MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Mike Lorello finds it difficult to believe that 10 years have already passed since West Virginia’s improbable run in 2005 that ended up in Atlanta to face Georgia in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl.

 

Lorello was one of 18 seniors on that unforgettable football team.

 

“I thought (the coaching staff) was good at recruiting people that they knew were going to fit their scheme and culture,” said Lorello recently. “I didn’t know anything about West Virginia growing up in Columbus, Ohio. The first thing I heard about West Virginia was when I came in for a summer workout before my senior year in high school and my coach pulled me aside and was grinning. I was like, ‘What?’ He said West Virginia offered me a scholarship, and I didn’t even know that they knew about me.”

 

During Lorello’s senior year of high school in 2001, the Mountaineers were coming off a disappointing 3-8 record, and they were making wholesale changes on defense. Coach Rich Rodriguez ordered the new defensive coaches to scrap the attacking, eight-man-front scheme that had surrendered massive chunks of yardage in 2001 in favor of a new and unique, 3-3 stack alignment that Wake Forest was using.

 

The scheme required an immediate influx of hybrid safeties versatile enough to play a bunch of different positions and Lorello perfectly fit what West Virginia’s new defensive coaches wanted.

 

He began his career at spur safety and was eventually moved to bandit when Eric Wicks cracked the starting lineup in 2004.

 

“There were times when I was in a standup 9-technique, there were times when I was in the box playing linebacker, there were times when I was out in coverage going one-on-one with receivers playing the deep half or the deep third,” Lorello recalled. “I wasn’t a master of any of that, but I could do it all and it kind of fit what the defense needed.”

 

Each year Lorello started in 2003, 2004 and 2005 the Mountaineer defense got progressively better as more pieces to the puzzle were added. By the time Lorello was a senior, West Virginia was fielding a defense that was extremely difficult to attack.

 

The Mountaineers finished that season ranked 13^th in the country in scoring defense (17.8 ppg.), 15^th in total defense (310.8 ypg.), 19^th in rushing defense (109.7 ypg.) and 30^th in pass efficiency defense (116.0 rating) and an experienced and talented secondary led by Lorello was a big reason why.

 

Lorello earned first team All-Big East and All-ECAC honors and was voted team captain and MVP. When his Mountaineer career ended, he ranked fifth in school history with 31½ tackles for losses while also making 261 total tackles. He added seven forced fumbles, six interceptions, five sacks and three fumble recoveries.

 

Lorello teamed with Wicks and senior Jahmile Addae at safety while Dee McCann and Anthony Mims manned the cornerback spots. All five were experienced, talented and extremely aggressive.

 

“That year Jahmile was a veteran, Dee McCann was one of the best athletes I ever played with, Wicks, I thought, made a huge difference having him on the other side of me really getting a lot of attention from the offense,” Lorello explained. “They couldn’t just focus on one or the other – they had to account for both of us.”

 

Up front, West Virginia had underrated Ernest Hunter at nose and underrated Craig Wilson at defensive end with promising sophomore Keilen Dykes beginning to come into his own at defensive tackle.

 

Steady senior Jeff Noechel played sam linebacker, junior Jay Henry manned the middle linebacker position and junior Boo McLee played the willie linebacker spot. McLee didn’t always have West Virginia’s new scheme down pat and sometimes reverted to his old high school defense, requiring defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel to sometimes yell in practice “quit playing Uniontown’s defense, Boo!” but he was such a talent with a nose for the football that it didn’t matter even when he did.

 

“I loved playing right next to Boo,” said Lorello.

 

Collectively, there were no superstars on this defense but rather an outstanding group of 11 players who knew their roles and fit perfectly with what the Mountaineers were trying to do with the scheme.

 

“Everybody played their roles and didn’t play outside of their positions,” Lorello explained.

 

The defensive players frequently went into games with a swagger that showed up on film. Go back and dig up the Maryland game tape and watch how the defense got after the Terps that afternoon in College Park, especially in the fourth quarter when Maryland was trailing and was forced to throw the football.

 

There were several highlight-reel hits by Mountaineer defensive backs (including a couple by Lorello) that probably wouldn’t be permissible in today’s game.

 

“We were just physically stronger and in better shape than they were,” he said. “Toward the end of the game that showed. If you are tired you are just going to get whacked.”

 

As for West Virginia’s performance in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl, Lorello admits Georgia may have come into the game taking the Mountaineers a little lightly.

“They were good; they had a lot of good players,” he said. “I think they came in a little lax and that kind of hurt them a little bit but they came back.”

 

Lorello said one of his favorite memories of the game came afterward when he watched the game on DVD and saw all of the camera shots of the disappointed Georgia fans when West Virginia was rolling up to a big first quarter lead.

 

“That was awesome,” he laughed.

 

These days Lorello, recently married, makes his home in suburban Washington, D.C. and is employed in pharmaceutical sales. He has been working for his current employer for the last six years.

 

Lorello says his competitive nature in athletics has carried over into what he does now in real life.

 

“My company likes to hire a lot of former athletes and I can understand why because that competitive edge doesn’t go away,” he said.

 

As for being a part of one of the great teams in West Virginia University football history, Lorello said it is something he will always cherish.

 

“It was very exciting and surreal going to the BCS to play on the biggest stage. I think what we did down there kind of changed the way people perceived Mountaineer football nationally. It was a special year and a special time,” Lorello concluded.

 

Indeed it was.