By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — The question was as straightforward as Julian Miller’s pass rush.
“What do you think of quarterbacks?” the West Virginia defensive end was asked Tuesday evening during a media session in preparation for this Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game against East Carolina game at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The answer was as straightforward as the question.
“I don’t like ‘em.”
Miller didn’t say it with a snarl, but there wasn’t a smile on his face, either.
He approaches quarterbacks the way a lion who hasn’t eaten in a month approaches a lame wildebeest and this week he has his sights set on Patrick Pinkney, the ECU quarterback who has been there six years, which gives him more seniority than Coach Skip Holtz.
You may not know much about Miller, for he is the newcomer on the defensive line, joining nose guard Chris Neild and defensive tackle Scooter Berry.
They are a couple of players who approach 300 pounds, maybe not from the underside.
Miller, on the other hand, has had to battle to get and keep his weight at 250 pounds, which is different than WVU’s other defensive ends since the team went to its tricky 3-3-5 odd stack defense.
“A different wrinkle,” is what Holtz called Miller’s presence in the defensive line.
It isn’t a wrinkle that’s very easy to iron out.
“When I first saw him on film, it was like ‘Wow, where did he come from?’” Holtz said. “What Miller gives them is another dimension.”
Actually Miller played against East Carolina last year, but it was really his first action and while he called it his “coming out”, he really wasn’t ready at that point to dominate as he now seems ready to do.
He is a speed rusher on a team that used to rely on blitzing linebackers, safeties or quarterbacks to harass the quarterback.
Against Liberty he did just that he led the Mountaineers with seven tackles, three of them for losses, twice getting to the quarterback for a sack and a half.
That says nothing about the times he didn’t quite get there, arriving just after Tommy Beecher released the ball after a three-step drop.
“Getting to the quarterback to find he doesn’t have the ball is like expecting an Xbox for Christmas and getting socks,” he told Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail.
was so good at getting rid of the ball in a hurry that he actually fooled Miller on his first sack.
“Honestly, I didn’t know he had the ball,” Miller said. “He got chopped at the line and got away from it. He was getting rid of the ball so quickly that I didn’t think he still had it.”
Not that it stopped him from taking him down.
After all, he doesn’t like quarterbacks very much.
That Miller is a force at all as a defensive end is something of a surprise. The redshirt sophomore came out Sherrodsville, Ohio, which is just outside Columbus, after leading Beechcroft to a Columbus city league title with a 7-3 record as a linebacker and tight end.
He weighed 205 pounds.
“If you told me I’d be playing defensive end I wouldn’t have believed you,” he admits, even though someone foresaw that he would be there for that’s exactly what they had in mind when they recruited him.
All he had to do was put on 50 pounds.
And how do you do that?
“EAT!” he said.
He ate everything but Don Nehlen’s chocolate sundaes as he grew into a different person.
“Funny thing is, I feel even faster than I was. I know I’m stronger. I feel that taking on blocks. Last season I was struggling with that, but this year I can handle it.”
He credits, as does every defensive lineman who has been through West Virginia since Ronald Reagan was elected President, Bill Kirelawich, the d-line coach.
“Beside what I’ve done, he’s done the other half,” Miller said. “He taught me technique and leverage.”
Now it’s just a matter of getting bigger and stronger, but Miller is the kind of player who has a chance to be playing on Sundays and we’re not talking about playing the church organ.
NOTES: Placekicker Tyler Bitancurt, who hit four of four field goals in his college debut, was named the Big East special teams player of the week and was named special team champion by the Mountaineers. Other champions named by the coaching staff were offense — quarterback Jarrett Brown and offensive tackle Don Barclay; defense — linebacker J.T. Thomas and Miller; offensive scout team – Payton Brooks; defensive scout team – Zach Flynt.
Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
