The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Freeman: All you need/are able to see

June 2, 2008 by Mike Casazza

It took a tip from the Charleston area to point out that one of the many, many 2009 recruiting targets for WVU football was a kid with roots in the Capital City. Chris Freeman’s parents graduated from Charleston High before relocating to Trotwood, Ohio, and their son happens to be one of the most gifted, most coveted offensive tackles prospects in the country.

He seems part Keyser Soze and part Sidd Finch with the notable difference being Chris Freeman is totally legit.

Chris chose basketball first and had a bunch of scholarship offers from Mid-American Conference schools.

Now, though, he has football offers from WVU, Marshall, Nebraska, Miami, Florida, LSU, Texas Tech, Penn State, Michigan, Alabama, Oregon, North Carolina State, Kentucky, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois and UCLA.

This is where things get interesting.

“He never played football before this year,” Mike said. “Not once.”

Chris was working out with the basketball team last summer when the Trotwood-Madison quarterback caught a glimpse. In awe of the combination of size, speed and mobility, he passed along an invitation for Freeman to come to football practice.

“I’d never played it, but I fell in love with it right away,” Chris said. “It’s the best decision I ever made.”

Again, accurate information is difficult to find and it is the Internet that has created the, um, Web of intrigue. Video, however, never lies. 

Talking points

by Mike Casazza

…from the weekend that was. For your use in elevator rides, trips to the water cooler and other awkward moments on a Monday.

> For starters, you hope the football team has a safety plan. Rumors of an allegedly disturbing development aren’t really rumors. All anyone will say is that something is being investigated and something else will happen soon. That’s not as vague as you think, either.

> Greg Van Zant for governor?  

> Maybe you can get behind a lawyer who will defend you and compare your plight to that of slavery. Maybe. But a lawyer who repeatedly asks for bathroom breaks and expresses a need to use the “potty?” That’s another matter (Page 176, line 24).

> Mike Brown is not to be confused with Adam Sandler. Jimmy the Greek? That, too, is another matter (Page 137, line 12).

> Joe Alexander will not be running from the Coliseum…he’ll be leaping.

> No, really everyone, we’ll always have women’s track!

Friday Feedback

May 30, 2008 by Mike Casazza

Cancel all plans from now through Tuesday. Not only was Mike Brown’s deposition just released — and thank goodness, because what else was I supposed to do on a beautiful weekend? — but the Altoona Curve has you covered for when you emerge from the bunker that protected you from Brown’s bombshell.

Date: Tuesday June 03, 2008
Time: 7:05 PM
Bobby Petrino, Nick Saban, and Rich Rodriguez. What do they have in common? They all sprinted out the back door and quit on their teams! The Curve return home from a six-game road trip and open up a three-game series against the New Britain Rockcats (Twins). Gates open at 6:00 p.m. Come to Blair County Ballpark as the Curve salute quitters of the game and give away a free back door — literally.

Onto the Feedback. As always comments appear as posted. In other words, you can only apologize for errors … and what good is that?

glibglub said:

Cue Hank Williams:

Goodbye Joe
He gotta go
Me-oh my-oh . . .

I remain fascinated by Joe Alexander’s ascent. When Alexander signed back in 2004, a lot of people were scrambling to find out stuff about this kid from Mount Airy, Md. I found colorful commentator Jay Jacobs one day and Jacobs, who lives in nearby Frederick, Md., had never even heard of Alexander. During a media thing that preseason, I was talking with Mike Gansey, who was then a senior and couldn’t help but flat-out gush about the freshman. Gansey said — and I’ll remember this for a long, long time — “He’s one of the best athletes in the Big East. I’d put him up there with Rudy Gay.” Honestly, I was suspicious. Then I started watching Alexander and learning more about him and you could just tell he had something going. Then came the tipping point. The players fill out surveys for the gameday magazines and the hobby Alexander listed was priceless: Dunking on people. I could no longer resist. I wrote a story that must have been 40 inches long on this unknown kid with unlimited potential. This is not to brag, but I must say that to this day it’s probably one of the best things I’ve written. A lot of that, of course, goes to Joe, who even then was an enlightening interview, but has also lived up to all the projections his peers made when he was a freshman.

Continue reading…

Lights, camera, Athlon

May 29, 2008 by Mike Casazza

It’s either always too early or never too early to get into preseason football publications. Experience suggests only a few warrant more attention than a brief glance while you’re waiting on your nachos at Sheetz.

One is Athlon, which has been the best the past three years and was expertly exact last year. Athlon places WVU at No. 7 in its national preseason preview with several nice things to say about the Mountaineers.  

Interim head coaches were 1–6 in bowl games this past postseason. The only winner was Bill Stewart, who took over in Morgantown following Rich Rodriguez’s resignation and engineered the Mountaineers’ stunning 48–28 Fiesta Bowl triumph over Oklahoma. For fans who may have been wondering how the players would respond to their new coach, the early results are most encouraging.

So Athlon has spoken. If only the people would listen.

It seems Johannes Herber is getting well

by Mike Casazza

You’ll remember back in October that one-time Mountaineers heartthrob Johannes Herber was on something of a role when his season was cut short with a knee injury. Herber is still out of action — his team is up 1-0 in the league semifinals — but not for long. He was named to the German national team’s 19-man preliminary roster and at least has a shot at playing in the Olympics this summer. The team will play two games this month as part of its training camp. The roster will then be narrowed a bit as the team moves forward.

A (primitive) translation from the Alba Berlin team page after the jump … and please remember “harsh” is the apparent translation for Herber.

Continue reading…

One more reason to be happy about Ebanks

May 28, 2008 by Mike Casazza

I thought when Mr. Ebanks signed with WVU people would be dancing in the streets. Figuratively. Not literally. I was mistaken…delightfully mistaken.

Happy 70th

by Mike Casazza

Continue reading…

Insert “Huggins held the Mayo!” joke here

by Mike Casazza

Enough was never said about what Bob Huggins did for Kansas State — a school with very little basketball tradition — in just one year. A place that had never really had success was suddenly successful and luring elite recruits to not-so-elite Manhattan, Kan. Huggins is long gone now, but the Wildcats are still positioning themselves for future success.

It came out last week that it certainly appears Huggins’ biggest contribution is something that never happened.

Mayo, originally from Huntington, W.Va., was among the top recruits in the nation at the time. Huggins, also originally from West Virginia, had been recruiting him for years and appeared to have a good shot at bringing him to K-State. Publicly, Mayo said he chose USC over K-State.

But Underwood today indicated that Mayo was saying up to the last minute that he wanted to come to K-State to be with Huggins because of their long ties. Huggins, though, said, “We’re not going to take you. You’ll never pass,” in reference to NCAA amateur clearinghouse rules.

“So it’s no surprise that this is coming out now,” Underwood said of the scandal. “We knew it.”

Joe Alexander will be measured, not interviewed

May 27, 2008 by Mike Casazza

In yet another indication Joe Alexander will be able to buy some very nice Christmas gifts this year, WVU’s meteoric small forward received an invitation to the NBA predraft camp’s physical this week. Look at the other participants — they’re all getting drafted … early.

Alexander won’t play in the games. Those players seem more like seniors who want shine, underclassmen who want to prove themselves and prospects who want to learn about themselves. Alexander is none of the above.

And true to his now remarkably admirable quest to remain silent, Alexander, who may be on of the three or four best stories in the draft, will not participate in the media session. O.J. Mayo, who will answer maybe three questions that have nothing to do with Rodney Guillory, is participating.

Johnny Dingle is shorter than we thought

by Mike Casazza

Virtually none of Johnny Dingle’s draft process was what one might call unexpected. Long before he nonchalantly mentioned he was skipping his senior season to enter the draft, it was suspected he’d take a shot at the NFL. He didn’t light it up in the workouts and went undrafted before signing a free agent deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. In between, he’d pulled ESPN.com’s Pat Forde aside at a Fiesta Bowl event and told Forde he was going pro. Forde quickly put a story together for the Web before he found out his news wasn’t really news. Dingle later admitted he just wanted to talk to Pat Forde.

All of that was typical of Dingle. He wasn’t a prototypical prospect, but he was a colorful personality. He once high-fived an official at Syracuse and bothered a Rutgers offensive tackle to the point said player found Dingle after the game and said, “Man, you must be in great shape. You never stop talking.” Dingle loved to talk — the mind spins with thoughts of Dingle mingling with Herm Edwards — and he’d go on and on for as long as you’d listen. He didn’t get into his height and weight, though, and many suspected he was not 6-foot-3 and 275 pounds.

Dingle is slightly smaller and he figures his size worried NFL teams, except the Chiefs, who really need pass-rushers.

The Chiefs were at least willing to take a peek at Dingle’s ability, signing him as a rookie free agent. Now Dingle will be trying to show them that he is worth playing somewhere, anywhere. It doesn’t matter to him.

“I can feel comfortable playing up or down on the line,” he said. “I just want to play.”

What Dingle can do is move to the ball.

In 37 games at West Virginia, Dingle recorded 79 tackles, 52 of those solos. He had 14 1/2 sacks and 28 stops behind the line of scrimmage.

“My height was never a factor, I don’t think,” he said. “If you have a good upper body and keep working, that’s how you win the battles.”

Dingle was strong and quick and, most importantly, never stopped working, which often forced opponents to take shortcuts.