DB Duo
July 12, 2007 09:01 AM | General
July 12, 2007
 Greg Davis |
 Guesly Dervil |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said after spring football practice that he won’t have a depth chart available until the Tuesday before the 2007 season opener against Western Michigan.
“Other than that it’s pure speculation,” he said.
That leaves the door open for young defensive backs like sophomore Guesly Dervil and redshirt freshman Greg Davis, who have been in town this summer working hard in Mike Barwis’ strength and conditioning program.
“I was really looking forward to getting into the summer conditioning program and working out because last summer I missed it,” said Davis, a 6-foot-3-inch, 195-pound safety. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement in my strength and my speed already. I’m going at it and working hard.”
“Things are pretty hard right now,” added Dervil. “That has a lot to do with the weather. It has been over 90 and the running is getting harder everyday.”
Dervil actually saw playing time last year as a true freshman. The one-time Illinois recruit played in all 12 games in 2006 on special teams and earned his first career start against Cincinnati at cornerback, recording five tackles and producing an interception.
The Jacksonville, Fla., resident has good size (6 feet, 180 pounds) for a corner and should figure prominently in nickel defensive packages this year.
“I got my first start against Cincinnati and I really enjoyed that,” he said. “It was a fun atmosphere to play in and I look forward to getting used to it this season.”
Dervil was one of four different corners to start games last year and all four of them return for 2007. Rodriguez was pleased with the progress seniors Antonio Lewis, Vaughn Rivers and Larry Williams made this spring and he expects them to build on that this fall.
“Antonio, Vaughn and Larry Williams did a nice job for us,” Rodriguez said. “A lot of people criticized them last year but I expect them to have big years.”
The Mountaineer secondary last year had a difficult time defending the passing game down the stretch, giving up 354 yards in a loss to Louisville, 310 against Cincinnati, 341 against Pitt, 279 in a loss to South Florida, 278 against Rutgers and 326 in the bowl game against Georgia Tech.
In addition to adding some competition in the secondary, the defensive staff also made some minor tweaks in schemes.
“We put in a lot of new stuff and I got to experience a lot of new things (last spring),” Dervil said.
Davis, an all-state defensive back at Blue Ridge High School in Dyke Va., said there is a chance he could play some corner in addition to safety this year.
“When I talked to Coach Rod he said I was going to play safety and that they were thinking about playing me at corner, too. For me, I feel comfortable at either one. Whatever one they put me at I’ll be fine,” Davis said.
Davis says he’s made great strides since he arrived in Morgantown last fall.
“I’ve grown a lot mentally, physically and just overall,” Davis said. “It’s like night and day for me physically from last summer. I feel more explosive. I’m stronger in my whole body so pretty much everything has improved.”
Dervil indicated that he has put a lot of time in the video room this spring and summer.
“I’ve been learning my plays and watching film with Eric Wicks and a lot of the older guys,” Dervil said. “I’ve been in the weight room and the film room learning from the seniors because they know everything and they have been helping me a lot.”
The area Dervil says he needs to continue to improve upon is his reaction time.
“Sometimes I try to disguise myself and confuse the quarterback,” Dervil said. “I’ve learned a lot about disguising my coverage and throwing the quarterbacks off. I’ve been working hard on that with Pat (White) and Jarrett (Brown).”
Davis is working on similar things.
“I go up on the track and get some extra sprints and backpedaling in,” Davis mentioned. “I also do some bump-and-run techniques with some of the receivers. I’ll call a receiver up and we’ll go to the field and work on some one-on-one drills. I try to do it at least three times a day to maintain my skills.”
Both agree that the West Virginia summer program is built on players wanting to improve their overall games.
“The off-season program is very important for us because what you do now is going to determine your future as far as conditioning goes,” Dervil said. “It’s also important to use the summer to put in the extra time on skills that you need to improve upon individually.
“Everybody is excited and we have been working all summer and we can’t wait for camp to open up in a few weeks,” Dervil said.
Davis believes a year of experience will help the entire defense.
“On defense we want to prove ourselves to the team and show that we are really good and that we can hold our own,” he said.
