July 24 Notebook
July 24, 2007 10:50 AM | General
July 24, 2007
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| Steve Slaton |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – College football’s top returning touchdown producer will be wearing a West Virginia University uniform this fall.
Junior Heisman Trophy candidate Steve Slaton has scored 37 touchdowns in 23 career games so far. Last year Slaton ran for 1,744 yards and scored 16 rushing touchdowns; in seven starts as a freshman in 2005 Slaton ran for 1,128 yards and 17 TDs including five in the Louisville game.
Slaton is eight touchdowns ahead of Ohio's Kalvin McRae, Hawaii's Davone Bess, Boise State's Ian Johnson and Michigan's Mike Hart -- all with 29 TDs.
Since becoming a starter against Rutgers in 2005, Slaton has scored at least one touchdown in all but three games (East Carolina, South Florida and Georgia Tech).
Slaton is just nine rushing touchdowns shy of matching Ira Errett Rodgers’ 86-year school record of 42 rushing touchdowns that was matched by Avon Cobourne in 2002.
Briefly:
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| Coach Rich Rodriguez leads a group of fantasy campers out onto the field last weekend.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
According to camp organizer Dusty Rutledge, more than 30 signed up for this year’s fantasy camp. Rutledge deemed it a great success.
West Virginia coaches are finished with camps and family vacations and have now turned their full attention to planning for fall football camp, which opens on Saturday, Aug. 4.
- Western Michigan, 8-5, 16 starters returning
- Marshall, 5-7, 15 starters returning
- Maryland, 9-4, 13 starters returning
- East Carolina, 7-6, 12 starters returning
- Mississippi State, 3-9, 15 starters returning
“I guess that’s where the summer has taken me,” Mazzulla told the Charleston Gazette last weekend. “The weight training has really helped. I feel stronger and faster.”
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| Joe Alexander |
- Alexander believes this has been the team’s best off-season since he’s been here. “We were on pace to do big things next year with (John) Beilein and I don’t think there will be any drop off with Coach Huggins,” he said. “In fact, a lot individually have improved a lot more than we have in the off-season had he not been here.”
Alexander says playing in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am gave individual players an opportunity to stay sharp this summer.
“I’m glad coach set it up for us because it’s better to play against other guys instead of just our teammates,” he said. “It was a lot more competitive than when we just have open gyms against each other because we’re playing against guys that we will play against next year.”
- Big Joe says last year’s team was perceived as being un-athletic mainly because of the system Beilein runs and the reputation the coach has developed with his Princeton style offense.
“The way our team has played and the way we’ve been portrayed has mostly to do with the coach,” Alexander explained. “Obviously it has some to do with the players and the type of players he recruits but we’re pretty flexible players that have a wide range of skills. We can adapt to most coaching styles.”
- Unlike some of his teammates, Alexander said it didn’t take him long to get over the disappointment of losing his basketball coach last spring.
“I was all right with (Beilein moving on to Michigan),” he said. “I just want to play ball. I didn’t come here to play for John Beilein – I mean I liked him and that’s one of the reasons I came here – but I just want to play basketball.
“On a personal level I like him. We were always looking forward to when we were going to be upperclassmen because we felt like we were going to be good,” Alexander said. “Initially when Beilein left there was a sense that maybe that was all going to go down the tubes but that won’t happen because Huggins is such a great coach.”
- Alexander has been impressed with WVU’s two new recruits John Flowers and Will Thomas during the opportunities he’s had to play with them during pick up games this summer.
“They’re both definitely going to help us,” Alexander said. “They’re real talented.”
Flowers is a 6-foot-7-inch forward from Waldorf, Md., while Thomas is a 6-5 guard from East Cleveland, Ohio.
Thomas was Coach Bob Huggins’ first recruit at West Virginia.
Last year the MAC had an event in Charlotte and two years ago WVU athletic fundraisers and staff traveled to Washington, D.C.
... Bryan Pukenas is finishing up his residency at Penn and lives in New Jersey with his wife. He plans on becoming a radiologist specializing in neurological disorders. Jamie Sweeney is a medical salesmen living in Pittsburgh; Bob Baum is also living and working in Pittsburgh.
... Kevin Landolt does landscaping back in New Jersey.
... Brock Holland is a teacher in Pottstown, Pa., and Sam Austin is living and working in Frederick, Md. Randy Dunnigan is living and working in Pulaski, Va., spending his weekends racing sprint cars.
Organizing the event this year was John Conte and Tanner Russell. Conte and his wife, the former Kelley Ammons, live in Pittsburgh while Russell resides in Wheeling.
His only concern is that he was supposed to fly into Congonhas Airport where a short runway is being blamed for last week’s TAM Flight 3054 accident that killed 198 in Brazil’s worst air disaster.
The country is considering closing the airport which could significantly impact Kotsko’s travels plans.
Nedeff played football and wrestled at WVU in the early 1960s and served as the school’s wrestling coach from 1968-74.
Congratulations George!
Have a great week!
