Post by cviller on Aug 23, 2007 7:16:33 GMT -5
WVU coach taking Disney approach to suspensions
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
MORGANTOWN — If the arrest and subsequent suspension of two potential defensive starters was nothing else for Rich Rodriguez and his West Virginia football team, it was a distraction.
And the last thing a team needs while preparing for a season opener in nine days is distractions.
Rodriguez, though, shrugged it off Wednesday. He has dealt with distractions and he will deal with them again.
“It’s that old ‘[The] Lion King’ approach. Did you ever see that movie?’’ Rodriguez said, dusting off one of his favorite analogies.
“The monkey hits the lion over the head and the lion says, ‘What did you do that for?’ And the monkey says, ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past.’”
Point taken.
Still, the arrest over the weekend of redshirt freshman linebacker J.T. Thomas and junior cornerback Ellis Lankster on charges of receiving and possession of stolen property — a laptop computer taken from a party Saturday night — was certainly a distraction the Mountaineers didn’t need. Thomas was to start at linebacker and Lankster was in the mix for a starting cornerback spot when WVU plays host to Western Michigan a week from Saturday.
“It was unfortunate,’’ senior cornerback Vaughn River said. “It was also stupid.’’
But is it enough to rattle the No. 3 Mountaineers as they prepare to open a season in which they are ranked higher than they have ever been before?
Rodriguez doesn’t think so, and he can list comparative examples of distractions for as long as anyone cares to listen. And that includes as recently as the last regular-season game the team played — a triple-overtime win against Rutgers last December.
“We’ve had distractions before. We had distractions before the last game last year,’’ Rodriguez said.
“Everybody had me going to Alabama and all that kind of stuff. And we went out and won the game with our second quarterback. Our kids are focused on what they’re doing and getting ready to play. That’s not an issue.’’
What is an issue, however, is who will replace Thomas and Lankster when the season opens. If there is a silver lining it is that linebacker and cornerback are two places where West Virginia is relatively deep.
Rodriguez doesn’t have a simple answer for who moves up the depth chart because there are a variety of possible scenarios. But that’s certainly not a bad thing.
At linebacker, for instance, most of the players manning the three positions — Will (weak side), Mike (middle) and Sam (strong side) — are well versed in more than one spot.
The two sure starters there, senior Marc Magro and junior Reed Williams, can play any of the three spots.
So rather than looking for the best Will linebacker to replace Thomas, the staff can use the best available linebacker at almost any spot and move the pieces around.
“We have a lot of flexibility there,’’ Rodriguez said.
John Holmes, Bobby Hathaway and Mortty Ivy seem the best candidates, but Rodriguez also mentioned Zac Cooper, Anthony Leonard and even true freshman Pat Lazear.
Ovid Goulbourne, the actual backup at Will according to the preseason depth chart, is perhaps the fastest linebacker on the team but he has been injured and isn’t really in the mix yet.
As for cornerback, Lankster had a chance to start alongside Larry Williams, but now that falls to one of three others — Rivers, senior Antonio Lewis or sophomore Guesly Dervil. Lewis jumped back into the fray despite a shoulder injury.
“We thought he would be out a couple of weeks,’’ Rodriguez said. “But Antonio wants to play so badly he’ll probably be back on Monday.’’
Briefly
On the injury front, starting right guard Eric Rodemoyer is still working back from an ankle injury and Rodriguez hopes to have him back by next week. Wide receiver Wes Lyons missed another practice with a nagging knee injury, but junior college transfer Alric Arnett returned at that position, although he is behind. Slot receiver Nate Sowers injured a hand, but x-rays indicated no breaks. Magro, who missed a week with mononucleosis, is back at full strength.
Two recent position-switch experiments had different results. Running back Eddie Davis has been working at wide receiver and has shown enough promise that he will be kept there. But Eric Jobe’s move from the offensive to defensive line is over. He’s back at center and the backup job there (to starter Mike Dent) is between him and true freshman Gino Gradkowski.
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.
