August 3 Blog
July 28, 2008 01:38 PM | General
Stew's Review
Posted By John Antonik: August 3, 2008 (11:23 pm)
A slew of notes from day one of Camp Stew …
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| Bill Stewart observes the first day of fall practice on Saturday, August 2, at Milan Puskar Stadium.
All-Pro Photogrpahy/Dale Sparks photo |
“It is what it is. We’re down about eight players on defense,” Coach Bill Stewart said.
Cornerback D.J. Thomas will be the 105th player in camp when he arrives on Monday after finishing up a final summer class in Richmond. Thomas is a 5-foot-9-inch, 175-pounder who prepped at Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, Va.
In an effort to bolster depth at corner, Stewart revealed on Saturday that slotback Brandon Hogan is going to get some work there.
“We’re doing it just to get a look. Why? Because we just don’t have enough corners right now (ready to play). Brandon Hogan could be a hit in the secondary or he could be back on offense,” Stewart said. “Do we have to have him to get through the year? No. It’s icing on the cake just in case and he may end up getting a starting job. The guy is pretty special.”
If cornerback is the No. 1 concern right now then tailback depth would be 1-A.
“We don’t have a tailback right now behind Noel Devine. We better get cranking but it will come. I want it to come faster,” Stewart said. “Jock Sanders can play there if we need him to. We need to have Zach Hulce, Mark Rodgers and Terence Kerns to step up big.”
“We’re not going to baby these guys. This is not a country club. We’re going to coach and they’re going to play. Ryan fought me on it, he wanted to go and I said no,” Stewart said. “To keep him out I put him in red and not green because those guys in green will sometimes jump in there. Why put a guy out there when you know what he can do?”
“We are very, very skilled at linebacker,” Stewart said. “Mortty Ivy, Reed Williams and J.T. Thomas are just special. Behind them with Pat Lazear, Archie Sims, Anthony Leonard and Johnny Holmes, wow, was it good to see John Holmes out there flying around.”
He also mentioned that the video games the guys play today is actually helpful in understanding the concepts of offensive football.
“After the Fiesta Bowl I did get on the bus and thanked the defense for their effort because the defensive side of our football family I thought won the Fiesta Bowl,” Stewart said. “Right now if they continue to play like they are they will lead us in from Lakeview on the bus for our first game.”
“I’m so pleased with Ellis Lankster the way he came back. He is in the shape of his life,” Stewart said. “I cut him a deal. I’m an old haggler. I said you can return punts and maybe a kickoff or two but you have to be a certain weight and in shape and boy he looks great. Me being a man of my word he’s going to get a chance to catch some punts.”
“Robert Sands looks like what they’re supposed to look like. Can he do it? We’ll have to see,” Stewart said.
“The kid goes home because of his father’s illness. He did the right thing. His dad made it, he recovered, they sold the business, but he did what any quality young man would do,” Stewart said. “It would be an absolute crying shame (if he is not approved). The Big East has already stamped their approval two months ago. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.”
Finau needs four classes to graduate and is expected to be in Morgantown in January. “He made a valiant try but he just came up a little short,” Stewart said.
No. 1 Rivalry
Posted By John Antonik: July 31, 2008 (2:12 pm)
In his continuing series on college football rivalries, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach rated the top five rivalries in the Big East and the top four all involved West Virginia. At No. 1 on Schlabach’s list, of course, is the Backyard Brawl. No. 2 is West Virginia-Louisville. Then Schlabach picks West Virginia-South Florida and West Virginia-Rutgers.
The only rivalry Schlabach picked that didn’t involve the Mountaineers was Rutgers-Pitt.
Mandel recently wrote this about West Virginia: “Not only are the Mountaineers undergoing a boatload of change in their program, but their schedule is also significantly tougher than in recent years, with non-conference games at Colorado and against Auburn.”
Mandel also made reference to Louisville’s struggles last year with a new coaching staff despite having a proven quarterback returning under center in Brian Brohm.
Louisville, which won the Big East outright two years ago, was predicted to finish seventh just ahead of Syracuse. Second-year coach Steve Kragthorpe still has plenty of talent on his roster and a quarterback with pro potential in Hunter Cantwell.
Well, not exactly.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville has coached at Mountaineer Field as Miami’s defensive coordinator. And Tuberville’s new defensive coordinator happens to be ex-Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes, who came up with the game plan to hold West Virginia to just 183 yards of total offense in a 13-9 Pitt victory last December.
Also, Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was brought in to run the spread offense. Franklin came to Auburn after setting records as Troy’s offensive coordinator.
Franklin made two references to West Virginia’s form of the spread. One, that the Mountaineers spread the field to run the football and two, West Virginia’s offensive linemen are tough. Franklin says the biggest misconception of the spread is that the offensive linemen are not physical.
Some NFL training camp news on former Mountaineers …
Lake has spent parts of six years in the NFL after last playing at WVU for 2001.
Wednesday Tidbits
Posted By John Antonik: July 30, 2008 (11:56 am)
The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics lost another dear friend with the passing of long-time football and basketball statistician Joe Hutchinson last weekend. Hutchinson, 76, was a well-known and well-liked University professor, first in the School of Physical Education and later in forestry with the School of Agriculture.
Joe was born in Cambridge, Ohio and was raised in Charleston where he graduated from Charleston High. He received degrees at Muskingum College in Ohio and West Virginia University, and taught at WVU for 40 years.
He once told me he first became involved with the statistics crew for men’s basketball when coaches Fred Schaus and George King were looking for extra statisticians to record team stats beyond points and fouls. Hutchison was known for making sure game statistics were accurate, sometimes double and triple checking his work.
It is estimated that Hutchinson worked more than 1,500 West Virginia University football and basketball games.
Joe will be sorely missed.
ESPN’s College Football Nation Blog network rated the most hated teams in each conference and No. 1 in the Big East is West Virginia. “From burning sofas to John Denver, college football fans hate the Mountaineers for myriad reasons,” wrote Schlabach.
Asked by a reporter how he thought new coach Bill Stewart would fare at West Virginia Leavitt replied, “He's got a great reputation, because he is who he is. He's a down-to-earth, good person, loves the game. ... The people who wonder on how he'll be (compared) with Rich are nuts. This guy's probably better than Rodriguez. I'm worried about him. We beat Rodriguez. We haven't gotten this guy. This guy worries me. I wish Rich would have stayed. But he didn't, so we'll have to go play Michigan now.”
These Leavitt quotes came from Greg Auman’s USF blog on TampaBay.com.
You can read O’Neil’s entire story by clicking this link http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=3507613
Coach Stew is Burning
Posted By John Antonik: July 29, 2008 (11:02 am)
In between clams and lobsters in Newport, R.I., yesterday, West Virginia head football coach Bill Stewart sat down for a six-minute satellite interview with host Jim Rome on ESPN’s Rome is Burning.
Stewart fielded several questions from Rome including one about getting the job at West Virginia after the Mountaineers defeated Oklahoma 48-28 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
“I wasn’t coaching the game with the hope that I would get the job, I just gave my word that I would do the very best that I could in the short amount of time that we had,” Stewart said. “Deep down within I was always certainly hoping that if we fared well in the ballgame, win, lose or draw that I would have a shot.”
Having been in the coaching business for 33 years, Stewart said he always hoped he would get another shot at a head coaching job after his brief, three-year stay at VMI.
“Everyone in this profession has that burning desire of the ultimate goal of being a head football coach,” Stewart said. “I was blessed once on the I-AA level. I had a tremendous job with Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. I loved it there, met great people and had a blast.
“And then I thought maybe I will be a journeyman for the rest of my life as a career assistant – and that was OK, it’s a good life but when this thing came about, it just worked out unbelievable.”
Stewart said the biggest adjustment he has had to make is all of the demands now on his time coaching the Mountaineers.
“In the state of West Virginia we’re such a proud state with wonderful people and everyone would like to have a member of the coaching staff, be it football, basketball, baseball, soccer or whatever always come by and do a parade or a speaking engagement. I just didn’t know it would be that time consuming but we’re about a week away from our youngsters coming into camp and it’s all going to end. It has been a fast-paced six months.”
You can watch the full Bill Stewart interview with Jim Rome by clicking on this link: Rome is Burning
Add Another One to the List
Posted By John Antonik: July 28, 2008 (1:42 pm)
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| Dave Johnson |
Add another one to West Virginia’s list of Olympic participants. Dave Johnson is serving as USA’s rifle coach. The 1986 WVU graduate participated in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games and was USA's rifle coach in the 2004 Olympic Games.
Johnson also coached the U.S. at the 2006 World Championships and the 2007 Pan-American Games.
The revised list of known WVU participants at this year’s games:
Other Big East media day items to consider …
Last year at media day, first-year Bearcat coach Brian Kelly spent the morning ripping the Cincinnati media for not covering the event. After his Bearcat team finished 2007 in the Top 20 Kelly will be able to spend his morning this year talking about other things – like his secondary which is easily the best in the conference.
The Newark Star-Ledger reported Sunday that Rutgers is nowhere close to raising the $30 million needed to fund a portion of the project. The school has self-imposed an Aug. 1 deadline to determine the future scope of the expansion, meaning Scarlet Knights fans are going to be in pins and needles.
The Panthers have become the fashionable pick in the conference after their 13-9 upset victory over West Virginia in Morgantown. Pitt also has one of the top young players in the country in LeSean McCoy, who is certain to get a lot of attention tomorrow because the Big East does such a great job of promoting its young, star players.
The Panthers this year are expecting an above-.500 season from fourth-year coach Dave Wannstedt, whose 16-19 three-year record puts him in a league with Clark Shaughnessy, Dave Hart and John Majors (Part II) as the only coaches in Panther history to begin their careers with three straight losing campaigns. The other three guys wound up getting the ax.
Or you can buy a ticket to this year’s Backyard Brawl for $40, meaning the other five Panther home games are worth just $32 to sit in the upper deck in the eyes of the Panther brass.
