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

How about 10-2 … with a bullet?

September 2, 2010 by Mike Casazza

I don’t vote in the AP poll and I don’t do prediction columns, not because there’s anything wrong with either or because I champion neutrality, but because I defer to the experts.

Like this guy, who forecasts 10-2 and considerable motivation.

There’s another factor at work as WVU begins the season, too. The players love Stewart. They could be playing for him this season – which could be his last.

I’m not saying the veteran coach’s job is squarely on the line, but it could be. If the Mountaineers stumble badly (don’t count on that), or Luck decides Stew must go to make any NCAA sanctions more palatable, the coach could be gone.

Or, although he’s a strong fighter from way back, Stewart might just decide he’s really tired of all of the fan negativity surrounding him and chuck it. Considering the blather out there, it’s tough to figure what many WVU followers want more from this season – a BCS berth or Stewart’s exit, for whatever reason.

Those issues are for later. The pick from this longtime pressbox-sitter (and AP poll voter) has West Virginia going 10-2 in the regular season (6-1 conference), then playing in the Big East’s new No. 2 postseason slot, the Champs Sports Bowl against the ACC’s No. 3 pick (Virginia Tech? Florida State?) in Orlando.

I know we did Big East predictions earlier, but things have changed. Preseason practice has started and, in essence, finished and we know now more than we knew before, and for bothbetter and worse.

Records, please?

Jeff Mullen’s quarterback tree

by Mike Casazza

In addition to Riley Skinner, the 2006 ACC Rookie of the Year who led Wake Forest to a highly unlikely conference championship and Orange Bowl bid, did you know Jeff Mullen quarterbacks have, in sum, won two conference player of the year awards, one preseason player of the year prize, led a team to its first 10-win season and set major career and single-season passing records?

Granted, the aforementioned achievements didn’t happen under Mullen and at Wake Forest. Not necessarily his fault. He happens to coach quarterbacks. If not for the offensive line, which has a larger pool of players every year, the QB position would have the highest turnover in college football. It certainly has the highest ratio.

Look at WVU, for a possible example. Three quarterbacks. One sophomore, two true freshmen. You can see where that’s probably headed. And yet, who knows what’s ahead for those players?

This is worth mentioning because while players like Zac Taylor, Ben Mauk, Brett Hodges and Allan Hodges all played for Mullen and then went and succeeded elsewhere, Coastal Carolina has a quarterback named Zach MacDowell who Mullen recruited and coached during what Mullen refers to as the “Riley Skinner Show.”

The writing was on the wall and MacDowell was on his way out of Wake.

“There are two different kinds of kids,” Mullen said. “Some kids are team-oriented and some kids want to play a little more.

“I’m not trying to label a kid a certain way, but it’s difficult for a quarterback. You can’t play two or three at a time.”

Cheers from the Rose Bowl!

September 1, 2010 by Mike Casazza

Technical issues this afternoon. Sorry about that. This won’t make up for the absence whatsoever, but what  else was I to do with my free time except take pictures of my mail?

Continue reading…

I think the final line was off script

by Mike Casazza

Nevertheless, Bob Huggins explains the new uniforms.

J.T. would rather not discuss his neck

by Mike Casazza

… so we we’re going to discuss his neck. Don’t be mad. It sounds like good news.

Continue reading…

Get a glimpse of the new Nike uniforms

by Mike Casazza

WVU and nine other schools will debut at 10 a.m. the Pro Combat uniforms provided by Nike for one game this season. Pardon me if I’m not very excited about this, but I do realize some people are. I’ve attached the live stream link Nike sent out for blogs like this.

Marlon LeBlanc hopes he will never walk alone

August 31, 2010 by Mike Casazza

Does WVU v. Monmouth in men’s soccer Friday night not get your heart racing?

Oh.

Well, what if I told you Monmouth is ranked No. 9? And has a skilled striker named Ryan Kinne? And WVU has perhaps the best goalie and/or right back in the country? And WVU gets another ranked opponent — No. 17 UNC Wilmington — two days later?

It’s another big opening weekend at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium … and Marlon LeBlanc would like it to he historically humongous.

“I keep thinking back to now five years ago and for our first game there were 300 people in the stands for the home-opener that year,” said LeBlanc, who is 41-23-16 in his first four seasons. “I think it’s kind of amazing how much it’s grown to where now we’re looking at trying to put 4,000 people in the stands so we can set the record and get the season off on the right foot.”

LeBlanc and other parts of the university and the athletic departmet are doing their work to generate a big audience — and consistently big, too. The guy had a meeting with the Mountaineer Maniacs and conducted a PowerPoint presentation. There are whispers of special T-shirts and coordinated chants as well as a goal to develop a pre-match tradition.

To help, WVU will borrow from English Premier League squad Liverpool, whose crowd sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before home games.

“I’ve been there for that and it’s more powerful in the stadium than it is on TV,” LeBlanc said.

“One thing we’re talking about doing this year is playing ‘(Take Me Home) Country Roads’ before the game before the team takes the field.”

Mazzulla, Pepper cited downtown

by Mike Casazza

One possible combination for WVU’s starting backcourt in the coming season, Joe Mazzulla and Dalton Pepper were cited for public urination and disorderly conduct Sunday morning.

A tale of two former WVU quarterbacks

August 30, 2010 by Mike Casazza

This may ultimately mean nothing for Pat White as it relates to his future or his sudden end as a member of the Miami Dolphins, but he wasn’t terrible in Friday night’s preseason game. In fact, save one sack, he was about as perfect as an onlooker could expect. Most meaningful, it seemed, was that he actually played.

What about Sparano’s apparent edict way back on Monday that he wouldn’t play this week? Maybe that meant White had a good week of practice?

“Who knows,” he said wearily.

Did he know he was going to play before Friday’s game?

“Really didn’t have a clue,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter. When called upon, you just have to go in there and help your team as much as possible.”

And White, who figures to play some more on Thursday at Dallas, fell short of his personal standard of contribution.

“We needed points on the board,” he said. “We didn’t get the points we needed. It doesn’t feel good to lose, period. No matter what happened on the field, it’s a loss.”

Jarrett Brown’s 2010 future is clear. He won’t be a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. There’s no mystery there — the coach toldhim as much. Yet that same coach liked Brown enough to give him a chance to be something other than an afterthought.

An odd sight from Saturday: Jarrett Brown, the 49ers’ fourth-string quarterback, went racing down field on a special-teams coverage unit. It turns out Singletary approached the rookie free agent out of West Virginia and told him that he wouldn’t be playing quarterback in 2010. The coach offered Brown a chance to show off his other skills.

 “I just asked him, ‘What other things can you do? What value to you have?’ Give me some ideas about other things that you’ve done,’ ” Singletary said. “He said, ‘I want to do whatever I can to be part of this team.’ ”

Trey Johnson’s stiff arm is formidable

by Mike Casazza

Maybe it’s because the little guy has to behave much bigger to put up the numbers he did in high school, but WVU true freshman running back Trey Johnson has quite a weapon in his arsenal.

He actually broke his arm stiff-arming people. 

It wasn’t one haphazard stiff-arm or two opponents sandwiching his outstretched arm, just  an accumulation over time. In fact, the term Johnson provided is a “boxer’s fracture” because it’s the type of break a fighter typically gets from punching too hard.

“I’m not bragging or anything,” Johnson said. “It’s the truth.”

It’s how a little guy can play big and it explains Johnson’s spot with the Mountaineers as they approach the season opener Sept. 4 against Coastal Carolina.

“He has a lot of heart for being a little guy like me,” WVU running back Noel Devine said. “He’s got a strong heart. He can run, avoid tackles and he’s going to be a great back in the future. He reminds me of myself when I came here.”