Mountaineer Magazine
September 24, 2004 08:25 AM | General
September 24, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Mike Lorello may not spend a lot of time cruising the Internet but he’s well aware of what is going on out in cyberspace.
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| Mike Lorello says his dad Ray can keep close tabs on him through the Internet.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
His dad Ray Lorello takes care of that for him.
“I love it because my dad can get all kinds of stuff and it keeps him busy,” Mike said earlier this week. “Actually my parents have told me a couple of times that they know more about me from the Internet than what I actually tell them. It’s kind of everybody’s connection to get inside the program and I think it’s great.”
If Mike does hop on the superhighway he usually stops at MSNsportsNET.com first and then travels over to Vernon Bailey’s message board to see if his dad has made any profound posts. Usually Lorello isn’t searching for information as much as he’s hunting down some new photos to save to his computer.
“I’m usually looking for pictures of the game,” he says.
Lorello says he generally likes the photos taken of him but every once in a while the lens will catch him in a poor technique or in an awkward position.
“I remember last year they found a funny picture of me tackling somebody and Jay Henry made it his screensaver on his computer,” Lorello said.
More specifically, Lorello said his hand was in a difficult place to explain.
“The picture shows my hand between the guy’s legs,” Lorello said. “They tried to send it to CollegeHumor.com but I don’t think they posted it.”
That is just fine with Lorello, who admits he has to be careful what he says during interviews because he knows it could easily end up on the opposing team’s bulletin board.
“To be honest I kind of find myself repeating a lot of the stuff the coaches tell us,” Lorello remarked. “Sometimes they don’t necessarily want us saying exactly what we think just because everybody reads papers now with the Internet and I know teams are big on getting quotes from other guys to post in the locker room.”
Bulletin board material aside, Lorello admits he likes talking to the media. “I always enjoy doing interviews and stuff like that just because it nice to have some publicity,” he said.
Lorello has been a media favorite after games and during the week because he is articulate and has become an old hand at doing interviews. He says it can sometimes be tiresome answering the same questions over and over but that is much better than having to come up with an answer to some of the off-the-wall questions he sometimes gets.
For instance: “Last year when we played Miami on a Thursday night I had someone ask me about missing school and whether or not we should do that and if we were mad about missing school,” Lorello recalled. “I was like, ‘No, because anyone would trade places with us to go play.’”
West Virginia’s defensive coaches would have a tough time having anyone trade places with their 6-foot-1, 205-pound safety – one of the team’s most consistent and durable performers the past two seasons.
Lorello saw the field as a true freshman in 2002 and became a regular in the lineup last fall. With a year’s worth of experience under his belt, Lorello admits to being a much more confident player this season.
“I feel like I’m playing a little bit more physical … at least I’m trying to be,” he said.
Because Lorello is such an experienced player, he believes he now has the leeway to speak his mind in the defensive huddle when he feels the need to. However, Lorello admits Pac-Man Jones and Adam Lehnortt usually take care of that for him.
“We’ve got a lot of vocal guys,” he said. “Obviously Pac-Man is vocal. Adam Lehnortt is vocal. I just try to lead by example and come to practice everyday, work real hard and do my job.”
Like all college juniors, Lorello has changed a great deal since his freshman season. Perhaps his biggest change was his decision last spring to ditch his closely cropped haircut in favor of a longer, more flowing hairstyle. He says he has to get his hair ‘shaped’ as opposed to ‘cut’ now.
“I don’t really have an explanation for it,” said Lorello, though he’s quick to say that a woman wasn’t behind his decision to let his hair grow longer. “Last year I decided to grow it out because I’ve never really had long hair and to be honest I like the way it looks hanging out of my helmet. My mom and my sister like it but my dad doesn’t.”
Speaking of his mother, Mike admits to looking forward to his mom making the trip over from Powell, Ohio, for football weekends. Lorello admits Linda Lorello is notorious for stocking up the refrigerator, cleaning the bathroom, and leaving a couple of great dishes for him and his roommates Dan Mozes, Jay Henry and Aaron Meckstroth to devour.
“God bless mothers,” Mike says. “My mom is pretty good. Last week she brought in some ravioli, some pasta sauce and she made us a batch of chili.”
For that matter, Lorello says all of his roommate’s mothers are wonderful.
“We notice during the spring semester that the house is definitely a lot messier and the fridge is a lot less full,” he said. “We love the season because all of the parents come in and take care of us.”
With such an eclectic mix of people (an offensive guard, a linebacker and two defensive backs) living under one roof one might get the impression that there are some gargantuan battles for the remote control and who gets into the bathroom first. However, Lorello says they all get along reasonably well and are able to keep the peace, particularly when Meckstroth doesn’t have the remote.
“He will flip from the hunting channel to MTV Jams and go back and forth and sometimes we have to get on him,” Lorello said. “He is the worst with the remote control in the house.”
It is when Meckstroth gets totally out of control with the remote that Mozes takes advantage of his size and hops into the captain’s chair, according to Lorello.
“He usually has MTV Jams on or SportsCenter,” Lorello said. “Every once in a while we’ll try and find a movie to watch.”
Unlike most college apartments, Lorello says they keep their place pretty clean. Of course there is a pretty good reason to: “We have to take care of the house because Jay’s dad bought it and we pay rent to him,” Lorello said. “Once we move out he’s going to sell it.”
Lorello admits the next place he gets when he’s finally out on his own will probably be a step down from where he’s living right now.
“We love our house. When I move out the place I live in will definitely not be as nice as this when I’m in the real world, at least the first year or two,” he said.
Thankfully, Lorello has one more year left with his buddies before he even has to consider that.
Mountaineer football fans are thankful, too.
Be sure to watch Mike tonight on Mountaineer Magazine.
