards speaks volumes about West Virginia’s running back depth. Colson is one of three WVU tailbacks averaging better than 4.0 yards per carry. This season Colson has carried 55 times for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
“We have a lot of talent (at running back) and it’s kind of hard to choose who is going to play because it’s so competitive,” said Colson.
As for being labeled West Virginia’s back of the future, the 6-foot, 200-pounder shies away from that moniker.
“I don’t really worry about that,” he said. “I just want to work hard and let the coaches decide whether to use me or not.”
