By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
August 25, 2008
VILLANOVA RELEASE
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Reed Williams |
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said Monday morning that he expects senior linebacker Reed Williams to be available for the season opener this Saturday against Villanova.
Williams, the defensive MVP of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, sat out spring drills and was limited for most of fall camp due to off-season shoulder surgery. Last year’s leading tackler was given clearance for full-contact work last week, and Stewart said Williams looked good.
“The way I saw him hitting last week in practice I think he wants to play real, real bad,” Stewart said on Monday’s Big East Conference Coaches’ Teleconference.” The trainers and doctors, everyone, is impressed with Reed and how rapidly and quickly he’s come back.”
Williams indicated a few weeks ago that there was a possibility of him sitting out the first few games if he was not medically cleared to play. He finally received clearance before last Tuesday’s full-contact practice.
“Last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday he hit,” Stewart said. “Reed Williams has done everything and he looks like the Reed of old. The doctors feel good. Reed feels good. He seems to be very strong. He’s come a long, long way in a short period of time. It’s been good for him and it’s been good for him mentally. He’s ready to go.”
Stewart said he expects Williams to start against Villanova at middle linebacker and he will be backed up by sophomore Pat Lazear.
Stewart said he is very impressed with what he's seen of Villanova.
“I, like all coaches, am very leery and scared of the opening game,” Stewart said. “We respect the Villanova Wildcats and Coach Andy Talley. They beat a Big East team in 2002 and they had Maryland, 10-7 at the half last year. Andy has one of his best teams coming back.
“They have 17 starters and like 34-35 letterwinners returning,” Stewart said. “They were 7-4 and I’m a little jumpy about that.”
Stewart said he will not be jumpy when he makes his first run out of the tunnel as West Virginia’s head football coach.
“I’m going to be me. I’m the same guy as the head coach as I was as an assistant coach. I’ve just switched offices and if I change, shame on me,” he said. “I will be loose – I’ve got to be able to think and keep cool and calm. I’m not going to get all hyped up and come charging out of that helmet and trip and fall and embarrass myself.”
Stewart mentioned that he will also continue to concentrate on coordinating the special teams.
“I’m going to do the same thing except I won’t be near as involved in the play calling as I was,” he said. “I told the guys I will have the headsets on but I’m into special teams – that’s my job. I know the head coach is going to want to make sure the special teams coordinator has his game together and that’s my top priority.
“We’ve got a great offensive staff and a great defensive staff. They don’t need a whole lot of input from me,” Stewart said. “I will listen to the play calls and stuff like that but I never go to the defensive side. I’ve got more brain trust over there than a man deserves so I don’t need to worry about those guys.”
All summer Stewart has said that his objective has been not to make dramatic changes, but instead to add a few things here and there to compliment what quarterback Pat White does well. He reiterated that Monday morning.
“With Pat White and Noel Devine we know we have two pretty explosive players but we know we can’t have them carry the ball every single time,” Stewart said. “That happened some last year and we got stymied. We’ve tried to work hard on getting the ball to other men in the offense and we felt like that was accomplished.”
One of those “other men” Stewart referred to will be sophomore Jock Sanders, who his coach termed “one of the team’s MVPs outside of Pat White.” Sanders will start at slot receiver, return kickoffs, and will also back up Devine at tailback.
“People will say, oh my gosh how can you make that statement? Well he’s a backup running back. He’s a starting slot and he’s our kick returner. He’s got a great head on his shoulders and he could probably go in there and play quarterback,” Stewart said.
Sanders will do more this year than just catch bubble screens, Stewart predicted.
“We’re going to try and get the ball to him downfield. We’re going to try and push the ball to him vertically,” Stewart said. “We’re going to horizontally stretch the defense by spacing but we’re going to get the ball to Jock Sanders somehow and not just on bubble screens.”
Briefly:
Bill Stewart indicated that converted slot receiver Brandon Hogan will start the season as Kent Richardson’s backup at cornerback and will play in nickel packages. Hogan will also be one of the two deep men on punts.
“We hated to move him from offense because he’s such a playmaker but he is such a skilled athlete back there,” Stewart said. “He’s going to return punts and kicks and he’s going to play corner for us and I’m excited to see what he can do. I don’t care if it’s Wes Lyons at 6-foot-8 or Jock Sanders, whoever we put against him he’s feisty and he’s got that tenacity about him. He’s probably the best open field tackler we’ve got in the secondary.”
Stewart likes what his corners Ellis Lankster, Kent Richardson and Brandon Hogan offer in terms of athleticism.
“The guys we have, Ellis Lankster, Brandon Hogan and Kent Richardson – this is not a slam on the other guys- but they are probably better athletes. They just aren’t gamers so to speak and just don’t have it under the belt like those guys,” Stewart said. “We’re replacing a lot of guys that played a lot of football. They just haven’t been in the arena yet. I hope when the lights come on they don’t circuit out. On athleticism I feel really, really good.”
Stewart said to look for West Virginia’s DBs to play more aggressively this year.
“We’re going after balls,” Stewart said. “We’re not going to let them catch the ball and tackle them. I can’t stand that. If it’s in the air go get the ball. We have every much right to the ball as they do. That’s how we feel and that’s how we will coach them. We’re probably going to miss some and we’ll probably get burned for some. If you play aggressive and you don’t play crazy – don’t just shoot from the hip –but you play aggressive and go get it … hey, if you get beat you get beat.”
The first weekly Bill Stewart press conference will take place Tuesday afternoon at 1 pm at the Milan Puskar Center. The press conference will be aired at 2:30 pm on Fox Sports Pittsburgh and will also be available online through MSNsportsNET.com.
