Summer Workouts
July 31, 2009 03:15 PM | General
(3:15 pm)
Post your comments
 |
||
| Doc Holliday |
You can count Doc Holliday among those in favor of freshmen being allowed to work out during the summertime. West Virginia’s No. 2 man in charge of the Mountaineer football program says even an extra month with the team in the summer can make a dramatic difference when fall training camp rolls around.
“It gives them an upper hand in terms of being with the strength coaches - some of them for four weeks and some of them for eight weeks,” Holliday said. “That gives them the opportunity to play early.”
The trend now in college football is to get players into their programs as soon as possible.
Holliday pointed out that Florida last year had a large number of players on its national championship team graduate high school in January.
“If you look around the country right now, Florida had about 14 guys who started on its national championship team that were January graduates, including (Tim) Tebow,” Holliday explained. “That’s becoming a thing where kids are coming in January and they’re getting a whole semester in the weight room.
“They’re getting a whole year in the class room and they are a lot more mature as freshmen. That’s probably a lot of the reason why you are seeing so many of them play. And now, with the kids that we can bring in during the summer and actually pay for it – you are getting kids on campus that are here four to six weeks.”
According to Holliday, getting players into school earlier permits them an opportunity to get a better understanding of what college football is about when they get on the practice field in August.
“When we come in on the first day of practice and they have already heard some of our terminology,” Holliday said. “Guys that are thinking out there can’t play fast, but being here this summer has allowed those kids to be around the older kids. They start learning the plays so when we get them out there that first week their head is not spinning and they are a lot further along than what they used to be.”
Briefly:
Was it Rich Rodriguez’s final year at West Virginia in 2007 when the Mountaineers were one game away from the national championship and defeated Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl? Or, was it Bill Stewart’s 9-4 season in 2008 when the Mountaineers finished tied for second in the Big East standings and defeated North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl?
Of course, West Virginia had a better season in 2007, winning 11 of 13 games, beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl and finishing sixth in the national rankings.
But there is more to it than just that.
Part of the reason West Virginia was so successful in 2007 was because it had a very favorable schedule. In fact, the Mountaineers that year had one of their most favorable schedules since 1988, which happened to be the last time West Virginia made a serious run at the national title.
In 2007, the combined record of West Virginia’s 13 opponents was 90-75. The Mountaineers faced six teams with .500 or below records, including a two-win Syracuse team. If you remove Oklahoma from the equation (Bill Stewart’s first game at WVU), the combined record of West Virginia’s opponents was 79-72 heading into the Fiesta Bowl.
 |
||
| Bill Stewart |
Now, fast forward to 2008 and look at what Stewart and Co. were confronted with - eight opponents with at least eight victories and two with 10 or more wins. The combined record of West Virginia’s 13 opponents in 2008 was 93-73 for a winning percentage of .560. Take out North Carolina's 8-5 record and it becomes 85-68 heading into the bowl game (a slightly tougher regular season slate than in 2007).
Bill Stewart is 10-4 through his first 14 games at West Virginia. The combined record of the teams he has faced is 104-76. When you take that into consideration, 10-4 doesn’t sound all that shabby.
2008 Opponents, Record
2007 Opponents, Record
Along those same lines, I looked up the combined record of the 12 opponents West Virginia faced during Don Nehlen's last year in 2000 when the Big East Conference still had Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
The record? 83-56.
Just for fun, I also looked up the combined record of West Virginia's 12 opponents in 2005 when the Mountaineers stunned the college football world by upsetting Georgia in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
The record? 74-65.
Pretty interesting stuff.
“Tyler Urban has a whole spring and a whole summer under his belt. Ryan Clarke is the same deal – Ricky Kovatch. They are a lot more confident and a lot bigger and stronger,” Holliday said. “Of course, Will Johnson a year ago at this time was about 220 and now he’s about 245. He’s a lot stronger and a lot bigger.”
Interestingly enough, Holliday believes Clarke has the athletic ability and ball skills to line up at tight end in certain situations.
“I know he’s only 6-feet tall but he’s really athletic and he’s got great feet, so we’re going to try and get him in there,” Holliday said.
One additional player that could figure into the mix is freshman Chris Snook. “Snook is a great looking kid who we really like and we’ve got to take a look at him and see what he can do,” Holliday said.
“When we put the pads on and we start evaluating and scrimmaging and doing things, we’ll see who is going to do what – who is going to make the plays,” he said. “I don’t care if they are a senior, junior, sophomore or freshman, the guys who make the plays will be the guys who have the opportunity to play.”
“That’s a lot of kickoffs,” he said.
 |
||
| Yinka Sanni |
For more information, contact J Locklier at the Mountaineer Athletic Club by calling (304) 293-2294.
ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC will air the Auburn, Colorado, South Florida, Cincinnati, Pitt and Rutgers games.
Have a great weekend!
