The Big Fish
January 24, 2005 04:42 PM | General
February 2, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sometimes the biggest fish won’t stay on the hook. Sitting above the water for 30 years with a pole trying to lure some of those whoppers to West Virginia University was former assistant coach Donnie Young, who worked for football coaches Bobby Bowden, Frank Cignetti and Don Nehlen.
 |
||
| Running back Charlie Garner considered West Virginia before signing with Tennessee.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
Young spent a good portion of his remaining years in coaching as Don Nehlen’s recruiting coordinator until Nehlen retired in 2000, and Young can still recite many of those near misses to Ohio State, Penn State and Miami as if they happened yesterday.
“Schools like that …,” he shook his head. “There was something about the name and the tradition; the magic or whatever it is. When you come down to the final day there are some schools that have that aura or that magic and it used to be we never, ever beat anybody like that.
“And then as the years went by and we got better we got closer,” Young continued. “Instead of coming in third or fourth we came in second.
“We came in second a lot.”
When Bobby Bowden was coaching the Mountaineer program in the early 1970s he thought he had landed two top prospects in Jefferson (N.J.) High School linebacker RICHARD WOOD and Long Beach (N.Y.) High School fullback PETE JOHNSON.
Wood wound up at USC and became the first player from the West Coast to be named AP All-American three times and is still the only three-time All-American in Trojan history. He played 10 years in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Jets.
Bowden discovered Johnson, whose real name was Willie James Hammock, while playing at Peach County High School in Fort Valley, Ga., before Johnson moved to New York. “Big Pete” made a late switch for Ohio State, where he became one of the school’s all-time greats blocking for two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin. Johnson also scored a Big Ten record 26 touchdowns as a junior in 1975.
“I’d watch them on TV in bowl games and I’d just want to cry,” Bowden once told the late Charleston reporter Shorty Hardman. “I had those two boys.”
There were two great ones closer to home that West Virginia couldn’t secure in Charleston lineman DENNIS HARRAH and Pineville High School running back CURT WARNER. Harrah was 6 foot 5 and weighed 190 pounds before he developed into an All-American at the University of Miami. Warner was one of the state’s most ballyhooed players, nixing a scholarship offer from Coach Frank Cignetti to sign with Penn State.
Warner came right after South Charleston All-American running back Robert Alexander, whose career at West Virginia didn’t quite meet his enormous prep billing.
Central Islip (N.Y.) High School quarterback MIKE TICE made a visit to West Virginia before signing with Coach Jerry Claiborne at Maryland. Tice later became a tight end in the NFL and is now the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Highly successful coach Don Nehlen, a recruiting coordinator at Michigan for Bo Schembechler before taking the WVU job in 1980, wasn’t immune to signing-day disappointments either. Donnie Young still shakes his head whenever he thinks about Youngstown Boardman High School quarterback BERNIE KOSAR.
“I’ll never forget that visit,” he said. “We had him on campus and he wanted to come during Don’s first year or two here and there was a disagreement on the coaching staff. We didn’t take him and then he took a late visit to Miami. That was one we definitely had, in my opinion.”
Cedar Cliff (Pa) High School tight end KYLE BRADY had a late change of heart when Penn State coach Joe Paterno made a visit to his high school.
 |
||
| Tight end Kyle Brady took West Virginia down to the wire before signing with Penn State.
Jacksonville Jaguars |
“He was one we thought for sure we had,” said Young. “Poor Bill Kirelawich, I don’t think he ever beat Penn State for anybody.”
Kirelawich wasn’t the only WVU assistant to lose big-name recruits to high-profile schools. Young says West Virginia thought they had a real chance to land Bellaire, Ohio, wide receiver JOEY GALLOWAY because former WVU quarterback Mike Sherwood was athletic director at the high school. Galloway wound up staying home and going to Ohio State.
Current Washington Redskins cornerback FRED SMOOT took West Virginia right down to the wire before announcing for Mississippi State on signing day.
“His dad and mom came up and they just loved it: they just thought we were the greatest thing since popcorn,” Young recalled. “He was one that went right down to the end.”
A little running back from Falls Church, Va., named CHARLIE GARNER considered WVU before winding up at Tennessee where he ran for more than 1,000 yards his senior season in 1993 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles.
“He came in and was a real little guy and I kind of followed him through junior college. (His family) wanted him to come back to this area because they thought it would be better for him,” said Young. “Sometimes they don’t fit in your program but I remember thinking that particular year, ‘Boy we ought to take this kid.’ He was one that got away.”
Young says two Syracuse standouts – quarterback DONOVAN McNABB and MARVIN HARRISON – were on West Virginia’s radar screen. McNabb was a Chicago prep standout when former assistant coach Kevin Ramsey was recruiting the Midwest for WVU. Ramsey was able to lure Illinois wide receiver David Saunders to West Virginia and thought he could get a visit from McNabb before Syracuse came into the picture.
Harrison, a Roman Catholic High School standout from Philadelphia, was at least receptive to being a Mountaineer. “He was one of those kids that didn’t visit but he should have visited. He is obviously a great player,” said Young.
Young also recalls coming close to landing seven-year Tennessee Titans cornerback SAMARI ROLLE, who wound up signing with Florida State.
And Young says West Virginia rolled out the red carpet for Pitt Panther great TONY DORSETT before he joined Johnny Majors’ first recruiting class in Oakland.
“I don’t know if it came down to Pitt and us but we were one of the teams in there for him,” Young said. “Maybe we thought we were in the finals for him and we really weren’t, but I do remember him visiting our campus.”
Sometimes, as in the case of JEFF HOSTETLER and JAKE KELCHNER, coming in second turned out to be a victory for the Mountaineers in the end. Hostetler signed with Penn State but was displeased with a lack of playing time and wound up transferring to WVU. Kelchner began his career at Notre Dame before also transferring.
“Sometimes we got them the second time around,” Young said.
In most cases, however, Young says it was West Virginia’s ability to project players and find spots for them that turned out to be its best recipe for success.
“The evaluation was the key for us: being able to project a kid that was 6-5 and 230 pounds and turning him into 6-5 and 300 pounds; growth potential and all of that,” he said.
RETURN TO SIGNING DAY SPECIAL
