Post by elp525 on Sept 14, 2011 7:35:50 GMT -5
Wednesday September 14, 2011
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Cecil Level was named West Virginia's special teams player of the week Sunday, which wasn't a surprise since he'd won that same football team honor the week before.
That one was the surprise.
In the same game against Marshall, receiver Tavon Austin returned a kickoff 100 yards and averaged better than 15 yards on three punt returns. For that, he was named the Big East Conference special teams player of the week.
Inside the walls at WVU, Level, who made just two tackles, was thought to be better on that day.
"Watch the kickoffs," WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen said. "He was about 15 yards ahead of everybody else on our kickoff team. It takes a situation like that to notice things. He ran down on kickoffs about seven times and was clearly playing at a different level than some of the others."
Corey Smith has kicked off 16 times for the 18th-ranked Mountaineers (2-0) and only two have been touchbacks.
On the other 14, Level has made the tackle just three times. Yet when he's not making the play, he's facilitating it by blowing up blocks or compromising the return the way it was planned on the other sideline.
WVU will lean on Level in Saturday's noon ESPNU telecast game against Maryland (1-0) at Byrd Stadium.
The Terrapins have speedy freshman Justus Prickett returning kickoffs and the proven schemes of Coach Randy Edsall and longtime special teams coordinator, Lyndon Johnson.
He ran special teams for nine of his 12 seasons with Edsall at Connecticut. Kickoff returns were ranked Nos. 3 and 9 nationally the past two seasons and the Huskies featured the top- and third-ranked returner in 2010.
The Mountaineers feel like they can level the playing field.
"It's just something I want to do," Level said. "I want to get down there first and make a play. From one 30-yard line to the other is the speed zone. I try to get as much speed as I can get there and then get down the field as fast as I can."
This is Level's job. He's on the punt return and kickoff return teams and his coaches say it may not belong before he's on the punt team, but there is a concern about keeping him fresh. He's that valuable, which says something about a walk-on from Fayetteville, Ga., who transferred to WVU last year after starting his first two seasons in the NAIA Mid-South Conference.
"West Virginia (University) Tech was only school that offered me a full ride," he said. "I had other offers, but I just didn't have the right set of schools. West Virginia Tech was kind of like my last choice, but I feel like I made the right decision."
A dozen or so of Level's friends had gone from the Atlanta area to WVU Tech and the Golden Bears had a role for Level. He made 109 tackles in his two seasons in Montgomery and earned the approval of his defensive coordinator, former Mountaineers cornerback Michael Scott.
"He said I could do better and I could improve my skills," Level said. "He saw a great talent in me and he wanted the best for me."
Scott helped get Level to WVU, where he sat out last season, but impressed from the start and was twice named the scout team player of the week. He pushed himself into the mix at cornerback in spring practice and in the summer and never went away.
He hasn't played any downs from scrimmage, but his coaches and teammates say it's more a matter of the numbers ahead of him than his performance.
He's not Keith Tandy or Pat Miller, but he's not a lost cause, either.
"He's an effort guy, one of those kids who doesn't take anything for granted back there and approaches everything with a great attitude," WVU cornerbacks coach David Lockwood said. "It's one of those great stories as it continues to go."
Level thinks about that story every time he charges down the field and throws his body at a blocker or speeds into a ball carrier without a scholarship to fall back on a pass to defend as a cornerback.
Holgorsen said it's up to the coaches to find more uses for effort like that. It's Level's duty to keep reminding them.
"If I keep busting my butt and keep working hard on special teams, that might get me a chance to get out there," he said. "That's OK for me. Everyone else is doing their thing and I'm working hard to support my teammates."
The rest of the Mountaineers have grown to admire Level. If they didn't before, than they did once Holgorsen showed the film from the Marshall game. There were some of the fastest and fiercest players on the team, guys who had been aggressively recruited from high school and junior college, trying to cover kickoffs.
And then there was Level beating them all down the field to make the play or set it up for someone else. This wasn't some walk-on with an anonymous profile and an unheralded role.
"You wouldn't have a clue," Miller said. "I'm telling you, he's a real good player."
So, too, is Doug Rigg. He's a starting linebacker. He's also on the kickoff team because he fast and strong and all the things the job requires. He said he doesn't know Level very well. They don't talk often. Yet Rigg can't explain how much he respects Level.
"If you got in the stands and watched him, you'd think he was a highly recruited player from an effort standpoint and the way he takes coaching," Rigg said. "I don't play the same position as him, but I don't ever hear coaches yelling at him telling him he needs to work harder. They never need to."
Teammates hope Level gets to play cornerback. They expect he'll earn a scholarship. They know he's good for the team, if not in action, then by example.
"If everyone on the team worked like him, I really think we'd be a national championship contending team," Rigg said.
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Cecil Level was named West Virginia's special teams player of the week Sunday, which wasn't a surprise since he'd won that same football team honor the week before.
That one was the surprise.
In the same game against Marshall, receiver Tavon Austin returned a kickoff 100 yards and averaged better than 15 yards on three punt returns. For that, he was named the Big East Conference special teams player of the week.
Inside the walls at WVU, Level, who made just two tackles, was thought to be better on that day.
"Watch the kickoffs," WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen said. "He was about 15 yards ahead of everybody else on our kickoff team. It takes a situation like that to notice things. He ran down on kickoffs about seven times and was clearly playing at a different level than some of the others."
Corey Smith has kicked off 16 times for the 18th-ranked Mountaineers (2-0) and only two have been touchbacks.
On the other 14, Level has made the tackle just three times. Yet when he's not making the play, he's facilitating it by blowing up blocks or compromising the return the way it was planned on the other sideline.
WVU will lean on Level in Saturday's noon ESPNU telecast game against Maryland (1-0) at Byrd Stadium.
The Terrapins have speedy freshman Justus Prickett returning kickoffs and the proven schemes of Coach Randy Edsall and longtime special teams coordinator, Lyndon Johnson.
He ran special teams for nine of his 12 seasons with Edsall at Connecticut. Kickoff returns were ranked Nos. 3 and 9 nationally the past two seasons and the Huskies featured the top- and third-ranked returner in 2010.
The Mountaineers feel like they can level the playing field.
"It's just something I want to do," Level said. "I want to get down there first and make a play. From one 30-yard line to the other is the speed zone. I try to get as much speed as I can get there and then get down the field as fast as I can."
This is Level's job. He's on the punt return and kickoff return teams and his coaches say it may not belong before he's on the punt team, but there is a concern about keeping him fresh. He's that valuable, which says something about a walk-on from Fayetteville, Ga., who transferred to WVU last year after starting his first two seasons in the NAIA Mid-South Conference.
"West Virginia (University) Tech was only school that offered me a full ride," he said. "I had other offers, but I just didn't have the right set of schools. West Virginia Tech was kind of like my last choice, but I feel like I made the right decision."
A dozen or so of Level's friends had gone from the Atlanta area to WVU Tech and the Golden Bears had a role for Level. He made 109 tackles in his two seasons in Montgomery and earned the approval of his defensive coordinator, former Mountaineers cornerback Michael Scott.
"He said I could do better and I could improve my skills," Level said. "He saw a great talent in me and he wanted the best for me."
Scott helped get Level to WVU, where he sat out last season, but impressed from the start and was twice named the scout team player of the week. He pushed himself into the mix at cornerback in spring practice and in the summer and never went away.
He hasn't played any downs from scrimmage, but his coaches and teammates say it's more a matter of the numbers ahead of him than his performance.
He's not Keith Tandy or Pat Miller, but he's not a lost cause, either.
"He's an effort guy, one of those kids who doesn't take anything for granted back there and approaches everything with a great attitude," WVU cornerbacks coach David Lockwood said. "It's one of those great stories as it continues to go."
Level thinks about that story every time he charges down the field and throws his body at a blocker or speeds into a ball carrier without a scholarship to fall back on a pass to defend as a cornerback.
Holgorsen said it's up to the coaches to find more uses for effort like that. It's Level's duty to keep reminding them.
"If I keep busting my butt and keep working hard on special teams, that might get me a chance to get out there," he said. "That's OK for me. Everyone else is doing their thing and I'm working hard to support my teammates."
The rest of the Mountaineers have grown to admire Level. If they didn't before, than they did once Holgorsen showed the film from the Marshall game. There were some of the fastest and fiercest players on the team, guys who had been aggressively recruited from high school and junior college, trying to cover kickoffs.
And then there was Level beating them all down the field to make the play or set it up for someone else. This wasn't some walk-on with an anonymous profile and an unheralded role.
"You wouldn't have a clue," Miller said. "I'm telling you, he's a real good player."
So, too, is Doug Rigg. He's a starting linebacker. He's also on the kickoff team because he fast and strong and all the things the job requires. He said he doesn't know Level very well. They don't talk often. Yet Rigg can't explain how much he respects Level.
"If you got in the stands and watched him, you'd think he was a highly recruited player from an effort standpoint and the way he takes coaching," Rigg said. "I don't play the same position as him, but I don't ever hear coaches yelling at him telling him he needs to work harder. They never need to."
Teammates hope Level gets to play cornerback. They expect he'll earn a scholarship. They know he's good for the team, if not in action, then by example.
"If everyone on the team worked like him, I really think we'd be a national championship contending team," Rigg said.
