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

Friday Feedback

July 8, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which, now that I look at a clock, certainly isn’t “way premature.” An abbreviated week and a short list of posts in this numbing time of year. I feel like the basketball freshmen are already sophomores. The Fab Five thinks they’ve gotten a lot of ink. And did you know Geno Smith is working hard? Oh, well. What’s a sportswriter to do?

We’ll bow our backs and do what we do, though we won’t be long today. (Late edit: I lied. Good job by you this week!) I went with some interactive posts this week, which then takes more work out of my hands.

I know there are many people who are new to here in the past month, but I assure you it’s not always like this. The weeks generally have 12-15 posts and the F Double is usually voluminous and humorous. It’s the Pat’s meow, as far as we’re concerned.

That said, I hope everyone understands this is the time of year I try to step away so that I’m not jumping off the roof of Lawrinson Hall in October. Do I say that because I’m away next weekend and might have another blank space? You don’t know that! Do I still have more vacation time I have to use? You think about that. And is there something else up my sleeve? Stay tuned.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, sometimes it’s best to do it on your own.

KMS said:

When the whole Stewart meltdown happened last month, my motherly instincts directed my thoughts to one person in particular…Blaine Stewart. I turned to twitterverse in hopes that my fears of him being harrassed in the midst of his father’s public fall from grace would be unfounded. Luckily, it seemed that most of mountaineer nation was supporting him and offering words of encouragement. He had specifically mentioned Bruce in a tweet thanking him for an, apparently very kind message that had been sent his way. That gave me instant gratification that not only is Bruce something that legends are made of, but also apparently a man of very good character.

[Ed: ” … apparently a man of 140 very good characters.]

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New players, new positions, new methods … new madness?

July 7, 2011 by Mike Casazza

I see many of you picked a defensive tackle from the pool of college players across the country to plug into WVU’s 2011 roster. And that makes sense since it is arguably the biggest void to be filled.

Whatever success the Mountaineers have on defense starts up front and it is that rather large, rather nasty man in the middle who is charged with doing a lot of the significant and unheralded work. WVU wants to stop the run, make opponents one-dimensional and control the pass. If you don’t have a guy taking on and winning against double teams in the middle, you don’t have a push up front, you don’t have defensive ends running around the corner and you don’t have linebackers and safeties zipping through gaps in the line.

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More Temple!

by Mike Casazza

I see no one picked a tight end from the pool of college players across the country to plug into WVU’s 2011 roster. And that makes sense because you won’t see a traditional tight end all season in Dana Holgorsen’s offense.

Absent that element, the Mountaineers had no one on the John Mackey Award preseason watch list released yesterday.

Well, not technically. Remember Evan Rodriguez? The former 27-star safety at WVU is now Temple’s tight end and was one of 34 to make the list. Quite often these preseason lists develop to include players who weren’t on the preseason list and emerged during the regular season.

People tend to forget Urban hasn’t done much in his career and mostly because he was such a dynamic player as a slot receiver in spring practice. He’s going to get 17 catches after just a few games this season and probably end up with a multiple of that total. Suppose when the first Mackey update comes out and Urban has adequate stats, can he make the list?

Growth at Greentree

by Mike Casazza

WVU’s team o’ newcomers started 0-2 at the Pittsburgh Basketball Club’s summer Pro-Am league, but with two asterisks. The 58-54 loss in the opener — or the first time the five freshmen had played against college competition, the first time Dayton transfer Juwan Staten had played for real with his to-be new teammates — actually started out 13-0 and had me looking for a soda machine when it was 32-8. The second game went to overtime and SteelCityTickets.com missed at the buzzer. Nevertheless, the players were not discouraged.

“Look at what happened to the Miami Heat,” Miles said. “They’re professional basketball players, but they needed time.”

This is not to say they became villains and lost all my respect last night can now think of themselves as NBA-caliber talent, but SCT.com won what sounded like a pretty competitive game last night against a team with featuring Pitt and Robert Morris players. Another valuable experience, too, that ended with a steal and a transition basket by Aaron Brown at the buzzer.

Here are your highlights and interviews. (Roster, as best as I can tell, is this: Aaron Brown, 72; Juwan Staten, 62; Pat Forsythe, 56; Nevin Noreen, 95; Keaton Miles, 68; Tommie McCune, 71; Gary Browne, 57; Aric Dickerson, 48.)

Kind of wish I’d thought of this

July 6, 2011 by Mike Casazza

WVU has linebacker Steve Paskorz and receiver Devon Brown on its roster for the 2011 season. They spent the previous four years at Notre Dame and Wake Forest, respectively. Russell Wilson just moved from North Carolina State to Wisconsin. This is the closest thing college football has to free agency — and it’s really not that close. It’s just you don’t see many players leave one school and get a shot to play right away at another school.

Wilson’s move started a fun little game of “What if?” As in, what if one player could move from one school to another school for the upcoming season. The fine, fun folks at Yahoo! sports set it off and got the wheels spinning.

Suppose you’re Oliver Luck. You get an email from Keli Cunningham this afternoon. She’s writing to tell you a football player has contacted the compliance office and he wants to transfer to WVU. Not only that, but this star player will be immediately eligible. All you have to do is approve and enroll the transfer. 

You can shore up the kicking game or the return game. Maybe it’s a safety or a nose guard. Perhaps you’re worried about Josh Jenkins and take a left guard … or a left tackle and move Don Barclay to left guard.

It’s your dream here. Pick any player from any class at any school and get him to campus ASAP. Who is that player and why?

What in the world is going on at Temple?

by Mike Casazza

The Owls are recruiting like crazy on the football side. Certainly this has something to do with recent success as well as the popularity surge produced by the new head coach, Steve Addazio. He had been one of the more respected offensive coordinators when at the University of Florida and the Gators were, of course, very successful. So, too, was Addazio, who in 2010 was found to be the nation’s best recruiter.

The first class at Temple wasn’t all that, but consider the circumstances. He was hired Dec. 22 and worked the Outback Bowl with the Gators. National Signing Day was Feb. 2. He’s making up for lost time, though, and making the most of his time handling the Northeast for Florida. The Owls are getting some talented offensive players and plucking from New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and even Massachusetts.

Still, what gives? Fifteen is a big number and you just wonder how this is happening without the benefit of a game to convince youngsters from up and down and coast. Why on Earth am I writing about this?

Well, it seems Temple’s unsigned prospective student-athletes believe the they’ll be in the Big East soon.

Dana Holgorsen … you make the call

July 5, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Poll from the Daily Mail: How do you feel about the new football coach?

And on top of that, how do you feel about the way people feel about the new football coach?

Bruce Irvin is back on campus because he is not crazy

by Mike Casazza

I watched most of the first round of the NFL Draft and couldn’t shake one feeling, so much so that I took to Twitter.

I wonder if Bruce Irvin is watching draft, rubbing his hands together and then leaving his couch to go lift 4,000 weights and run 200 40s.

It’s a pass-first league now, and while teams want quarterbacks to get the ball to receivers, there’s also a need for defensive players to disrupt that plan. Remember when Mario Williams went No. 1 over Reggie Bush. The Texans wanted him to torment Peyton Manning and whoever else was going to drop back 30 times and put the ball in the air.

So, clearly, there’s a place for Irvin. There’s also a time, too, and Irvin decided himself that time would be April 2012.

Still …

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Friday Feedback

July 1, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which plans to be around on a more regular basis now. What is it, three out of four weeks without the longest running regular feature in a West Virginia newspaper sports blog? Four out of five? Something like that. It’s been a weird summer, to say the least … and, technically, the summer is just 11 days old.  You think about that.

Why mess around today? Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, get it right the first time.

NCMountaineer said:

I’m sorry, Mike makes a compelling argument, but I just don’t buy it. WVU should NEVER play neutral site games against FCS opponents, regardless of who it is.

Not a fan of Mr. Luck at the moment. He’s done a lot to sour my opinion of him and his leadership over the past couple of months.

Whoa! That bad? No convincing you this is a good idea? I’ll give you this: There’s collateral damage, either personal or institutional, that’ll have to be dealt with when this happens. Do the affected care? I don’t think so. Not too much, at least. It’s understood when making such a decision.

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Kent State it is! Or is it Akron? Or Oral Roberts?

June 30, 2011 by Mike Casazza

WVU named names today with the release of the 2011-12 basketball opponents.