Going Out With a Bang
August 10, 2010 07:12 PM | General
August 10, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sidney Glover says he is willing to do whatever it takes to have a successful senior season in 2010. The always-talented-but-not-always healthy safety wants his last year at WVU to be his best.
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| Senior safety Sidney Glover has been named defensive player of the game five times during his three-year Mountaineer career.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
“It’s my senior year and I always think of myself like I did in high school, ‘When I’m done what will they think of me?’ In high school they thought I was great and here, I feel if I were to stop playing today, they haven’t seen the best of me and a lot of that can be attributed to me being unhealthy and just not being able to practice as much and getting those valuable reps I missed all last year,” he said.
Since the start of his Mountaineer career in 2007, Glover’s performance admittedly hasn’t always matched his enormous promise. There were games when he was one of the most dominant players on the football field (the USF game in 2008 is one that immediately comes to mind) and there were other times when he was missing in action.
If you recall, it was Glover who lost track of Pitt’s Jonathan Baldwin on the long touchdown pass that got the Panthers back into last year’s game West Virginia eventually pulled out in the end. Glover felt there were times when he needed to perform better in pressure situations.
“I think back to high school all the time and I wasn’t the guy on my team that when the pressure was on I gave up the big play,” he said. “Usually I was the one when it’s crunch time my teammates looked to me. I felt like last year I was the guy they couldn’t look to and I was letting my teammates down in certain situations. The Pitt game I gave up that touchdown in the fourth quarter and that just usually was never me. I was just not happy with myself.”
In reality, Glover is probably being a little hard on himself, but that is what all of the good ones seem to do when they don’t perform up to their expectations. Five times in his last 23 games the coaching staff thought enough of Glover’s performance to name him the defensive player of the game. He finished fifth on the team in tackles as a sophomore in 2008 and ranked seventh last year, a season Glover says he’d rather forget.
“If they’re hard on themselves that means they care,” said coach Bill Stewart. “Sidney has gone beyond the call of duty as far as lifting because he has had some nicks and bangs and he wants to have a great senior season and go on and further his career.”
Sidney looks at how well teammate Robert Sands performed last year and realizes the secret to Sands’ success is all of the hard work he puts into his game.
“Last year, and the year before, Rob came out and practiced better than I did and it showed on film and in the games,” Glover explained. “He took advantage of opportunities when they came and when the pressure was on he made plays. Working hard in practice, and working hard when he was supposed to, contributed to that. Rob has done great and I’m happy for him.”
Glover also thinks his OK performance last year may have influenced the preseason magazines that rate the top defensive backfields in the country.
“I feel if I did my part last year and did what was expected of me I think our secondary would have been looked at as a lot better,” Glover admitted.
This fall, Glover believes the pieces are there to have an outstanding secondary with Brandon Hogan, Keith Tandy and Brodrick Jenkins manning the two corner positions, and Sands and sophomore Terence Garvin teaming alongside him at the three safety spots.
“We’ve got two great corners in Tandy and Brandon, Rob had a great year last year and we’re bringing Terance along. He’s smart and he’s good,” Glover said. “I think he’s got the perfect fit for the spur position right now and I’m hoping to do my part this year.”
In order to do that, it means Glover must remain healthy from his head right down to his toes. “My big thing is just trying to stay healthy through it so far,” Glover said.
This summer was the hardest Sidney worked in preparation for a season. He spent extra time working the areas of his body that needed improving and doing the little things required to become more flexible and avoid those debilitating muscle injuries.
“I tried to do a little extra with my hamstrings, my shoulders, my neck … just stretching,” said Glover. “Other than that, I just go out there and try and do what I can and try not to go out there and worry about it.
“The days we do legs I do the extra hamstring work and afterward definitely stretch and use the cold tub more. I did everything as hard as I could,” Glover said. “In football, once you work as hard as you can with the things that you can control, then I think everything else will take care of itself.”
If everything works out, perhaps Sidney Glover can finally have that elusive breakout year in 2010 that everyone has been predicting of him from the time he first got on the field as a true freshman against Western Michigan in the 2007 season opener.
“So far my career has been up and down – a terrible year last year,” Glover said. “I just think I didn’t really live up to my potential so I’m just hoping for the best. I’m working hard and just let it play out. I’m looking for a big year and this could be my last year playing football, so hopefully I want to end it the right way.”
“I’m real proud of not only what Sidney has done, but what he continues to do for this football team,” added Stewart.
Day Four Camp Notes …
“Probably the best day Will has had in a long, long time,” said Stewart.
The coach noted that Starks has caught at least one long touchdown pass all four days of fall camp. Defensively, Pat Miller, Ishmael Banks and linebacker Casey Vance had interceptions.
Coley White, who got all of the scrimmage work at QB last spring, has been taking snaps at the beginning of practice before going with the slot receivers. Mullen said White will move fulltime with the slots starting tomorrow.
“We reserve the right to bring him back in about six practices,” said Mullen of White, adding that Brad Starks is still an option at quarterback in emergency situations.
“We are not lacking competition at the quarterback position,” Mullen said.
