Rushing Debuts
September 10, 2003 03:24 PM | General
September 10, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As West Virginia running back debuts go, Kay-Jay Harris’ performance last Saturday against East Carolina was pretty good.
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| Kay-Jay Harris rushed for 78 yards on eight carries in his West Virginia rushing debut. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
No, it doesn’t rival Amos Zereoue’s 12-carry, 135-yard effort that included a 68-yard touchdown run the very first time he touched the football against Pitt in 1996.
And no, it doesn’t match Robert Walker’s 14-carry, 113-yard splash against Louisiana Tech as a last-second replacement for injured Adrian Murrell in 1992, but Harris showed Saturday that he has the potential to at least be grouped among some of WVU’s better runners.
Kay-Jay finished Saturday’s game with 78 yards on just eight rushes. He took his very first carry six yards for a touchdown, bouncing off several tacklers at the line of scrimmage. Harris also set up another score with a nifty 43-yard burst.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez was encouraged by the performance, “I was happy with the way he ran Saturday. He ran harder and he got his pads a little lower and he’s got to continue to do that. Hopefully he got encouraged by his performance Saturday.”
Although Rodriguez says there will open competition for the number two running back job all season long, the coach hinted Tuesday that Harris may be inching closer toward securing that spot.
“He's still learning as far as the offense goes, but we're going to make an effort to get him on the field more because he can help us,” Rodriguez said.
So far, Rodriguez hasn’t seen enough separation between the remaining four ball carriers to give the backup job to one person.
“It’s still the same with Phillips, Colson and Harris, with Johnson thrown in there once in a while. Nobody has really sorted themselves out from the pack and clearly become the number two, which I guess is kind of good,” he said. “There are certain things each one does better than the other.”
Here is how Kay-Jay’s rushing debut stacks up against some of West Virginia’s top ball carriers:
|
Player |
Game |
Year |
Stats |
|
Amos Zereoue |
Pitt |
1996 |
12-135, TD |
| Robert Walker | Louisiana Tech | 1992 | 14-113 |
| Garrett Ford Sr. | Richmond | 1965 | 6-98, TD |
| Avon Cobourne | East Carolina | 1999 | 25-82, TD |
| Kay-Jay Harris | East Carolina | 2003 | 8-78, TD |
| Adrian Murrell | Pitt | 1991 | 15-75 |
| Artie Owens | VMI | 1972 | 13-72, TD |
| Robert Alexander | Richmond | 1977 | 11-71 |
| Bob Gresham | Richmond | 1968 | 18-47, TD |
Rodriguez: Wide Receivers Improving
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez institutes tough standards for his wide receivers. They must run precise routes and they must catch the football. But even more importantly West Virginia wide receivers must block, and block well.
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| Chris Henry caught two passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns against East Carolina. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Rodriguez was noticeably perturbed with West Virginia’s wide receiver play after the Wisconsin game, and challenged the group to perform better against East Carolina.
There were plenty of signs after last Saturday’s East Carolina game that the receiver corps is making improvement.
The group of Travis Garvin, Chris Henry, Miquelle Henderson, Aaron Neal and John Pennington combined to catch nine passes for 194 yards and four touchdowns. Two of those catches covered more than 30 yards, and several grabs were of the difficult variety.
“The thing that we did do that I thought was good was catch the ball,” said Rodriguez. “I thought we caught the ball really well which is obviously good. They didn’t have many dropped passes and they made some tough catches. Travis Garvin made a really tough catch and Chris made a great catch on the touchdown so that’s pleasing.”
Both of Henry’s catches went for touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound sophomore is emerging as an impact target on the outside.
“He did some nice things and he’s getting better every week,” Rodriguez said of Henry. “He still has a long way to go and right now we’re kind of force feeding him. But I think he’s becoming more confident.”
Henry may not be quite where Rodriguez wants him, but keep in mind you don’t “force feed” bad players, either.
“Is he an 80-play guy? Hopefully he will be,” said the coach. “Right now we are picking our spots and he has the ability to make plays. I do think he has a good future at the rate he is going right now.”
An area that Henry and the rest of the wide receiver corps must continue to improve upon is blocking.
“I thought we blocked very average as receivers: better than the first game but average as a whole,” said Rodriguez.
However, the coach believes it is just a matter of time before the wide receivers are ready to take over a game.
“I do think our best game from our wide outs from complete-game standpoint is still out there. Hopefully it will come this week.”
