Sugar Bowl Notebook
December 08, 2005 03:33 PM | General
December 8, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There was a time when West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez thought his running game was going to be by committee. He had two unproven quarterbacks under center to start the year in sophomore Adam Bednarik and redshirt freshman Pat White, and four different tailbacks to choose from in veterans Jason Colson and Pernell Williams, along with true freshmen Jason Gwaltney and Steve Slaton.
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| Steve Slaton currently ranks third among all freshmen rushers in WVU history with 924 yards heading into the Sugar Bowl.
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But Slaton’s ability to run against Virginia Tech’s nationally ranked defense changed Rodriguez’ thinking.
“Steve just kind of emerged,” said the fifth-year coach. “That’s really kind of happened in the last four or five games.”
Slaton's 90 yards on just 11 carries against the Hokies were just a prelude of the things to come. He broke the 100-yard barrier in an efficient performance at Rutgers (139 on 25 carries) before bursting onto the scene in a big way against Louisville, equaling a Big East record with six touchdowns in a triple-overtime win over the Cardinals. Slaton ran for a season-high 188 yards and scored on runs of 4, 1, 1, 23 and 1 on the ground and 14 yards on a screen pass from quarterback Adam Bednarik.
He tacked on 71 yards and a first-quarter score during a Wednesday night game against Connecticut, had 129 yards and four TDs at Cincinnati in another Wednesday night game, rushed for 179 and scored three times against Pitt on a Thursday night, and finished the season with 86 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries at South Florida.
Slaton’s 924 yards, 16 total touchdowns and 5.2 yards-per-carry average were good enough to earn him Big East rookie of the year honors. He also was recognized on the Rivals.com and CollegeFootballNews.com freshmen All-America teams.
He is third among all WVU freshmen rushers but he still needs about 200 yards to reach Avon Cobourne’s freshman record of 1,138 done in 11 games in 1999. Keep in mind though that Slaton is the only true freshman to crack the top five (all the others had the benefit of redshirting) and he’s also done so in just seven full games.
“The exciting part for us is I don’t think he’s even scratched the surface yet,” said Rodriguez. “He’s learning every day.”
Slaton got off to a hot start last weekend at South Florida, but Rodriguez admits the Levittown, Pa., native didn’t have one of his best games.
“The holes weren’t there and he missed a couple of cuts,” Rodriguez said. “We didn’t do a great job of blocking in the last game but we were still able to get 300-some yards rushing (305).”
The thing that has Rodriguez most excited about Slaton is his mature approach to the game.
“He’s got a good head on his shoulders, he’s humble, and he’s willing to learn,” said the coach. “After he gets 15 or 16 practices for the bowl game and another 15 for spring practice and then next August – that’s a lot of work to learn the finer points of playing the position.”
Briefly:
“We’ll get two in before finals and then we’ll work four or five days in a row after finals, take a couple of days off before Christmas, and then resume practicing at the bowl site,” he said.
Half of the squad will fly down on the team charter and the rest will meet the team in Atlanta when they are required to report on the 26th. The team’s first practice in Atlanta will be on the 27th.
“We haven’t had much success in bowls partly because of the teams we’ve played,” Rodriguez said. “Those pretty good teams have played pretty good. We can’t control how the other teams play but we’ve just got to play well ourselves and that’s what I want: play hard and play well and if they’re better than us … then they’re better than us.”
“Where we’re at with our offense we’ve got to have a variety of ways to run the football,” he said. “I still think throwing the football and having the ability to throw quick screens and taking shots down field is part of that package. But when you have a quarterback that can run it to me it’s easier for him to find holes when you spread people out.”
“Let’s face it, at West Virginia we need the national exposure because we’re such a small state,” he said. “If we had a population (base) like some other schools with 40 or 50 Division I prospects with an hour of your school then it may not be as necessary. But obviously you’ve got to play well too.”
“It’s been a strange season anyway,” he said. “It’s the Sugar Bowl but it’s not in New Orleans. You play in seven-degree weather (Pitt game), a hurricane cancels a game and now we’re playing in a Sugar Bowl where it’s not normally played. But our guys are anxious to go out there and compete and see what happens.”
“There is a stigma attached to it … ‘Okay, you went to a BCS game,’” Rodriguez said. “It’s like a basketball coach saying he’s been to the Final Four. It’s nice to have that recognition but our goal is to be there more than once … and win it.”
“I remember watching a little bit of it,” he said. “That’s when they had Jake Kelchner and Darren Studstill. I remember Darren got turned around and his helmet got knocked off somehow -- not somehow, but pretty violently. That was probably the signature play of that game because I remember people still talking about that.
“I hope that doesn’t happen to Pat (White).”
“It’s a great state for football,” he said. “It’s probably the top five in the country for high school football and Division I athletes and the University of Georgia probably has the pick of the litter from the state. They get a great share of them and they’re close enough to Florida to get some guys from there, too. They have all the stuff you need to play in a very, very competitive league.”
“Even though we had some question marks coming into this year I still felt good,” he said. “When you build a program you’re never going to be too far away from what your goal is. We had some lucky breaks this year but our guys weren’t that far away. You get a few new guys to help you out and the next thing you know you’re right there.”
