Pitt Redshirt Diaries : Noel Devine

'Thoughts from a fat white guy'

Chuck Finder — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:55:00 GMT

No, not this fat white guy, but this one:

Fellow blogger and starting Connecticut defensive tackle Rob Lunn, whose injured shoulder apparently hampers neither his typing nor his wit, posted about West Virginia tonight just a few hours before aligning against them Saturday in a game that will help to shape the Big East title race.

In the above referenced blog, Lunn raved about Mountaineers quarterback Patrick White and tailback Noel Devine. But he instantly will earn the affection of many Mountaineers followers with this reference: "Don't expect WVU dominance in the Big East to stop any time soon (take that". . . um, insert vulgar variation of ex-West Virginia coach's name here. Check out his earlier posts about WVU, including one where he labels fans "Slack-Jawed Yokells(sic)."

We'll see how well Lunn plays Saturday, but, man, ya gotta like his sarcastic writing style, if not his spelling and sweeping generalizations.

Oh(ffense), what a difference a WVU year makes

Chuck Finder — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:48:00 GMT

This is a subject to be tackled in next week's print editions, after the vaunted -- or is it vaulted? -- West Virginia offense gets its chance at Syracuse's sixth-to-last-ranked defense Saturday at Mountaineer Field. But quarterback Patrick White tonight offered a piece of insight that requires prompt sharing.

"We have to understand every time we touch the ball, it's not going to be a big play or touchdown," White said on the subject of the unit that Coach Bill Stewart has started calling a "ball-control" offense. "Coach [Jeff] Mullen's philosphy is, every down is third-and-four."

Let's pause to allow for proper digestion: They're always shooting for four yards, minimum. Maybe that explains some of the short-yardage sweeps, huh?

Some numbers with which to wash that down: Through five games last season -- with Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt and Darius Reynaud on hand, of course, but also with White and Noel Devine and the same offensive line as well -- the Mountaineers averaged 40.4 points and 507 yards offensively. Through five games this season, they averaged 23.2 points (nearly half as many) and 357 yards (two-thirds as many). At this point last year, they had 41 offensive plays and 10 touchdowns of 20-plus yards; this fall, they have 14 (one-third as many) and five (half). More astonishingly, at this point last year, they had 20 running plays and seven touchdowns of 20-plus yards; this fall, they have nine (less than half) and one (a margin so wide it blew out my abacus). There were, by this juncture a year ago, a half-dozen plays from scrimmage and three touchdowns longer than any single play these current Mountaineers have produced yet, and their top three are all quarterback rushes.

While receiver Tito Gonzales maintains that Mullen the offensive coordinator is locking away the offense for full unveiling later in the season, it may well set off alarms if the Mountaineers this Saturday cannot shred Syracuse, which ranks 114th (of 119 major-college teams) in yards permitted per game, at 462, and 111th in points permitted per game, at 36.

One final note: White, withheld from contact in practice tonight and perhaps most of the week, didn't look so good to me, though I'm neither a trained medical professional nor someone who slept the night before in a chain hotel. Said he of the lingering "dinging," in Stewart's words, from Rutgers last Saturday: "I’ve never had my bell rung like that, but, playing football, you are going to get hit. I got hit. I feel pretty much normal."

Pretty much.

RU ready for some football?

Chuck Finder — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:00:00 GMT

And other Friday football questions involving this Rutgers-West Virginia fray in a curiouser and curiouser Big East:

1. Coach Bill Stewart maintains that he refuses to throw his players under the bus, but would you consider this tossing tailback Noel Devine into the Bonzai Pipeline? "Stay in the wave," he said he counseled Devine, after No. 7 gathered 88 of his game-high 125 yards rushing against Marshall on whoa-Neillie, reverse-field runs. "Ride the wave. [Exhibiting patience is] the biggest thing Steve [Slaton] did here, Quincy [Wilson] did here and Avon [Cobourne] did here, everyone we've had. Patiencew to the hole, speed through the hole. Patience to the hole, speed through the hole. He's given up on the wave. I want to see the wave crest. What do you tell a guy who does one of those Nintendo runs? "OK, good job. But you better watch, you need to ride the crest. . . . We're not riding that crest. We're dnot doing everything we need to be doing right now. We're getting better. We're getting closer. And we're gaining on it. What I'm still trying to tell the coaches, we're going to come to a game [where Nos.] 5 and 7 need help. We've got to be able to become more than one-dimensional -- that's No. 7 -- or more than two-dimensional -- that's No. 7 and No. 5 -- football team."

If nothing else, credit the old-school Stewart for invoking Nintendo instead of, I dunno, Atari.To help out, we've invited Coach Laird Hamilton to provide Devine intervention (see bottom).

2. Could senior stalwart middle linebacker Reed Williams truly consider a red-shirt? He has, under NCAA rules, two more games to play before deciding whether to punt the rest of this season and petition to return for one more because of his aching shoulders from offseason labrum surgery. It was instructive that Tuesday, when reporters asked the normally voluble Williams to stop for player-interview questioning, he rushed off saying he had a class project. Stewart said earlier that Tuesday, in advance of the Rutgers game Saturday at Mountaineer Field: "We're going to watch him and see how he does. Last Saturday he was good, but the guy's hurting. He's his own best doctor. You can take MRIs, you can take X-rays, you can see doctors. But you're your own best doctor. Every guy that's sick [or hurt] here, I tell them, 'I want you to be honest with me, becuse you're the expect on your body.' Then we make a calculated decision"

3. Could Rutgers tailback Kordell Young, earlier this week left for season-ending injured, make a return Saturday at Mountaineer Field? Tom Luicci of The Newark Star-Ledger has the details.

4. Do you see progress in these Mountaineers? Stewart does, though he seems to be admitting they were overrated at No. 8 and unready for what awaited them at the starting gate: "I saw it in Boulder. I knew in Boulder we had a chance to be a good football team. Great football team? No. Eighth in the country? No, never. Not yet. Not yet. . . . Are we back? No. Are we on the way back? Yeah. I don't think we ever lost it, we just weren't real good early. We went to East Carolina and got whacked, got tagged. I think that's all been rectified. Will we get beat again? Could. Hope not. Those two games, at East Carolina and at Boulder. . . , I think made our football team grow. I really do, I believe it. Now did it grow for the better? We'll see. We'll see."

Stew asks so many questions, he oughtta be a reporter.

5. DId you see where one of Mountaineers' fans least favorite sports writers (present company excluded) opined, with a colleague, that West Virginia and Rutgers were among college football's biggest disappointments thus far?

Finally, a Big East thought: Pitt's rousing upset over No. 10 South Florida could, in the short-term, further present a deletirous affect for the conference in the polls and perhaps even early BCS rankings. Without one dominant team, or a couple of sturdy ones, the conference appears to finally become the prophecy of skeptics years ago after the departure of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College: a mediocre football conglomeration of basketball schools. Watch the polls Sunday afternoon. If undefeated Connecticut falls at North Carolina on Saturday and tumbles from the rankings along with USF, it's quite possible that no Big East school will appear in the Top 15, Top 20. . . perhaps even the entire Top 25, though that's doubtful. See, with Louisville on the borderline and UConn still not considered among the big boys, the league needed either West Virginia or Rutgers, or both, to remain strong alongside either USF or Pitt, or both.

Williams, Wes Lyons and widdle Devine to see first/more Mountaineer time

Chuck Finder — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:10:00 GMT

Colorado should expect to see Thursday in its own Folsom Field: middle linebacker Reed Williams and receiver Wes Lyons of Woodland Hills High for the first times this season, and more of tailback Noel Devine.

Hey, Coach Bill Stewart claims he tells his Mountaineers nothing but the truth, so help him, so why would he deceive the stinking media?

Stewart today, approaching his first game as the official, signed, sealed and contract-delivered head coach of West Virginia, pronounced a few new wrinkles for the Buffaloes:

* "Reed Williams will play," Stewart said of the 2007 team-leading tackler and Fiesta Bowl defensive MVP, who had offseason surgery on both shoulders. "We had a talk yesterday, Reed, myself and the medical people. Reed Williams is going to let it go. We couldn't block him [Sunday in practice]. And I was, like, 'Wow.' He's ready to go. Brings another level of excitement to our team. Moxie, swagger. . . what's a good buzzword? He brings a presence to us.

"He's just one guy, but he's one special guy. I left it up to him. I left it up to our medical people. He felt like he should go. Be good to have old Reed out there." Williams' return also means Gateway's Mortty Ivy can return to strong-side linebacker from the middle.

* "We'll play Wes Lyons more at receiver 'cause he's earned it," Stewart continued of the junior receiver slow to recover from August arthroscopic knee surgery. "I told him that when you show me you could go two hard weeks, then we'll get you in there and we'll play you. Wes Lyons will get in there this week. He'll help us."

* The diminutive dynamo Dynamo (with Jock Sanders what Stewart calls his Mighty Mites), after 15 touches in each of the opening two games, will get the ball a lot more often somehow, someway, the coach added. (You think the Buffs read these enemy-territory blogs/sites or listen to those internet-archived news conferences? Nahhhh.) "Dagnabit," said Stewart, who last week vowed more belly-option runs. "I wish you hadn't brought that up. He needs to get the ball more. You can't just have 54 plays a game, that's first and foremost. If he can tough it 18 to 22 times out of the backfield, five to seven times on screens and that. . . . We've got to get him in the rhythm, get him in the flow. We will really try to get the ball in the little guys' hands more, yes we will."

Stewart also said that he expected to play one or more backup offensive lineman -- most likely Seneca Valley's Don Barclay, moved from left tackle and currently listed as right tackle Selvish Capers' backup. Another depth-chart change was the switch of Pat Liebig to starting defensive end, ahead of Weirton's Zac Cooper and Larry Ford, with end Julian Miller moving to backup nose tackle -- Liebig's previous spot -- behind Chris Neild.

Speaking of Stewart's new contract, announced late last week in the wake of that East Carolina loss, it should be noted that the man without an agent needed roughly eight months and nine days to formally complete the deal -- a scant 10 days shorter than the purported Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Rich Rodriguez's team. And the new guy didn't even have one of those wieldy buyout clauses, making him the second of the past three newly signed Mountaineers coaches to go without one. Women's basketball coach Mike Carey was the other, last February, just days after lawyers representing the university filed the lawsuit against Rodriguez over that doodad.

Reed Williams to return to full contact

Chuck Finder — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:59:00 GMT

The news from the Mountaineers tonight, before they lapsed into a week-long media blackout: The red-headed middle linebacker is back, and first-year players litter the depth chart.

Reed Williams, the team’s top tackler a year ago, was permitted by team doctors to return to tackling in practice beginning Wednesday. That will mark his first meaningful contact since the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 2, when he was named defensive MVP and soon after underwent surgery on both shoulders. “Been awhile,” said Williams, who added that doctors remained unsure whether he would be ready in time to start or play for the Mountaineers’ Aug. 30 opener with Villanova.

As for the Mountaineers’ youth infusion, 11 true freshmen and redshirt freshmen hold spots across the 58-player positional depth chart released today. Among the prime names listed: freshman Tyler Urban of Norwin High at the first split-wide tight end (as opposed to Will Johnson at fullback/tight end); ballyhooed recruit Josh Jenkins at backup right guard (behind Jake Figner); third-team quarterback Bradley Starks, a redshirt freshman, at backup Z-receiver (behind Tito Gonzales); Seneca Valley’s Don Barclay, another redshirt freshman, at backup left tackle (behind Ryan Stanchek) even though his line coach considers him in the competition for first-team right tackle; freshmen Ryan Clarke and Ricky Kovatch at backup fullback (behind Johnson); and a pair of first-year fellows at free safety, redshirt freshman Eain Smith backed by freshman Robert Sands.

Recruits Mark Rodgers and Zach Hulse – but not Terence Kerns – were listed at tailback behind Noel Devine, but sophomore Jock Sanders is expected to help with backup duties.

“We got 12, 13 guys we’re counting on,” said Doc Holliday, the associate head coach filling in for new coach Bill Stewart, who was otherwise occupied with the blessing of Mountaineer Field tonight. “To be honest with you, that’s not a good situation you want to be in. You’d like to red-shirt all your freshmen. The thing is, you try to get yourself and your program in a position where you don’t need freshmen to come in and play.”

Holliday added the Clarke, previously hampered by a hamstring injury, has missed time due to a case of pink eye. He said Clarke, once he returns, must lose about 12 pounds off his current 252. “He’s still too fat,” said Holliday, who coaches fullbacks and tight ends. “If he can get down to 240, he’ll probably be a player for us.”

Other new additions: Alric Arnett is the first team X receiver; Chris Neild and Pat Liebig are vying for starting nose tackle; and spur safety is still a competition between Boogie Allen and Sidney Glover. Though several safeties are expected to play early.

-- Chuck Finder

Camp Stew officially closes

Chuck Finder — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:35:00 GMT

New coach Bill Stewart today closed the two-week proceedings with a 54-play scrimmage that yielded nary a touchdown by the eighth-ranked Mountaineers.

What, the self-described Mr. Rogers worry?

For one thing, he sat out offensive dynamos Noel Devine and Jock Sanders. For another, receiver Dorrell Jalloh was absent due to an infected foot and tight end/fullback/H-back Will Johnson due to a foot sprain, while receiver-quarterback Bradley Starks and backup quarterback Jarrett Brown likewise weren’t allowed to participate because of sore hamstrings. Finally, the offense worked on the passing game more than what Stewart calls its “bread and butter.”

“If we put 5 [Patrick White] and 7 [Devine] in there and just run the belly option all day, we’ll score more than one touchdown” total in two scrimmages, said Stewart, who earlier in the week invoked Fred Rogers’ name in a soliloquy about how he can be a stern coach as well. “We’ve scored a bunch all fall. Don’t worry. We’re going to dance with the girl what brung me.”

* Of Mark Rodgers’ 39 yards on four carries in the battle for backup tailback, Stewart said, “Nice to see a couple of big runs he made. We’ve got to see that. ’Cause I know what 5 can do, what 7 can do, what 9 [Sanders] can do. That’s why we threw the ball so much. I want to see what [the other guys] can do.”

* Of the 5-foot-8 Devine and Sanders missing the scrimmage, Stewart said, “Both can play. Both are good. Both are frustrated at me [for sitting them]. That’s OK. I can take those two little munchkins. Tag-team, they could take on this old boy. They’re like two midget wrestlers, anyway -- I’d knock those guys out.” Mr. Rogers was never this feisty at 56, was he? No, neighbor, he was only kidding.

* Stewart also talked about installing a new kick-return system that is the same one he used earlier this century, when the Mountaineers topped the Big East in that category. Devine and Sanders worked on kickoffs before the scrimmage, each breaking off returns that reached kicker Pat McAfee one-on-one on the far side of the 50.

* Absent Brown and Starks, the two quarterbacks remaining yesterday were the Brothers White. With Patrick and freshman Coley leading the offense, you could’ve labeled this a White-Blue scrimmage. The younger brother shows nimble feet, but the speed of the college game continues to elude him, as Stewart noted: “It’s a little fast for Coley right now.”

* A star of the scrimmage, if you cared to name one, would’ve been backup defensive end Larry Ford, a junior-college transfer who arrived last winter and worked in spring drills. Big East officials blew their whistles as soon as a defender laid a finger on Patrick White, and in that environment Ford registered a couple of sacks Stewart said, “He’s bringing some things to us. I tell you, nobody could block him today. That cat was smoking. That cat was rolling. With Scooter [Berry], Chris Neild, Zac Cooper and Pat Liebig, Larry Ford is huge for us.” Berry worked some at nose tackle in the scrimmage, and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich expects to experiment next week in practice with a hefty front, in Berry and Neild and Liebig, along with a speed unit, with Cooper and Ford at bookends.

* Seneca Valley’s Don Barclay looks like he'll receive a large chunk of playing time, if not start, this season thanks to new offensive line coach Dave Johnson of Penn Hills and WVU. Barclay today played a series at first-team right tackle, the position previously held by Selvish Capers, whom Barclay is pushing. Barclay, who can play both tackles and some guard, seems destined for the top reserve at minimum. And Johnson wants to play younger linemen for when seniors Ryan Stanchek and Mike Dent depart after this season, meaning Seton-LaSalle’s Gino Gradkowski could see backup guard time as well.

* Classes commence Monday, so that means the end of Camp Stew-a-days and a return to the in-season regiment of a single, late-afternoon/night practice daily. This camp-ending date one year ago brought the night that cornerback Ellis Lankster and linebacker J.T. Thomas ran into legal difficulty and got suspended two games. "Stay out of the news," Stewart said he told the players, though, if memory serves, You Know Who warned the Mountaineers the same thing last August. "We've talked to them about being mature adults, not being a weak link. They're still under curfew. They'll be under curfew until I tell them they're not under curfew, which will be sometime in January."

-- Chuck Finder

The inaugural '08 Mountaineers scrimmage

Chuck Finder — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 07:53:00 GMT

Before anyone begins heavy breathing about certain players or units in today’s first West Virginia scrimmage of the season, remember this: The suspect defense, the one replacing seven starters, mostly manhandled the vaunted offense.

In other words, it’s early yet.

Now on to the facts from today on Mountaineer Field. . . .

* The Blue Swarm, as Coach Bill Stewart calls the defense, yielded just one touchdown in 34 full plays from scrimmage. Of course, it was two-time Big East offensive player of the year and resident Heisman Trophy candidate Patrick White who gashed the first-team defense with a 45-yard romp on the first-team offense’s second series, and fourth play, amid an option keeper right. Six plays later, White covered the final six yards. And that was pretty much it for the offense.

White found a wide-open Tyler Urban, the freshman tight end from Norwin, on the unit’s very next play for a 45-yard play capped by Urban lowering his helmet and knocking down the tackling cornerback Ellis Lankster (whom Stewart later kicked off the field and to the sideline for a penchant to “talk too much”). On the ensuing plays, freshman Terence Kerns galloped 42 yards as part of his 64 yards on 10 carries overall, and sophomore Noel Devine broke off a 15-yard option sweep among his 39 yards on five carries in the true scrimmage and 50 on 11 overall (counting goal-line situations). White soon after added a 26-yard out pass to Alric Arnett to finish the true scrimmage 4 for 8 for 81 yards; he added an 18-yard pass to Jock Sanders plus a sack in the goal-line situations.

In the end, Stewart declared the first-team defense a scrimmage victor: “They got nasty. . . . Real, real nasty. It was nice to see they were banging and clanging pretty well.”

* Stewart declared the second-team offense another scrimmage victor, but it played mostly without Jarrett Brown at quarterback – this redshirt junior sat out most of the afternoon with a “slight twinge” of a hamstring. “Just precautionary,” Stewart said. Rather, starting receiver Bradley Starks, the de facto No. 3 quarterback, needed and got plenty of work at his other job. He steered the offense to its only other touchdowns of the afternoon, in goal-line situations: a 9-yard Kerns run almost untouched around left end, and a 5-yard, skinny-post pass to freshman Ryan Nehlen.

“Brad Starks is a natural,” Stewart said. “I’m hoping he can be the starting slot and the third quarterback. That’s the plan.”

* Noel Devine took some hits despite wearing a yellow protective jersey, so it’s readily apparent a backup is necessary. Zach Hulse, who fumbled upon his first carry and subsequently hit the penalty stadium steps, and Mark Rodgers each got one carry of any significance. That left the bulk of the duty to Kerns, who seemed to take a major stride forward in the competition for Devine’s backup relief. Kerns, a 6-foot-1, 239-pound recruit who needed a year and a final academic flourish at Hargrave (Va.) Military to make it to Morgantown, showed both power and some scoot ability in the first live action.

“He looks good,” said first-team linebacker J.T. Thomas. “He looks like a man, know wat I mean? He’s going to bring another element to our already powerful offense. A great change of pace for Devine. This year could be great for him.”

Stewart was reluctant to heap praise, mostly because he was hacked at Kerns for failing to hand the football to an official upon a sideline sweep in a clock situation near the scrimmage’s end. “Bonehead mistake by a freshman,” Stewart barked. “He won’t make that mistake again.” Of Kerns two first-down runs and touchdown and all, Stewart said simply, “Kerns made a few good runs.” And that was that.

* As for the freshmen, Stewart singled out Urban, backup safety Robert Sands, backup guard Josh Jenkins (“looks pretty special”) and rotund second-team fullback Ryan Clarke. Uh, maybe too rotund. “He’s packing an extra suitcase,” Stewart said, “but we’re shedding it ever so slowly. That guy’s a freight train.” Quarterback Coley White, Patrick’s brother, also pleased Stewart despite having to run for his life at times.

* The injury report, in addition to Brown: Backup receiver Wes Lyons of Woodland Hills High had arthroscopic surgery on the same right knee that required a slightly more serious procedure this time a year ago, though the medical staff expects him back within a week; his brother, Ohio State transfer and backup receiver Devin, missed for an unspecified ailment; top-two cornerback Guesly Dervil dislocated a finger and is expected to return Monday, wearing protective padding; starting left tackle Ryan Stanchek (unspecified illness) and tight end Will Johnson (left foot sprain) are expected to practice this week.

* For those seriously wondering about the depth chart. . . The offensive line was the same as late last year, with Seneca Valley’s Don Barclay replacing Stanchek beside Greg Isdaner, Mike Dent, Jake Figner and Selvish Capers. Urban replaced Johnson at tight end. Starks and Jock Sanders appear to be the top two slots, with Dorrell Jalloh, Tito Gonzales and Arnett the top receivers. The first defensive line was Chris Neild between Scooter Berry and Zac Cooper, though Pat Liebig fits in there if the NCAA grants him a sixth year of eligibility. Middle linebacker Reed Williams sat out the scrimmage – he may well miss one game or more until his surgically repaired shoulders full heal – so Pat Lazear started between Thomas and Gateway’s Mortty Ivy. Lankster and Kent Richardson were the first cornerbacks with Quinton Andrews, Boogie Allen and Eain Smith at safety.

Geez, is this a blog or a book? As written above, it’s early yet.