By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN —
It was in the bible, Psalm 8:1-2 (KJV), to be exact, where we first came across the phrase “out of the mouth of babes”, carrying to us the observation that children often speak, in their simplicity, more wisely than their elders.
Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to imagine these West Virginia football players as “babes”, even in the most biblical of senses. They are big and strong, rough and tough, adult in every way, yet still not well grounded in the lessons life — or football, for that matter — has to teach.
And so it was last Saturday that a certain nerve was struck when J.T. Thomas, the senior linebacker on the Mountaineers, made two utterances that were wise far beyond his years.
The first came in the midst of a discussion about the West Virginia defense during its first scrimmage, a performance that Thomas felt was sub-par in its entirety, the offense muscling them around a bit more than they would like.
This is, after all, a defense that many believe can be among the nation’s best for it is rife with experience, carries both speed and strength and has a number of jewels who may go high in the draft, Thomas being one of them.
Ah, but expectations are one thing and reality often another and Thomas knows it.
“One thing we hear around here a lot is it’s hard to be good. It really is,” he said.
How far along has a parenthetical “babe” come when he has caught on to the concept that it is hard to be good.
Nothing in life and nothing in football is given to you without honing whatever natural skills you may possess, without listening to those who know more and doing the things necessary to reach the top.
In business it is called training. In the academic community it is called education.
In football, it is called practice.
Indeed, those long hours under the summer sun, the constant repetition, over and over, the film study on your own in a darkened room when other college students are off enjoyed the pleasures of downtown, that is what makes you good.
Noel Devine, the running back, put it another way, but like Thomas, showed a true understanding of what goes into greatness.
"You can never be satisfied, there's always room for improvement and I think for us to be a National Championship team — first of all a Big East Championship team — we have to work on the little things," Devine said.
Thomas understood that on Saturday the defense wasn’t dismal. It wasn’t like it was going to go out and give up 40 points to Coastal Carolina in the first game.
There were some good moments, many things to build on.
“We have a lot we can look back on and say we did an OK job,” Thomas said, but then added one other pearl of wisdom that falls into the “out of the mouth of babes” category, “but OK is not OK at West Virginia.”
There was a time, maybe, far back before Don Nehlen came to town, when OK was OK at West Virginia. No more, not since Nehlen had a couple of perfect regular seasons, not since Rich Rodriguez turned the Mountaineers into regular BCS Bowl participants.
A 9-4 season may be acceptable in some venues, but not within the confines of Milan Puskar Stadium, where they are looking for more, much more.
True, there were some good points to the defense on Saturday.
They forced a number of third and longs, but couldn’t put it away. They are sure once they work out the wrinkles, they’ll be able to do that.
“Right now it’s just play recognition, knowing what to do and when to do it,” Thomas said. “Its shaking off the rust, just shaking off the rust.”
The important thing is knowing that there are areas that came up short. Again, speaking with more wisdom maybe than a player should possess, Thomas explained what it is all about.
“It’s always good to recognize your weakness,” he said. “Once you realize your weakness, you can work on it and get better.”
Too many athletes have egos that won’t allow them to accept that they have a weakness, or that the weakness can be a fatal flaw. They feel they can accomplish anything and, in the end, it comes back to bite them at the wrong time.
This, it may well be, was what happened three years ago when the mightiest of Mountaineer teams was upset at home by a four-touchdown underdog Pitt team, a team that found a weakness and explored it while there was a lack of belief that such a thing could actually happen.
Like all teams, this edition of the Mountaineers will have weaknesses, but it is early in camp yet and there is time to fix the holes, oil the squeaky wheels and tune up the transmission for the task ahead.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
