By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
August 19, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Here is this week’s West Virginia University sports news and notes:
| |
 |
| |
Rich Rodriguez |
|
Despite running the ball more than twice as many times as his team threw it last year, Coach Rich Rodriguez says he still spends the majority of each practice working on the passing game. That hasn’t changed since he first took over the Mountaineer program in 2001.
“There are times when they can force you to throw the football because they can out number you,” he said. “Pat has looked very sharp throwing the ball and I think our wide receivers have done pretty well.
“But the wide receivers and the running backs have been the most banged up group so it’s hard to get their timing down like we want to,” Rodriguez said.
There isn’t a program in the country gunning for a BCS berth this year that can afford to lose its starting quarterback. National championship contender Ohio State is probably the most protected with former Ohio player of the year Justin Zwick backing up Troy Smith. But unlike Smith, Zwick is a traditional drop back passer meaning the Buckeyes would have to adjust their system to accommodate Zwick’s pro style.
At West Virginia, if something were to happen to Patrick White the Mountaineers at least have two similar-type backup quarterbacks in Jarrett Brown and Nate Sowers – a pair of sub-4.6 runners.
“Our quarterbacks are among the fastest players on the team,” Rodriguez said.
The coach isn’t sure which quarterback will be the No. 2 behind White when the season starts and he may name co-backups like he did last year with co-starters White and Adam Bednarik.
“I don’t know if I can say Jarrett is two or Nate is two right now,” he said. “I think both of them have progressed to the point that they will be ready to play. Now will they be ready to play at Pat’s level? No because Pat’s got a year on them.”
Rodriguez said Friday that at least two true freshmen are going to play this year in walk-on fullback Maxwell Anderson and linebacker James Thomas. Both players have great bloodlines: Anderson played at Morgantown High School and is the son of former Mountaineer defensive lineman Ernie Anderson while Thomas is the son of former WVU linebacker J.T. Thomas.
West Virginia was one of six teams featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s College Football Preview now in stores. The talk in the Puskar Center yesterday was about Friday’s Dominion Post story bringing up the SI cover jinx. Most players believe it won’t be a jinx because there were six different covers instead of just one.
The only other time the Mountaineers have been on the cover of the magazine was when they lost to Notre Dame in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. Former WVU standout Jerry West made three SI covers as an all-star player for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaking of Jerry West, his son Johnnie was recently asked to do quite a bit of writing. The Sports Communiations Department requires all incoming players to fill out orange cards which provide the basic information for their biographies that appear in the media guide.
One of the questions on the back asks each athlete if they have any relatives that have excelled in sports.
I wonder if Johnnie wrote, "Yeah, my dad is the logo for the NBA."
Regular ESPN contributor Jason Whitlock is one of the six AP voters to give West Virginia a first-place vote. The Kansas City Star columnist wrote this about the Mountaineers on ESPN.com Page 2: “Schedule, schedule, schedule. The Mountaineers play in the right conference, the Big East, and have a beautiful non-conference schedule: Marshall, Eastern Washington, Maryland, East Carolina and Mississippi State. Notice Virginia Tech, the only team to beat WVA last year, isn't on the schedule. But it's deeper than the cupcake schedule. Coach Rich Rodriquez's spread offense has the perfect quarterback in Pat White and a terrific running back in Steve Slaton. Get by Louisville, and the Mountaineers will be America's lone unbeaten when BCS bowl bids get handed out.”
West Virginia received good news on Greg Isdaner’s MRI on Thursday. The redshirt freshman guard suffered a sprained knee and could return to action as early as next week. Isdaner is vying for a starting spot along the offensive line at left tackle.
| |
 |
| |
Quincy Wilson |
|
Former West Virginia running back Quincy Wilson got 16 carries for 44 yards in Friday night’s preseason game against Buffalo, and also caught three passes for 18 years. Wilson is in a battle with Chris Perry, Kenny Watson and Jeremi Johnson for the Bengals backup running back job behind starter Rudi Johnson.
Louisville, a preseason favorite to finish near the top of the Big East Conference in men’s basketball this year, will be without 6-9 forward Brian Johnson who chose to transfer to Mississippi State, ESPN.com has reported. The junior played 10 minutes per game last year and averaged 3.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.
MSNsportsNET.com is presently running an online poll asking fans if they’re concerned with the depth at running back behind starter Steve Slaton. Nearly 68 percent of you have answered that you are not concerned.
Rich Rodriguez says he uses a basic formula when determining who will play: “Are they good enough to win with?” he said. “Get good enough to win with. If the guy in front of you is good enough to win with and he’s a little bit better he’ll play first but you will still play.
“For us sometimes it’s a matter of a guy being at a real good position. If you’re a center Dan Mozes is pretty good in front of you,” Rodriguez said. “If you keep better and better and something happens to Dan, or you can play guard like Mike Dent is he’s going to get a chance to play some.”
| |
 |
| |
Major Harris |
|
If you think timing isn’t everything, well, think again. What would Major Harris be doing today if he was playing college football?
Probably leading his team to a BCS bowl victory.
Did you realize that all four teams that won BCS games last year – West Virginia, Texas, Ohio State and Penn State – used some version of the spread offense with an athletic pass-run quarterback?
Rich Rodriguez is the architect of the modern-day spread offense and guess where the idea first came from? Watching Major Harris run by people at West Virginia when he was a graduate assistant coach for the Mountaineers in 1989.
Today, Harris could have named his school instead of being told by recruiters to switch positions.
I’m sure it’s not the case, but why does it seem like every time a major road construction project begins in Morgantown it starts the day before 27,000 students return to town?
Somebody must be letting the water run at Ohio State. The Buckeyes broke the $100 million mark in total athletic revenue last year but wound up with only a $2.9 million profit, according to Friday’s Columbus Dispatch.
Ohio State is believed to be the first NCAA institution to reach the $100 million mark in total revenue. Last year, the Buckeyes raked in $88.8 million but wound up $920,000 in the hole.
Apparently Mike Tyson is heading up OSU’s finance department
If you live in Pittsburgh close to Heinz Field and you’ve got a big driveway, you might want get in touch with the University of Pittsburgh or the Pittsburgh Pirates before Sept. 16. It seems the Panthers and the Pirates are in need of a few extra parking spots on that date.
A story posted on KTIV’s web site examines the push by many small colleges to have athletic events aired on the Internet. Ivy League commissioner Jeff Orleans believes there will be a day when all of his schools will be streaming live athletic events.
“We can produce our own television and reach, literally, the entire world on the Web, without having to go through the issues of, is there cable availability? Is there satellite availability? Is there advertising support?” Orleans said.
“This is the future,” added Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton. “The fan will decide what they are going to watch and when they watch it.”
Have a great weekend!
The views and opinions expressed here don't necessarily reflect those of West Virginia University or the Mountaineer Sports Network.
