Pair Gives WVU a Big Boost
January 19, 2010 06:10 PM | General
(6:11 p.m.)
West Virginia’s 2010 recruiting class got a big boost last Friday when Noel Devine and Jock Sanders announced they were returning for their senior seasons.
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| Noel Devine scores an 88-yard touchdown against Pitt in Morgantown.
WVU Photographic Services/Brian Persinger photo |
Devine had his best year in 2009, rushing for 1,465 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns. He has a shot at the WVU career rushing record, but he is going to need a heck of a senior season to get there. Heading into 2010, Devine is 1,783 yards shy of Avon Cobourne’s 5,164 yards produced from 1998-2002.
Sanders, too, has a major school record within his sights. Sanders needs 55 catches to pass David Saunders, who caught 191 career passes from 1995-98. Saunders also owns the school record with 2,608 career receiving yards. Jock will likely not reach that mark, still needing 1,357 yards to get there.
The big argument against Devine returning, according to my knowledgeable football buddies, was the fact that Devine, at 5-feet-8 inches and 175 pounds, was not going to get any bigger.
However, the one part of Devine’s game that could make him more valuable to NFL teams is his ability to return punts and kicks. Look at all of the smallish backs in the NFL today – guys like Darren Sproles and Stefan Logan – and they are extremely versatile. They catch punts and kickoffs and they have exceptional ball skills.
That is something Devine can continue to develop as a senior for the Mountaineers.
One involved Bowden and assistant head coach Chuck Klausing in 1971 while they were on their way to Georgia to sign star wide receiver Danny Buggs.
On the flight down to Atlanta, Bowden decided to stop over in Sumter, S.C., to try and flip quarterback Freddie Solomon from his commitment to the University of Tampa. Unsuccessful in doing that, things turned worse the following morning when Klausing discovered that he had locked the keys in his rental car.
Needing to be at Buggs’ high school by 8 a.m. for his signing ceremony (back then coaches were permitted to do that) Klausing was about in panic mode when he went to the front desk looking for help.
Eventually, someone at the hotel was able to pry open the trunk and removed the padding behind the backseat to enable Klausing to crawl through the back of the car to retrieve the keys that were sitting on the front seat. However, once the padding was removed, they discovered three reinforced steel bars that prohibited any of them from getting through to the front seat.
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| Chuck Klausing |
Klausing was ready to break the passenger window when one of the hotel attendants came to the rescue. There was a dwarf working at the hotel who was small enough to slip between the three bars, which is exactly what he did to get the keys.
Sometimes, it’s the little people that help land the biggest fish.
Another interesting story told to me by Frank Cignetti was the great difficulty he once had getting a player approved by the rest of the coaching staff.
For two years Cignetti had been following a wiry quarterback at nearby Ringgold High School. This guy wasn’t your classic drop-back passer, he didn’t possess a cannon for an arm and he only stood about 6-feet-2, but he was a fabulous competitor and a terrific playmaker.
“I had the hardest time getting him approved (by the rest of the coaches),” Cignetti recalled. “I knew the kid well because I had followed him for years. When you personally recruit a kid you get to know them well.
“When you go watch them play basketball and the other things you get a pretty good insight other than just bringing the film in from the game,” Cignetti recalled. “Other coaches don’t know them like you know them because they are evaluating just off of film whereas I knew the kid because I had spent so much time trying to recruit him.”
So, who was the kid Cignetti had such a hard time getting approved?
Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, who wound up signing with Notre Dame.
West Virginia didn’t come out of it empty handed, though. The Mountaineers that year landed Allentown’s Dan Kendra, a teammate of Montana on Pennsylvania’s roster for the 1974 Big 33 game.
“We got the one that we could get and Joe Montana went to Notre Dame,” said Cignetti. “He could have gone big-time in football or basketball.”
That’s a big reason why they protected recruiting news with the vigor of a KGB agent back then.
But now with the Internet available to everyone, hiding good players is nearly impossible. Even the bad players are good these days.
Areas where the Mountaineers need improving include passing offense (90th), turnover margin (70th) and scoring offense (67th).
Scott Kozlowski finished ninth in punting with an average of 44.4 yards per punt and Devine was 17th in rushing averaging 112.7 yards per game.
At this year’s Senior Bowl, Brown will join a group of quarterbacks that includes Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, and Tony Pike.
Penn State’s Daryll Clark was added to the East roster for the Shrine Game when Brown pulled out.
Brown is also one of three Mountaineers invited to next month’s NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, joining offensive tackle Selvish Capers and wide receiver Alric Arnett.
Arnett will be the only Mountaineer participating in this weekend’s all-star game in Orlando.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/12804791/offseason-top-25-deja-vu-in-store-for-2010-with-bama-boise-state
I know the West Virginia players were disappointed with their one-point loss to the Orange last Saturday in front of a jam-packed Coliseum, but they have nothing to be ashamed of.
Syracuse appears to have all of the ingredients needed to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, including team chemistry, which is so important these days. Boeheim does not have any one-and-done players on his roster this year (technically, I suppose you could argue Iowa State transfer Wes Johnson could be even though he practiced with the team while sitting out last year), which is probably a big reason why they are playing so well together this season.
Huggins says it’s simply a matter of his team not having enough guys that can get to the rim off the dribble.
”The teams that get to the line are guard-oriented,” Huggins explained. “They have guys that can play off the bounce. That’s not our team. We don’t have those kind of guys. I think that’s probably the way to go but that’s not what we have.”
Huggins is still working through a roster full of players recruited for a much different system.
“You look at the guys that were left here,” he said. “They were brought in to run a system which is not a dribble system. We obviously needed size and primarily what we’ve done is try to go out and get size.”
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| Mike Carey |
Last Saturday, UConn drilled third-ranked Notre Dame by 24. Connecticut has also beaten 10th-ranked Texas by 25, second-ranked Stanford by 12 and 12th-rated Florida State by 29 this year.
Villanova is the next team to sit in the electric chair this Saturday.
The Mountaineer women, having a fabulous season themselves under ninth-year coach Mike Carey, play at Connecticut on Feb. 2. West Virginia, now 17-1 after Sunday’s win at Pitt, jumped two spots in the AP poll to 16th this week and is closing in on the Top 10 in the coaches’ poll for the first time in school history.
West Virginia is 11th in the this week’s poll following wins last week against Villanova and Pitt. That equals the 1992 team for the highest ranking in either poll in school history.
If 50 fouls are called tomorrow night that could make for about a three-hour game. With reporter’s deadlines already tight with the 9 o’clock tip, you may have to read about the game in Thursday’s paper - or better yet, right here.
Have a great week!
