Taking a Chance
July 18, 2005 03:21 PM | General
July 18, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Owen Schmitt always thought he could play Division I football so he decided to take his shot at West Virginia University.
 |
||
| Sophomore fullback Owen Schmitt was one of the stars of spring practice.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Schmitt was an all-conference running back at Division III Wisconsin-River Falls in 2003, rushing for a team-best 1,063 yards and scoring five touchdowns his freshman season. He produced a career-high 181 yards against Whitewater and finished third in the conference in rushing.
Those figures were enough to convince the 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound fullback to try his luck in Division I and he began researching schools that was in need of a fullback. Being a Fairfax, Va., native, Schmitt had a lot of friends going to WVU and noticed they didn’t have a bunch of fullbacks on its roster so he figured that would be a good place to start.
“I kind of wanted to come here out of high school but I didn’t really have a lot of help recruiting wise as far as sending my stuff out,” he said. “One day I came up with my mom in the winter and brought my stuff here. They gave me a call and told me to come out in the spring.”
Schmitt played fullback and defensive end on a Fairfax High School team that has had a handful of quality prospects through the years. Defensive back Brandon Royster was considered the top player in Virginia in 2000 and signed with Stanford but a knee injury forced him to give up his career prematurely. And Mike Daniels was a Division I-caliber player that signed with Virginia Tech, but Schmitt says his high school wasn’t necessarily a flocking ground for college recruiters.
“I was always kind of a little upset that nobody gave me a chance (coming out of high school),” Schmitt said. “I use that as a little fuel.”
Consequently Schmitt’s only alternative was to go to Wisconsin-River Falls – the same Division III school that produced Wisconsin standout defensive back/punt returner Jim Leonhard.
“I was looking at two D-III teams that were talking to me. (Wisconsin-River Falls) ran the wishbone and they promised me a lot of carries so I went there,” Schmitt said. “I had a blast and I loved it there.”
But in the back of Schmitt’s mind he knew the move to River Falls was only a temporary one. “I had a lot of friends who played Division I and I thought, why not give it a shot?” he said.
Schmitt had a talk with his coach John O’Grady and the two agreed that he had the ability to play at the Division I level.
“He told me straight up what he thought my strengths were and he told me what my weaknesses were and that they might change me to defense,” Schmitt recalled. “He said I was kind of a ‘tweener’ between a tailback and a fullback. You’re big enough and strong enough to play fullback so they will probably start you there. I totally respected him for that and took his word for it.”
O’Grady then told Schmitt about Leonhard.
“Coach O understands,” Schmitt said. “Jim Leonhard played for Wisconsin and Coach O’Grady did the same thing for him. He got him out of high school and then he told Jim to go down to Wisconsin and try his luck and he turned out to be a great success.”
 |
||
| Schmitt ran for more than 1,000 yards during his only season at Division III Wisconsin-River Falls in 2003.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Schmitt mailed out a couple of video tapes to West Virginia and soon got a call from Donnie Young, WVU’s former assistant coach who now serves in an administrative role for the Mountaineer program. Young told him to show up for the first day of fall practice with the rest of the walk-ons.
“When I first got here I just wanted to let the guys know I was someone who could help the team so I hustled and busted my butt,” Schmitt said. “I guess spring ball is when you earn respect.”
Schmitt did just that.
His punishing running and blocking was the talk of the spring. He held his own against the first and second team defense and when he went up against the No. 3 defense, he looked more like Larry Csonka running over smaller defensive backs and linebackers. Now nine months after first stepping onto the field, Schmitt is now a prime candidate to take over the starting fullback job this fall.
“I didn’t know what I was really doing and I got discouraged at times but I kind of worked hard and things paid off,” he said.
Schmitt is taking the same path traveled by Moe Fofana, another walk-on who made a name for himself a few years ago as a punishing blocker and general offensive enforcer. It was Fofana’s crushing block on the first play of the Boston College game in 2002 that set the tone for that outstanding victory. Schmitt says he has since gotten to know Fofana a little bit.
“I’ve met him a couple of times and I talked to him. He tells me the same things … work hard and good things will come,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt now realizes that making your way up the depth chart is much more difficult as a walk-on rather than coming to school as a scholarship athlete. Teammates understand that and have an appreciation for what he has gone through to even be noticed.
“There are quite few guys like me on the team,” Schmitt shrugged. “There is somewhat more of a challenge being a walk-on.”
It helps, too, that the head football coach was once a walk-on who was able to work his way up through the ranks.
“Coach Rodriguez understands that we work hard and want it,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt admitted that if he didn’t make an impression and just got buried down on the depth chart after spring practice that he would have probably packed his bags and gone back to River Falls.
“I didn’t really have any other choice. It was either here or nothing,” he said.
