Climbing the Wall
June 07, 2006 10:22 AM | General
June 7, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Vaughn Rivers can now put his hand on the steering wheel a little more confidently these days with that big, shiny new Sugar Bowl championship ring covering most of his finger.
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| Junior Vaughn Rivers returns to the defensive seconary after playing wide receiver in 2005.
Bill Amatucci photo |
Rivers is one of 19 Western Pennsylvania football players on the West Virginia roster this fall, and he admits that the Mountaineers’ 38-35 victory over Georgia in the Nokia Sugar Bowl has made things a lot easier for him when he returns home to face all of those Pitt Panther die-hards – many of whom are cousins, uncles and aunts.
“We wear our colors proudly now,” Rivers said. “Everybody is recognizing us and wanting to know how this season is going to go. I keep telling them to watch out because we’re going to do bigger and better things.”
Rivers has a couple of cousins and a girlfriend who presently attend Pitt.
“When we played them they had on their (Pitt) jerseys but at halftime they had to switch over and wear our jerseys,” Rivers said.
Eric Wicks, a high school teammate of Rivers at Perry Academy, says he had to overcome the stigma of being called a traitor by many of his friends.
“But once you start playing everyone turns on your side,” he said.
Western Pennsylvania has always been vitally important to a Mountaineer football program that has roughly 20 percent of its roster coming from the area. A few years ago when Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt issued his challenge of building a wall around Pittsburgh’s top football prospects, that raised more than a few eyebrows down in Morgantown. Football coaches are a competitive bunch, and being told to stay out only hardens their resolve to work harder.
“It’s a little funny,” said Wicks of Wannstedt’s wall. “But I don’t buy it. I think West Virginia is a great environment and most of the players realize that when they come down here and check it out.”
Like many of the Pittsburgh players currently on WVU’s roster, Wicks and Rivers were not prime Panther recruiting targets coming out of high school. Wicks did not have a qualifying test score and Rivers was an undersized defensive back. Despite having productive high school careers, both kind of slipped through the cracks and that only provided more motivation for them when they came to West Virginia.
“I think we want to prove ourselves and also because we play Pitt every year,” Rivers said. “You know that you have something to show off and that you just don’t go down here and are forgotten.”
Even though Morgantown is only 75 miles away, Wicks says he knew very little about the West Virginia football program while growing up.
“I never even thought about West Virginia when I was little,” he said.
But beating the best team in the Southeastern Conference in its own backyard in a BCS bowl game has a way of catching people’s attention. Wicks noticed a big difference when he returned home after the game. The buzz continues.
“Nowadays everyone seems to be talking about West Virginia,” he said. “So I just put it in their minds that West Virginia is the team around here -- not Pitt.”
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| Senior Eric Wicks is considered one of the top safeties in the country.
Pete Emerson photo |
West Virginia’s sustained success on the football field under sixth-year coach Rich Rodriguez will only lead to more recruiting victories in September, October, November, December and January heading up to the February signing day.
“I think (WVU assistant coach) Tony Gibson has done a great job starting back from when Rasheed (Marshall) came here and just from there on,” Rivers said. “Every year it seems like we are getting more and more players from Pittsburgh.”
Last winter’s recruiting class featured three outstanding Western Pa prospects in McKeesport’s Anthony Leonard, North Braddock’s Wes Lyons and Sharon’s Eric Rodemoyer. The coaching staff is excited about all three players.
Gibson was able to get Rodemoyer to switch an earlier commitment made to the Panthers and the Mountaineers beat out a strong recruiting push from Ohio State to land Lyons. Leonard played for the state’s top football team and made his commitment to West Virginia before his senior season even began.
This year, Rodriguez and Gibson are already locked in on several top recruiting targets in the area.
“When players go to make their decisions West Virginia is now right there with Pitt and Penn State as one of the top schools on their lists,” says Rivers.
Wicks and Rivers admit that there is kind of a brotherhood that has developed amongst West Virginia’s Western Pa players. That bond only strengthens when they go home.
“We try and stick together and look out for each other just because we’ve all got to go home and hear the same things,” Rivers said.
Yet now when the discussion is about the two football programs, Wicks says he reminds everyone that West Virginia won its BCS bowl game while Pitt lost theirs to Utah in 2005.
“The Pitt guys don’t have a lot to say after that,” Wicks grinned. “They know.”
