Emerging Target
April 25, 2003 11:39 AM | General
April 25, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In the three officiated scrimmages leading into the spring game this Saturday, it has become apparent that the tight ends have become a more important part of the passing game.
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| Josh Bailey caught eight passes for 110 yards and a touchdown last year as a freshman. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Some of that is probably due to some key injuries in the wide receiver corps, but Mountaineer quarterback Rasheed Marshall also admits that he finds himself looking more in the direction of his tight ends. Marshall says it is a slight alteration in philosophy.
“The coaching staff did a little tweaking during the off-season,” said Marshall.
Whatever they did that’s just fine with sophomore tight end Josh Bailey, who along with senior Tory Johnson and junior Ryan Thomas, have become the beneficiaries of their tweaking.
“I hope it stays that way for the games obviously,” said Bailey. “But we just do what we have to do; if we have to block on every play that’s just fine with us.”
West Virginia’s three-headed tight end position combined to catch 17 passes for 202 yards and 4 touchdowns last year. Nearly a third of those catches came from Bailey, an emerging 6-foot-5, 253-pound native of Gilbert, W.Va.
“Josh is going to be a good player,” admitted Marshall. “He’s only a sophomore next year and he’s definitely making strides in becoming a better player. He always tells me that he wants to get better and I can see him working all of the time. I’ve got a lot of faith in Josh.”
Marshall’s words are music to Bailey’s ears. When the quarterback has faith in you that means the ball comes your way more often.
“Josh was a good target last year and he can find a hole and sit down in it so I can get him the ball,” said Marshall. “He’s also got good hands. When you see that as a quarterback you have no problem throwing the ball to him.”
Bailey’s rise up the WVU food chain has been rapid. Bailey was an inherited prospect from veteran coach Don Nehlen’s final recruiting class. After some initial questions about the offense, Bailey reaffirmed his commitment to West Virginia University and its new coach Rich Rodriguez.
“I planned on coming and playing for Coach Nehlen and when the new coaches came in that kind of scared me,” he said. “I knew that Coach Nehlen used the tight end a little more than Coach Rodriguez’ offense did. Not so much has changed, but I think everything is starting to fall into place where he can use us a little bit more now.”
When Bailey arrived at West Virginia, Mountaineer coaches were wrestling with the notion of how to adequately use the tight end position.
Regular Sean Berton believed the tight end position as he envisioned it was being removed from the picture so he packed his bags and transferred to North Carolina State. Top West Virginia prospect R.J. Coleman balked at WVU in part because of the perception of the way the tight end position was going to be used in Rodriguez’ spread, no-huddle offense (ironically Coleman is now an offensive tackle for the Buckeyes).
At one point the coaching staff referred to tight ends as T-backs or H-backs before changing their minds. At the time the position was sort of a hybrid between a tight end and a fullback.
“When they first started with the T-back thing they were putting in a lot of plays for one position,” said Bailey. “Now I think everything is falling into place.”
Having Bailey, Johnson, Thomas and redshirt freshmen Adam Serena has helped make the position one of strength in the WVU offense.
“We’ve got pretty good depth,” Bailey admitted.
So much depth that the Mountaineer coaches were able to take promising junior college transfer Jason Hardee and move him to defensive end. That move has helped Hardee get closer to the field and freed up more opportunities for WVU’s younger tight ends.
For Bailey, he sees his sophomore year as a time for growth.
“Last year I didn’t really know anything and this year I know the offense pretty well,” he said. “I’ve been able to concentrate more on getting better instead of trying to learn how to do it in the first place.”
Bailey says he’s added 15 pounds to get up to 253, and hopes to add a few more before the start of fall practice.
“I’d like to weigh 260 when the season starts,” he says.
“Last year I was a little nervous before the season but this year I’m excited and looking forward for it to start.”
Notebook: West Virginia’s conducted its final practice of the spring Wednesday afternoon before spending Thursday and Friday off. At the end of Wednesday’s practice the team paired off into Gold and Blue teams. Rodriguez said Wednesday that he believes the quarterbacks have improved. The coach is also high on redshirt freshman Dan Mozes, who has made rapid strides at offensive guard replacing injured Jeff Berk. “He has really had an outstanding spring and done a really good job up front.” Saturday’s Gold-Blue Game will kickoff at 12:30. Mountaineer Field gates will open at 11:30 a.m. Saturday’s forecast has been upgraded to temperatures in the mid-60s with periods of light rain.
