I remember like it was yesterday, standing on the sideline up at Pitt talking to former Mountaineer fullback Rico Tyler about the team during its 1996 season-opening game against the Panthers.

 

Rico wanted to know if West Virginia had any good young players worth keeping an eye on that evening.

 

“As a matter of fact, Rico,” I began, “we do have this little running back from Long Island who has looked really good in camp.

 

“I think he might turn out to be really …”

 

I was still finishing my sentence when Amos Zereoue took the football, made one quick juke move to his left, another quick juke to his right, and then darted past the entire Pitt defense for a 69-yard touchdown.

 

It was the very first time he had ever touched the football as a West Virginia University football player.

 

“Damn, man, you know what you’re talking about!” Rico laughed.

 

“Well …”

 

It’s easy to see a talent like Amos Zereoue – even someone like me.

 

On Saturday, Zereoue is one of six former athletes and coaches being inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame.

 

Zereoue was one of the most explosive and productive runners in WVU history, amassing more than 4,000 yards in just three seasons in Morgantown. He became the first back in school history to produce three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and his sophomore campaign in 1997 is one of the best statistical seasons a Mountaineer running back has ever had.

 

That season Zereoue finished ranked third in the country in rushing with an average of 150.5 yards per game and had two tremendous road performances - at Miami in the Orange Bowl when he ran for 206 yards and scored two touchdowns in a big win against the Hurricanes, and later at Notre Dame, producing a season-high 234 yards to go along with a pair of rushing TDs.

 

Amos had another 200-yard performance at Rutgers during his junior season in 1998 and finished his career with 21 100-yard rushing efforts.

 

But of all of the yards and memorable games Zereoue had at WVU, he says that very first carry at Pitt is the moment that still sticks with him nearly 20 years later.

 

“You’ve got an 18, 19-year-old kid who has only played the game for a couple of years and No. 1, you are a starter on a major college team, on national television, a night game, playing in one of the biggest rivalries in the nation and your first carry … it gets no better than that,” Zereoue said earlier this week.

 

Indeed, it doesn’t get any better than that.

 

Amos’s journey to college football stardom is just as interesting as his very first carry, beginning with his childhood growing up on Africa’s Ivory Coast before moving to the United States to live with his father on Long Island.

 

Soccer was Zereoue’s No. 1 sport before he decided to take up football at W.C. Mepham High in Bellmore, New York. Long Island football is not exactly Friday Night Lights, with most of the games there being played in empty stadiums on Saturday afternoons, but Zereoue’s natural gifts on the gridiron clearly made up for his lack of exposure.

 

“Long Island football has never really been a hotbed for Division I athletes, although we’ve had some really good players come out, but it’s not a place where major schools flock to come and get players,” he said.

 

West Virginia was one of the few schools outside of the area really working Long Island at the time.

 

Former assistant coach Dave McMichael developed some ties in the area that led to the Mountaineers signing wide receiver Rahsaan Vanterpool and outside linebacker Canute Curtis, two Long Island standouts who became exceptional college players at WVU. Getting those two guys eventually led West Virginia to Zereoue.

 

Amos said he was aware of Curtis, once watching him play in the Long Island championship game on TV, but he didn’t really know that much about West Virginia University - or major college football for that matter.

 

He saw the Mountaineers play a couple of times on TV but not much else about the school when they began recruiting him.

 

“I didn’t gauge or realize anything about the process of football recruiting and how it worked,” he admitted. “At some point, my high school coach told me that he was receiving letters from schools interested in me playing football for them and I didn’t know what the hell he was even talking about.

 

“Eventually, I had an opportunity to go to school, get an education and play ball and from that point on I kind of looked into it and realized there was a possibility that this was real.”

 

Especially when McMichael showed up one day and began explaining West Virginia University to him.

 

But Zereoue didn’t have a qualifying test score at the time so the Mountaineers had to be patient and extend his recruitment beyond signing day.

 

“We felt certain that he would get qualified so we hung in there with him,” recalled West Virginia coach Don Nehlen.

 

Zereoue’s first visit to Morgantown, West Virginia, turned out to be about as exciting as sitting out in the backyard and watching the grass grow, the way Amos remembers things.

 

“Everyone on campus was gone,” he laughed. “I can’t even remember who my host was. It was basically just hanging out.”

 

However, a desolate Morgantown in the summertime turned out to be much more appealing than Northeastern, Massachusetts and some of the Division II schools that were recruiting him, so Zereoue chose West Virginia.

 

“You’re coming from New York and you’re not used to the mountains and the slow pace of life but you adjust really quickly because the people are great and the atmosphere there is just impeccable,” noted Zereoue.

 

Amos came to WVU at an interesting time in Don Nehlen’s coaching career. The Mountaineers were transitioning to more of a passing style offense with quarterback Marc Bulger, wide receivers David Saunders and Shawn Foreman and a talented pass-catching tight end in Anthony Becht, but Zereoue fit perfectly for what Nehlen was looking for from his running backs at the time.

 

“Amos had good hands,” said Nehlen. “There isn’t any question when we got ahold of Marc we started to throw the ball a lot more and Amos fit easily because he could catch the ball coming out of the backfield, although we probably didn’t use him as much as we should have.”

 

“A ball of muscle and a tremendous athlete,” recalled Becht, now describing college football games for ESPN. “We were running a pro-style system at the time with the stretch run and the play-action pass and Amos fit what we were doing perfectly.”

 

“I was kind of just there having a good time,” added Zereoue. “I was in school, I’m playing ball, we’re on television, you have fans who are cheering and it was just one big party for me. I really didn’t look too deeply into the type of offense we ran and the political part of the game, who is in and who is out? I just basically went out there and did the best that I could.”

 

The three seasons Zereoue played at West Virginia saw the Mountaineers reach bowl games each year, but fall short of reaching their bigger goals of finishing ranked in the top 25 and winning Big East championships.

 

However, Zereoue correctly points out that the Big East back then was a much different league than it was in the mid-2000s when WVU was the Big East’s dominating team.

 

“When we played, the Big East was still the Big East,” he said. “Every week you knew you had to fight for every W – every yard and every tackle. When you got a W you knew that you earned it.”

 

Zereoue played on perhaps Nehlen’s most talented football team in 1998, which featured several NFL players on both sides of the ball. Nehlen believes had the Mountaineers not opened the season with No. 1-ranked Ohio State and lost they might have run the table just as his 1988 and 1993 West Virginia teams did.

 

“Their pot of gold was gone early,” he said.

 

As for Zereoue, he sought his pot of gold in the NFL following his junior season in 1998, going in the third round to the Pittsburgh Steelers as the 95^th overall choice.

 

He spent five seasons in Pittsburgh, his most productive year coming in 2002 when he led the Steelers with 762 yards while scoring four touchdowns playing in the same backfield with Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis.

 

Amos ended up with 1,698 yards and seven touchdowns during his time in the Steel City, and he also played parts of two more seasons with the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots before his release three games into the 2005 season.

 

“I think things could have turned out better, but it’s a business,” Zereoue said of his seven-year pro career. “I’m definitely grateful to have had the opportunity to play at the highest level and not too many people can say that.

 

“There were some unfortunate situations here and there that allowed my career to be cut short, but my five years in Pittsburgh, I definitely had a great opportunity and a great time. I got to play with some great players. Jerome Bettis is a hall of famer and some of the other great players we had such as Hines (Ward), Joey Porter, Plaxico Burress … I could go on and on,” he said. “I got an opportunity to play in Oakland with Jerry Rice and I got some time in New England with (Tom) Brady and those guys, so as far as getting to play at the highest level, yes I am satisfied, but did I get the opportunity to showcase my full potential? At certain times, but not always.”

 

These days Zereoue has dabbled a little bit in the restaurant business in New York City and is also a silent partner in several business ventures.

 

Son Amos Jr. also keeps him very active.

 

“He’s a good kid and I just try and keep him busy and show him the ropes about life,” said Zereoue.

 

Naturally, like most kids, Amos Jr. has a favorite pro football player that he likes to emulate.

 

“(Former Mountaineer) Tavon (Austin) is his guy,” laughed Zereoue. “If anybody, that’s a good pick right there.”

 

And, Amos Zereoue, of course, was certainly a great pick for the West Virginia Mountaineers as well.

 

“He was a great player, a really gifted kid,” said Nehlen. “I’m glad he’s getting into the hall of fame this year.”

 

Saturday’s induction ceremony is scheduled to begin at noon inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility and is free to the general public.

 

West Virginia will face Maryland in a non-conference game at 3 p.m. at Milan Puskar Stadium.