Eu Smith is out at least six weeks with a broken foot.

Not that he’d lose any snaps to Barry Brunetti in spring practice, but say Eu misses some spring practice, or is affected by the injury or its remanants. Then he’s not in “optimal” position for camp. Should Brunetti sign, he’s then in a more favorable position to compete.

(And before you jump on me, if you’re the sort of person to do such a thing, I don’t believe Jeremy Johnson is an immediate contributor. Fine player? Yes. Ready to go? No. Everything I’ve been told says Brunetti is and if he were two or three inches taller he’d have offers everywhere.)

Maybe I’m guilty of tying too many things together or making too big a deal of something — though I contend spring practice is big for Mr. Smith — but this seems like bad luck for the Mountaineers.

The good news, I supposes, is Brunetti, freshly minted as a Parade Magazine All-American, will make up his mind make an announcement this weekend.

He visited Mississippi State last weekend, then received an in-home visit Thursday from Mullen. West Virginia coach Bill Stewart will visit Brunetti on Tuesday, followed by Strong on Thursday.

“Louisville is in the mix,” Brunetti said. “They would be really in the mix if they would have come earlier. I’m not saying they’re out of the race, because I can’t look past what they’ve got and what coach Strong is going to build there.

“But at the same time, it’s always been (Mississippi) State and West Virginia.”