Football Opens Camp Saturday
August 06, 2010 03:58 PM | General
August 6, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia will welcome 100 players when fall camp opens Saturday afternoon in Morgantown. That’s when the Mountaineers begin preparing for their season opener on Saturday, Sept. 4, against Coastal Carolina at Milan Puskar Stadium.
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2010 Regular Season Schedule |
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| 9/4 | COASTAL CAROLINA | |
| 9/10 | at Marshall | |
| 9/18 | MARYLAND | |
| 9/25 | at LSU | |
| 10/9 | UNLV | |
| 10/14 | USF | |
| 10/23 | SYRACUSE | |
| 10/29 | at Connecticut | |
| 11/13 | CINCINNATI | |
| 11/20 | at Louisville | |
| 11/26 | at Pitt | |
| 12/4 | RUTGERS | |
WVU, picked 24th in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll released this morning, has an interesting 2010 slate that includes conference home games against USF, Syracuse, Cincinnati and Rutgers, and key league road contests at Pitt, UConn and Syracuse.
Outside of Big East play, West Virginia will face state foe Marshall in Huntington on Friday, Sept. 10, get reacquainted with old regional rival Maryland in Morgantown on Sept. 18, will travel to always tough Baton Rouge on Sept. 25 to face LSU, and will meet improving UNLV in Morgantown on Oct. 9.
Last year, West Virginia won all seven home games for the first time since 1993 and takes an eight-game winning streak into the opener against Coastal Carolina.
To continue winning at home - and on the road - West Virginia is going to have to get consistent play from the quarterback position where sophomore Geno Smith is the leading contender. A Parade All-American at Miramar High playing for former Mountaineer linebacker Damon Cogdell, Smith is the No. 1 contender to take over a position that has seen the last three starting quarterbacks steer West Virginia to an unprecedented eight consecutive bowl appearances.
Smith appears to have all of the intangibles needed to get the Mountaineers to a ninth straight bowl game, but the question is will it be the right bowl for a fan base hungry for another Big East title and its first BCS bowl trip since 2008?
Smith appeared in five games last year as a true freshman, including last year's 33-21 loss to Florida State in the Gator Bowl when starter Jarrett Brown went down with a sprained ankle late in the first half. Smith completed 8 of 15 passes for 92 yards against the Seminoles and finished the year completing 32 of 49 passes for 309 yards and a touchdown.
"Geno has a lot of Patrick White in him and he has a lot of Jarrett Brown in him," said West Virginia coach Bill Stewart. "He's a combination of both, he's a student of the game - he studies more film than any player I've ever seen - and he has a great knowledge of what's going on."
Smith will get plenty of competition from a pair of highly regarded prep prospects in Barry Brunetti and Jeremy Johnson. Brunetti, from Memphis, Tenn., was named to last year's Parade All-America team after guiding Memphis University High to a pair of state titles and earning Tennessee Mr. Football honors, while Johnson, of Kountze, Texas just outside of Houston, is considered one of the fastest players and most athletically gifted players on the team.
Sophomore Coley White is also a candidate after performing well during spring drills.
“You go as your quarterback goes and we’ll go as our quarterback goes,” said Stewart.
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| Noel Devine has a shot of becoming the second RB in school history to rush for more than 5,000 yards in his career.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Whoever ends up under center doesn't have to be perfect with the talent they will have surrounding them, particularly at running back where senior Heisman Trophy contender Noel Devine has a good shot of becoming only the second runner in school history to reach 5,000 yards for his career.
Entering this season, Devine shows 3,381 career yards and is coming off his most productive year in 2009 when he gained 1,465 yards and scored a team-best 13 rushing touchdowns. Devine shows 11 runs of 50 yards or longer including seven of 70 yards or more, making him one of college football's most lethal home run threats.
Devine will be running behind an experienced and well-used offensive line that will have four of five starters returning. Last year, all five starters played at least 839 out of a possible 855 snaps - an unheard of stat in major college football today. Obviously, Stewart does not want to have a repeat of that in 2010 and is eager to find at least three suitable backups to compliment a potential top five of Don Barclay, Josh Jenkins, Eric Jobe, Joe Madsen and Jeff Braun.
The wide receiver corps features a trio of explosive playmakers in senior Jock Sanders, junior Bradley Starks and sophomore Tavon Austin. Sanders shows 137 career catches in 39 games and has reached the end zone 10 times, although only three of those came in '09. Starks has displayed signs of being a long-ball threat, catching 46 passes for 405 yards and three touchdowns during his Mountaineer career, but he has been constantly slowed by nagging injuries.
Austin, meanwhile, is a bona fide weapon in the passing game, as a returner on kickoffs, and in the backfield on reverses. Last year as a freshman, he scored touchdowns three different ways (pass, run and kickoff) and an emphasis has been made to find additional ways of getting the ball into Austin's hands this fall.
“If you spend all day trying to confuse that young quarterback and we get that ball out on the flank, you'd better be able to tackle,” Stewart told Charleston Gazette reporter Dave Hickman earlier this week. “If you're going to blitz and come after us, you'd better get him because that's man coverage against some of the fastest kids in the league.''
True freshman Ivan McCartney could also work his way into the mix at receiver after an eye opening prep career at Miramar High School in Miramar, Fla., where he caught 28 career touchdown passes and played in the U.S. Army All-America game.
The Mountaineers also have fullback and tight end covered with Ryan Clarke returning for his sophomore season in the backfield, with senior Will Johnson and junior Tyler Urban pairing up on the line of scrimmage.
On the other side of the football, Stewart is really excited about a Mountaineer defense that returns nine of 11 starters from a year ago.
Folks in the Steel City have been touting Pitt's defensive line being among the best in the country, but the Mountaineers believe their three top guys Chris Neild, Scooter Berry and Julian Miller are pretty good as well and are especially suited for defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel's unorthodox 3-3 defensive configuration. Miller produced nine sacks and 14 tackles for losses in 2009, Neild has been a consistent double team in the middle for three years, and Berry has been productive despite battling shoulder problems throughout his career.
The back end appears just as strong with rangy Robert Sands leading a versatile secondary that includes returning starters Brandon Hogan and Keith Tandy at corners, and playmaking senior Sidney Glover at bandit safety. The fifth starter could wind up being promising sophomore Terence Garvin, who gives the Mountaineers another tall (6-foot-3) defender in the back to go with the 6-foot-5-inch Sands, likely West Virginia's top pro prospect.
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| Robert Sands leads an experienced and talented secondary in 2010.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Having an experienced secondary will enable defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel to bring more pressure, meaning potentially more tackles and sacks for experienced linebackers J.T. Thomas, Pat Lazear and Anthony Leonard. Bruce Irvin, the No. 6-rated junior college prospect in the nation, could also be involved in Casteel's pressure packages if he can figure things before the opener.
"He's a tremendous athlete but first and foremost, he's such a great young man," said Stewart of Irvin. "He has a big heart, he's on a mission, and he knew what he needed to do to finish junior college and he did it. And I am told by our strength staff that he's quickly becoming one of our team leaders."
West Virginia will also be strong in the return game with Devine, Austin and Sanders all likely involved in some manner this season.
Place kicker Tyler Bitancurt, who won the Pitt game with four field goals and successfully kicked 13 out of 15 for the season, is back and ready to go after missing spring drills following successful ankle surgery. The punting chores will go to either senior Gregg Pugnetti or Alabama transfer Corey Smith, who also has enough leg to possibly handle kickoffs as well.
Improvement in the overall performance of the kicking game is one of Stewart’s big objectives when fall camp concludes. Those duties are now being divided up between assistant coaches Steve Dunlap and Dave McMichael in an effort to improve on last year's kick coverage unit that ranked among the worst in college football.
If West Virginia can fix its kickoff woes; if it can get solid, consistent quarterback play and can steer clear of debilitating injuries, then Mountaineer fans could have a lot to look forward to when the calendar turns to January, 2011.
