West Virginia Proud
July 18, 2004 04:24 PM | General
July 18, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Talk about being thrown to the wolves. Last year inexperienced West Virginia University offensive tackle Garin Justice was fresh meat for the Wisconsin Badgers after starting right tackle Tim Brown went down with a season-ending Achilles tendon injury three days before the season opener.
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| Junior Garin Justice is one of nine offensive linemen returning with starting experience. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
“I never had much experience: I didn’t even letter the year before that,” Justice said about making his first-ever college start. “It was a dream come true but it was unfortunate that it happened to Tim like that. It was a nerve-wracking week.”
Justice felt the weight of the world on his shoulders because he knows first hand how important Mountaineer football is to the residents of the Mountain State. Justice grew up in Gilbert in the southern part of the state and remembers as a young boy watching West Virginia games on television with his father Gary Justice.
“I was raised a WVU fan,” he says. “I’ve been watching games with my dad and my grandfather my whole life.”
Justice says his most vivid West Virginia memory was his first trip to Morgantown to watch the Mountaineers tie Miami, Ohio, in the 1992 season opener. He also made the trip north to see Purdue edge WVU when the Mountaineers missed a short field goal in the game’s final seconds.
“Those were kind of bad games,” he said.
The 6-foot-8, 305-pound offensive tackle realized he might have an opportunity to play for the Mountaineers during his junior season of high school. Eventually Justice and high school teammate Josh Bailey would up committing to West Virginia after they were offered scholarships by former coach Don Nehlen.
In Justice’s case he didn’t take long to make up his mind, “I was all about coming up here,” he said.
However, not long after Justice made his pledge to play for West Virginia, Nehlen announced his retirement. New coach Rich Rodriguez employed an entirely new offensive system based on speed and quickness and there was some concern that Garin might not be able to adapt to his style.
“As a staff they really didn’t think I would fit their system,” Justice admitted.
But Garin always wanted to play for his home state university and was willing to do what it took to fit in. Justice’s body type is probably more suited for a traditional two-back, tight end, grind-it-out, play-action-passing style used by schools like Boston College, Ohio State and Penn State. But to his credit he worked hard in the weight room to improve his footwork, listened intently to Rick Trickett’s coaching, and gradually moved his way up the depth chart.
“It was frustrating early on as far as being a freshman,” said Justice. “You make little strides that people can’t see. Maybe it’s a coach saying you’re doing a good job or that they like the way you’re working and that means a lot, especially when you’re a young player working your way up.”
Justice admits he’s learned a lot from Trickett, a former West Virginia aide under Frank Cignetti who spent time coaching in the SEC at Mississippi State, Auburn and LSU before returning to West Virginia.
“Coach Trickett really does a great job,” Justice said. “He does a good job of rounding us up and making us come together as a unit. Things get done and that’s the reason he’s a good coach.”
According to Justice, one of Trickett’s best assets is his ability of taking players from different backgrounds and possessing different personalities and turning them into similar players.
“We have different personalities off the field but once you get on the field he tries to instill that one aggressive, hard-nosed personality in all of us,” said Justice. “It’s an aggressive, hard-work, no-quit type attitude. The first time you put on a helmet and he starts coaching you it’s either you be that way of you find something else to do.”
Last year’s offensive line stretched Trickett’s expertise to its limits. He lost his best offensive lineman (Brown) three days before the season opener in the midst of working in several inexperienced players. By the end of the year his starting offensive line was made up of two freshmen (Dan Mozes and Jeremy Hines), a sophomore (Justice), a junior college transfer (Mike Watson) and a junior (Jeff Berk).
“At the beginning of the year we were very inexperienced,” said Justice. “We had limited pass protection packages and things like that. As the year went along I think we improved a lot. Now we’re at the point where it’s pretty much expected of us to be more mature on the line a lot like (Lance) Nimmo and (Zack) Dillow were when they were seniors.”
And while Garin isn’t the quickest lineman in the group, what he lacks in foot speed and quickness he makes up in intelligence.
“My strong points are knowing my environment, knowing what’s around me and knowing what to expect,” he said.
Justice believes this year’s offensive line will be a unit to be reckoned with. There are nine returning players with starting experience now that Brown has been cleared for a sixth season, making West Virginia’s line one of the most experienced in the country. The breakdown of career starts is Berk (29), Brown (24), Mozes (12), Justice (11), Watson (8), Hines (7), Travis Garrett (3), Jeremy Sheffey (2) and Josh Stewart (2).
“We were fortunate enough to have some young people step up and have good seasons (last year),” said Justice. “Because we were so inexperienced last year we are just now starting to be young.”
And even though Brown was held out of action last spring, Justice knows if he returns this fall healthy it will be hard to keep him out of the lineup. For his part Justice wants to continue to make strides heading into fall camp.
“I’ve got to continue working on my strength,” he said. “Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m working on my speed and agility. I’m trying to be lighter on my feet. I’ll take all of the speed and strength I can get.
“I think I’ve come a long way since I first came here,” he admitted. “I’m nowhere close to being at the top of the mountain: I’ve still got a long way to go.”
But at least now Garin Justice has a year’s worth of experience to go on.
“It’s amazing what happens when you get thrown into tough situations. You change,” he said.
Tickets for the 2004 Mountaineer football campaign can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com
