OK, Dana. Enough is enough. I don’t eat. I can’t sleep. Why is freshman QB William Crest returning punts? http://t.co/HBxz2SKOHO
— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) August 7, 2014
So that happened Monday, and I’m not going to apologize for sharing it again. It’s too much fun. And it’s proven to be valuable.
That startled me when it happened because Kevin White just hasn’t done that in front of us before. The people who line the field, be they reporters or WVU people who are around enough that they see more than us, but still aren’t allowed within the lines, agreed it was uncharacteristic of the character we knew.
Or thought we knew.
This was a guy who’d been hesitant to be out front.
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The summer-long obsession here with the changing face of the NCAA and inevitable, and already happening, reform reaches the crescendo today. A vote could give the five high-visibility conferences the autonomy they’ve sought rather publicly for more than a year.
In the meantime, and around Dana Holgorsen’s press conference today, here are all five parts from our Moving Mountains series.
1) Athletic directors, commissioners provide insight into NCAA reform, what lies ahead
2) NCAA reform widens gap between D-I schools, WVU and Marshall
3) In-state recruits could be swayed by schools that can do more for the student-athlete
4) Mountain East Conference, UC, W.Va. State anticipate effects of NCAA reform
5) Athletic directors at WVU, Marshall give their opinions on NCAA reform
This probably isn’t a big deal to a lot of people, and it’s probably a bigger deal than it’s been made out to be, but the Big 12 is doing something pretty cool and constructive today. It’s playing host to “the first in a series of forums dedicated to the issues facing college athletics” at 4 p.m. today in New York and assembling all-star panels to dilcuss the variety of trouble and topics out there today.
WVU’s Oliver Luck is involved in the debut, as well as many others, and you can follow along right here.
If you do, whether for a little while or a long time, do share some of the content in the comments for those of us — yes, me — who can’t make it.
Observers thought Josh Lambert was not right at the end of last season, even though he got on a pretty good roll and proved to be accurate and reliable inside of 50 yards. Joe DeForest said today Lambert is making 60-yard field goals in camp.
“I don’t want to say with ease, but they’re clearing by four or five yards,” he said.
DeForest then said the sophomore is healthy and stronger and that he can tell both by just the sound the ball makes when it hits his foot. Why DeForest pointed out he was healthy and stronger made me think, so I asked the obvious.
I couldn’t find it on the Mayo Clinic website, but I trust it’s accurate.
Other notes from Wednesday’s interviews with the assistant coaches..
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Look, this is terrific. Of course. It’s Doug, and he does what he does. Good luck watching that and not getting pumped for the season … and dodge ball. But you want a real hype video? Wait until you see Doug’s next one. We’re allowed to talk about it now. It’s me working the beat in the 2013 season, just talking to people and typing and sipping coffee, set to that jam by The Heavy.
Update!
@mikecasazza @DougityDog Also need a clip or two of you traveling while important news breaks.
— pknocker40 (@pknocker40) August 6, 2014
We know about the daily duty that comes with living with celiac disease. We know about the shoulder injury against Oklahoma State that bothered him the rest of the season, necessitated surgery and still whispers hello when Trickett fires a deep ball these days. We know about the concussion against Kansas State, but only after he played through it and didn’t tell anyone, and we know he was crowned again against Texas and missed the Kansas game.
And we know Trickett collected fractions of himself for seven starts and did well enough that he actually got those seven starts and, truth be told, looked better and more at ease with the offense and all its responsibilities at the end against Iowa State than he did at any prior point that season.
He spent the offseason fixing his shoulder, adjusting his throwing stance and embracing the starting role earned and delivered June 24. But remember, too, that Trickett’s intangible is a certain competitiveness, that thing that pushes through a screwed up shoulder, ignores a concussion and lines him up in the shotgun again and again. I’m not saying it’s a brilliant trait, but it’s there. His coaches see it and admire it and his teammates fall in line behind it. That, as much as anything else, is why he was given his chances last season and why he was awarded so early this season.
What’s interesting now is that this is the first time since he was a high school senior entering his third season as the starter that he hasn’t battled in August for the starting job. That has to bother him because even he admits the situations he’d been in, practicing and competing with Christian Ponder, E.J. Manuel, Jacob Coker and Jameis Winston, were so fun and so beneficial.
This is very different and he’s well ahead of even the closest competitor, Paul Millard. There is no push. There are no critical consequences. He misses it, right? Wrong. So very wrong.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I care so much about it that it kind of ate me up from the inside, literally, especially because of my celiac disease and everything. It took a toll on me last camp.”
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that weakens the lining of the small intestine and keeps the body from absorbing vital nutrients. That leads to vitamin deficiencies that prevent people from gaining or sustaining weight as well as mental and physical fatigue. People with celiac disease also experience chronic discomfort throughout the digestive system.
Trickett has lived with it for years and has a gluten-free diet to cope, but there is no cure. He said he wanted to win the competition to start last season so badly that his heart affected his stomach. He’d go home and wonder, “Did I screw it up today?” and the knots in his stomach agitated his condition.
“I care so much that it ate away at me at night worrying about things,” he said. “Not to have that now in the back of your mind is definitely helping me. I’m actually gaining weight.”
I want to point out first that this was right after Kevin White had his way with Karl Joseph. That’s a tough act to follow because the sideline is buzzing and you’re more or less expected to not only win, but raise the bar. Everyone on your side is having fun and you don’t want to be the one who ends the party. But standing across from you is a guy with a lot of people in blue pleading with him to get one for his side.
Feel free to add a degree of difficulty for a guy like Lamar Parker, too.
He is a freshman. He’s listed at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds. He’s going up against Daejuan Funderburk, who is 6-1 and 180 pounds. He, too, is a freshman, but he’s known to be a big hitter and he should be able to find and secure a leverage advantage here.
But Parker isn’t having it, and his teammates love it. That was a big moment.
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I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into here, but I know when it started.
Not sure why, and not sure I even care, but I definitely saw freshman QB William Crest fielding punts to start practice.
— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) July 31, 2014
That, to me, is first-day-of-camp stuff. Maybe he won a bet. Maybe the coaches had a neat way of saying, “Welcome to college, Mr. High School All-American.” Maybe he asked Joe DeForest’s permission and, for a day, Joe said, “Yeah, sure, whatever.” Maybe it was Dana Holgorsen throwing the cameras a bone. Maybe it was, I don’t know, a drill to improve his hands because catching punts is like catching shotgun snaps.
You see my point. Whatever your choice, be it from that list or your own, we can agree it was nothing. It was a throwaway moment, the sort of thing you give 140 characters to and maybe mention in a vlog. And it’s important to remember that on the first day of camp, he was just fielding punts, which is to say he was not returning punts.
Welp, this happened yesterday.
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Yesterday was the first day of padded practices at WVU, which is somewhat interesting in that it could have actually happened Sunday. Dana Holgorsen instead chose to make Sunday a lighter day that reviewed the first three days. The highlight whenever the Mountaineers are in pads and the media is invited to attend is the Oklahoma drill.
And yes, Holgorsen has given thought to editing that name in the past.
That’s been brought up every year. I almost said something different a few minutes ago. It’s just what it is – nothing against the great state of Oklahoma.
After some robust stretching, WVU put the cones out and jumped into the drill. Watching this in practice is like watching football on television. You surf through until you find a matchup you really like. Kevin White v. Karl Joseph got my attention, and then White held onto it for quite some time after.
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