By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — Wes Lyons had grown up — all the way to the 6-foot, 8-inch altitude he now flies at — around Pittsburgh.
He knew something about the college team they have up there, the one they call the Panthers, and had heard a little bit about this Backyard Brawl that the play every year against West Virginia, but, as he says, “I didn’t really get a feel for it until I came here on a visit and Rasheed Marshall was the quarterback.”
That was a good game for Wes Lyons to come to, as West Virginia won, 56-23. It certainly didn’t hurt selling him on coming to West Virginia.
Now, it’s almost over, this thing that is called a college career.
Considering that hopes were almost as high as the top of his head when he came to WVU as a receiver, one can say that mostly Wes Lyons’ career has been one of underachievement.
There were injuries that slowed him, took games from his resume. There was the attention that his size naturally drew, opponents always aware of his presence.
But mostly, the magic just never happened.
In his first three years he caught only 22 passes. He had accounted for 254 yards.
But starting in the spring, he seemed to be a new player. There was a bounce in his step, a smile on his face.
With Jock Sanders serving a suspension, they tried him in the slot and he caught everything his long arms could reach. Up high, down low, didn’t matter, Wes Lyons was on it.
People were listing him a preseason sleeper, a player who would come out of nowhere to have a huge senior season, maybe even propel himself into the NFL’s awareness.
It hasn’t happened. Jock Sanders returned, keeping him out of the slot. Alric Arnett and Bradley Starks had the wide spots. He wasn’t playing every snap.
Wes Lyons has but 16 catches in 10 games, good for 208 yards. Chris Henry gained 209 yards on his catches in a single game when he was at West Virginia.
Lyons probably didn’t reach any of the goals he had set for himself, but we won’t know because he said he had personal goals but never reveals them publically.
Was it disappointing?
“Everyone wants more,” he said.
There have been reasons, of course.
In the middle of his career, the head coaches changed. There were position changes at wide receiver, each with a different idea.
Sometimes, see, it just isn’t meant to be.
There came a time, last year, in the closing seconds of what would be a second straight loss to Pitt, when Lyons caught a pass on the sideline, a pass where he could neither get out of bounds nor get a first down as the clock clicked down.
Pat White hurried the team into a huddle, got a snap off just before final horn, threw a fade to Lyons in the back of the end zone, only to have it go over his head as he was being called for pass interference.
It was an ugly sequence, but it also is shed from Lyons memory.
“The past is the past,” he said. “I don’t look back.”
He knew he had to either get the first down or get out of bounds, but understands that there’s a defender out there, too.
“I had my feet cut out from under me,” he said.
But that was last year and this is this year. He has three games left, the Brawl next Friday at home against Pitt, at Rutgers and then a bowl game.
“We still have a lot to play for,” he said.
The first thing would be a little payback for Pitt, a school he says he never liked as grew up in the area. That would ease some of the pain from last year, some of the pain from the 2007 loss that cost West Virginia a spot in the BCS championship game.
“I definitely want to go out a winner. That’s all I can hope for. Nothing less,” he said.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
