You might call it The Futile Precaution, this offseason-long quest for WVU’s players and coaches to keep the players level after all the intoxications that could cause a kid to wobble.

To review: A string of breaks at the end of the regular season, the fortuitous place in the Orange Bowl, the 10 touchdowns and all the smiles against Clemson, the endless line of opportunities to contratulate and inflate the players ever since.

It all adds up and builds a concern that, perhaps, the Mountaineers won’t handle this all too well. Who, really, could be ready for something like that?

Certainly not Jared Barber, the sophomore linebacker from North Carolina’s Davie County High that went 27-25 in his four seasons.

But that’s a good thing.

These highs aren’t too familiar to him, though he does know them. From third grade through eighth grade, he lost just one game. He remembers it, too, because it was the third-grade championship. The record was spotless the rest of the way, all the way to high school, where he found not everyone was prepared for what was waiting for them.

Those losses, though, have helped Barber and he believes last year’s losses helped WVU and will help again this season.

“I don’t fear losing, but it’s definitely powerful,” he said. “It’s kind of interesting in a way. You don’t ever want to lose. You want to win no matter what. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing checkers, you want to win, but eventually you’re going to lose, no matter who you are. What you do after you lose, how you prepare for the next game so you don’t lose again, is what matters.”