I’m getting a lot of the Noel Devine comparison’s for Braylon Heard, which is fine, I suppose, and Devine is one of the inspirations for similarly-sized Heard’s pledge to WVU Tuesday. But perhaps we’re forgetting about Shoeless Joe here.

The Braves made it to the league championship game that season, where they played the True Vine Saints. Heard missed the first half with headaches and the Braves fell behind by a few touchdowns.

“On the first play of the third quarter, he went 80 yards for a touchdown and both his shoes came off,” said Amill, who coached Heard for four years at the youth level and is now an assistant coach at Cardinal Mooney. “Right then and there, I knew he was something special.”