Post by rainman on Sept 27, 2007 5:47:25 GMT -5
Linebackers lift Mountaineers on defense
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— Excuse me for a moment while I double check this sheet of paper that’s sitting before me. It says it’s the current, up-to-date NCAA Division I football statistics, but this must be wrong.
It says 2007 but it’s beginning to look more like 1996, back when they played defense at West Virginia.
You remember that team — Mike Logan, Canute Curtis, Vann Washington and a host of other mobile and hostile assassins. But they’ve been gone for some time now, so how can what’s sitting there on the desk be true.
It says that as West Virginia’s No. 5-ranked Mountaineers prepare to face the No. 18-ranked University of South Florida Bulls in a game carrying BCS implications for Rich Rodriguez’s team, WVU holds the following national defensive rankings:
• No. 8 in total sacks.
• No. 15 in total defense.
• No. 20 in scoring defense.
Isn’t this the defense that was supposed to represent the soft underbelly of the Mountaineers? Weren’t quarterbacks supposed to spend more time in the pocket looking for receivers than the kids spend in line waiting to get into a downtown Morgantown club on a Saturday night? Weren’t opponents supposed to shred the WVU secondary as if they were putting it through an office paper shredder?
Well, folks, it just ain’t happening.
“We’re getting better,” Rodriguez acknowledged during Monday’s Big East Conference coaches’ call. “The confidence is growing.”
And when Jim Leavitt, South Florida’s coach, was asked about the improvement he’s seen in the supposedly porous WVU defense, he answered:
“I think they’re playing awfully well. No question they get the football back for their offense. That’s what you want your defense to do.”
But what has happened from one year to the next to make this improvement? It isn’t really in the schemes they are running for no matter how you stack it, a 3-3-5 is still an odd-stack defense.
“There’s more experience there than there was last year,” Rodriguez noted.
While that’s true, any number of factors have allowed WVU to stop being defensive about its defense. There was a new dedication from offensive lineman Johnny Dingle that turned him into a force. There was the addition of Ryan Mundy from Michigan at safety.
There was the improvement of Kent Richardson at cornerback and defensive line depth added by Thor Merrow and Doug Slavonic.
But the truth is the biggest improvement has come with the development of and return to health of a linebacking corps that may just be the best in the Big East — Mortty Ivy, Marc Magro and Reed Willams.
They are stacking the run, rushing the passer and even helping out in the secondary to the extent that one of the key plays in last week’s victory over East Carolina was an early interception by Mortty Ivy.
Before we get to that interception, however, let us first present a statistic or two that gives you an idea of just what these linebackers have done for WVU. The team’s top three tacklers are:
Reed Williams with 35.
Mortty Ivy with 29.
Marc Magro with 24.
Ivy and Magro have eight of the team’s 16 sacks in four games. Dingle also has four.
To make the development of this linebacking corps even better, Williams is from Moorefield, Magro from University in Morgantown and Ivy from just 80 or so miles up the road in Monroeville, Pa., right outside Pittsburgh.
Both Ivy and Magro have overcome knee injuries to play and spent much of the off-season rehabilitating.
“The injury helped me as a man,” Ivy acknowledged. “I found I could overcome things. A torn ACL is a hard injury to overcome.”
In truth, it wasn’t until camp this summer that he knew he would be all right.
“I can’t remember who it was, but I was one-on-one with a running back. He tried to shake me and I was able to get him. I realized it didn’t hurt. I remember thinking, ‘I’m back!’”
And no one seems to have shaken him this year, leading to that diving interception against East Carolina.
“We were working on that coverage all week. I didn’t want to show it right away. I thought I could get the ball but I had to time it up just right,” Ivy said.
As for Williams, the WVU media guide gives you an insight into the way he plays in the first few words of his biography.
“Tough, physical linebacker,” it says and that sums up his game. Reed Williams hits people.
That’s the way it has to be, according to Magro.
“If you are going to play linebacker, you have to be tough,” Magro said.
In a way his play his reminiscent of that of Ben Collins, the former North Marion star who was undersized but developed into an outstanding middle linebacker.
And then there’s Magro, as hard a working an athlete as you’ll ever find.
“I call him one of the hardest working men in college football,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a guy you can build a defense around, and he’s a positive reflection for all your young players. You tell them if they can give that kind of effort, not only on game day, but all through the week, they’ll be able to play.”
Williams’ assessment of Magro is even more to the point
“He’s an old-school player,” Williams said. “I love to play with him.”
Old-school he is, as in when you are injured, you just walk it off. Last year, for example, he played through a torn ACL.
“It hurt a little bit,” he said, as you would expect him to.
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— Excuse me for a moment while I double check this sheet of paper that’s sitting before me. It says it’s the current, up-to-date NCAA Division I football statistics, but this must be wrong.
It says 2007 but it’s beginning to look more like 1996, back when they played defense at West Virginia.
You remember that team — Mike Logan, Canute Curtis, Vann Washington and a host of other mobile and hostile assassins. But they’ve been gone for some time now, so how can what’s sitting there on the desk be true.
It says that as West Virginia’s No. 5-ranked Mountaineers prepare to face the No. 18-ranked University of South Florida Bulls in a game carrying BCS implications for Rich Rodriguez’s team, WVU holds the following national defensive rankings:
• No. 8 in total sacks.
• No. 15 in total defense.
• No. 20 in scoring defense.
Isn’t this the defense that was supposed to represent the soft underbelly of the Mountaineers? Weren’t quarterbacks supposed to spend more time in the pocket looking for receivers than the kids spend in line waiting to get into a downtown Morgantown club on a Saturday night? Weren’t opponents supposed to shred the WVU secondary as if they were putting it through an office paper shredder?
Well, folks, it just ain’t happening.
“We’re getting better,” Rodriguez acknowledged during Monday’s Big East Conference coaches’ call. “The confidence is growing.”
And when Jim Leavitt, South Florida’s coach, was asked about the improvement he’s seen in the supposedly porous WVU defense, he answered:
“I think they’re playing awfully well. No question they get the football back for their offense. That’s what you want your defense to do.”
But what has happened from one year to the next to make this improvement? It isn’t really in the schemes they are running for no matter how you stack it, a 3-3-5 is still an odd-stack defense.
“There’s more experience there than there was last year,” Rodriguez noted.
While that’s true, any number of factors have allowed WVU to stop being defensive about its defense. There was a new dedication from offensive lineman Johnny Dingle that turned him into a force. There was the addition of Ryan Mundy from Michigan at safety.
There was the improvement of Kent Richardson at cornerback and defensive line depth added by Thor Merrow and Doug Slavonic.
But the truth is the biggest improvement has come with the development of and return to health of a linebacking corps that may just be the best in the Big East — Mortty Ivy, Marc Magro and Reed Willams.
They are stacking the run, rushing the passer and even helping out in the secondary to the extent that one of the key plays in last week’s victory over East Carolina was an early interception by Mortty Ivy.
Before we get to that interception, however, let us first present a statistic or two that gives you an idea of just what these linebackers have done for WVU. The team’s top three tacklers are:
Reed Williams with 35.
Mortty Ivy with 29.
Marc Magro with 24.
Ivy and Magro have eight of the team’s 16 sacks in four games. Dingle also has four.
To make the development of this linebacking corps even better, Williams is from Moorefield, Magro from University in Morgantown and Ivy from just 80 or so miles up the road in Monroeville, Pa., right outside Pittsburgh.
Both Ivy and Magro have overcome knee injuries to play and spent much of the off-season rehabilitating.
“The injury helped me as a man,” Ivy acknowledged. “I found I could overcome things. A torn ACL is a hard injury to overcome.”
In truth, it wasn’t until camp this summer that he knew he would be all right.
“I can’t remember who it was, but I was one-on-one with a running back. He tried to shake me and I was able to get him. I realized it didn’t hurt. I remember thinking, ‘I’m back!’”
And no one seems to have shaken him this year, leading to that diving interception against East Carolina.
“We were working on that coverage all week. I didn’t want to show it right away. I thought I could get the ball but I had to time it up just right,” Ivy said.
As for Williams, the WVU media guide gives you an insight into the way he plays in the first few words of his biography.
“Tough, physical linebacker,” it says and that sums up his game. Reed Williams hits people.
That’s the way it has to be, according to Magro.
“If you are going to play linebacker, you have to be tough,” Magro said.
In a way his play his reminiscent of that of Ben Collins, the former North Marion star who was undersized but developed into an outstanding middle linebacker.
And then there’s Magro, as hard a working an athlete as you’ll ever find.
“I call him one of the hardest working men in college football,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a guy you can build a defense around, and he’s a positive reflection for all your young players. You tell them if they can give that kind of effort, not only on game day, but all through the week, they’ll be able to play.”
Williams’ assessment of Magro is even more to the point
“He’s an old-school player,” Williams said. “I love to play with him.”
Old-school he is, as in when you are injured, you just walk it off. Last year, for example, he played through a torn ACL.
“It hurt a little bit,” he said, as you would expect him to.
