It is Monday and barely 24 hours since Steve Slaton was drafted by the Houston Texans, thus ending one of the most enjoyable careers in the history of a WVU program that has witnessed a lot of enjoyable careers. Slaton’s was different for its own reasons and one couldn’t help but admire his ascent and the way he handled it all.

Remember, this was a kid who starred on an iffy high school team and was often recruited for the wrong position. One school recruited him to play running back, yanked its scholarship offer and then regretted the error before, during and after losses the past two seasons. On rare occasions, Slaton would smirk at that snub and all the others, but he was too happy with who he was to focus on what others thought he’d never be.

 

Slaton was magical and he made gifted athetes look slow and uncoordinated. His emergence in the middle of his true freshman season cannot be seen as anything but a moment that altered the development of the Mountaineers program. Oh, Adam Bednarik’s injury and Patrick White’s heroics against Louisville in 2005 were critical for White gave the offense a dangerous dynamic, but who scored six touchdowns that day? Slaton made White much scarier. Slaton was getting established when White appeared and, at least at that point, more eyes were on No. 10 than on No. 5. That was important because White, who then was not the throwing quarterback he is now, made his greatest plays with his feet and he benefited from the diversions Slaton would create.

Something did indeed happen to Slaton last season and when he was drafted yesterday, ESPN presented this as his thumbnail scouting report.

Slaton is undersized and he goes down far too easily. In addition, he has struggled to stay healthy during his career. However, he’s quick enough to turn the corner and shows good elusiveness in the open field.

The joke was made quite often that Slaton decided to go pro a year early because he didn’t want to be Noel Devine’s backup … only no one laughed. Obviously, that wasn’t true and maybe the idea was even a little off, but it was a legitimate debate. We need not debate it now, though, because Slaton is gone — and, quite honestly, in a very good situation — and Devine is simply next.

I stopped even wondering if such a thing was possible from such a slight kid at the Fiesta Bowl. We weren’t allowed to watch practices, but one day I caught a glimpse of a play the Mountaineers were running out of the I-Formation. It was a simple toss sweep and Devine was nailing it every time. The way White tossed the ball outside, it literally looked like Devine was already accelerating toward the line of scrimmage as he caught it. He was running downhill and zipping through defenders who knew what was coming. Cornerbacks and safeties just laughed at the idea, probably thankful they wouldn’t see such a thing during the game. I told my wife some time before the game, “They’re running this toss sweep out of the I-Formation and I’m pretty sure Devine is going to break one.”

He did.

The point is not to brag. Rather, it’s to point out that Devine has it and WVU has Devine. It’s remarkable how much effort goes into tackling Devine and how often the sideline bails out a defense. His feet have eyes and he has uncanny vision and instinct. It’s why the toss sweep and all the plays that go or start out wide work so well. If he can see it, he can get there. If he can get a first down, he can get a touchdown. For those who can see August on the horizon, it can’t get here fast enough.