MORGANTOWN — With the memory of Da’Sean Butler lying on the court in Indianapolis, it was a spooky, scary moment when football superstar Noel Devine went down Saturday in the midst of the first workout in full pads this spring.
Midway through a hard-hitting scrimmage he and linebacker Anthony Leonard came together. It wasn’t really a savage hit, more what Coach Bill Stewart called a “brush.”
“It was not a big collision,” Stewart would say.
But Devine, the little running back, went down and lay on the Milan Puskar Stadium turf as trainers came to his aid.
The injury was diagnosed as a quad bruise and was not considered serious after much concern.
Devine was held out the rest of practice, but walked off the field under his own power, although there was a visible limp.
“Football is a tough game … a tough, tough game,” Stewart said.
With Devine out, sophomore Tavon Austin, the heir apparent to Devine, got a shot at running back and made a couple of eye-popping runs, displaying spectacular speed as he got to the corner.
“I told you about that little No. 1,” Stewart said of Austin, one of the best high school running backs ever to come out of Maryland. “No. 7 (Devine) better not rest too long with that guy around.”
Another backup running back, Shawn Alston, showed himself to a strong, hard runner given the chance. He made some really tough runs that had Stewart offering praise in his direction at the end of the day.
o Saturday was a big day for the quarterbacks, especially backup Coley White.
Patrick White’s younger brother had his best day throwing this spring, according to Stewart.
“He’s throwing better and better,” Stewart said. “I’m really pleased. It’s nice to see him go out and compete.”
White did throw an interception by Eain Smith in the end zone, but also had a touchdown pass to tight end Will Johnson.
Plans were to move White to wide receiver this spring because it didn’t appear he would be needed at quarterback with the progress of sophomore Geno Smith, the projected starter. Smith, however, broke a foot prior to spring practice, meaning the move with White could not be made as he was the only other experienced quarterback in camp.
Smith is going through drills, but unable to run and have contact. He is doing the skeleton drills, however, and throwing the football exceptionally well.
“He sees the field and really has a good awareness out there,” Stewart said.
o Starting next week, the Mountaineers will be closer to a full roster as Stewart has decided that fullback Ryan Clarke and cornerback Brandon Hogan can practice.
Through the first week those players, whom Stewart said were not in shape, spent each two-hour practice running the stadium steps.
One suspects after that, if either makes it big in the NFL the first thing they will do with their bonus is install escalators in Puskar Stadium.
o The first practice in full pads with hard hitting was spirited, including a fight between defensive lineman J.B. Lageman from Huntington and offensive lineman Pat Eagar, who also spent some time during the day running the steps with Clarke and Hogan.
While Stewart likes the spirit, he doesn’t like the idea that his players can get hurt in such extra-curricular activities and says he’s considering taking some drastic measures if it happens again.
“I’m gonna go buy some boxing gloves and tell them after practice, ‘You want to go at it? Go at it now.’ We did that in North Carolina when I was there. Put them boxing gloves on and helmets and mouth pieces and let ’em go at in front of the team. Everyone would laugh and tell them they were fighting like girls.”
o Stewart liked the punting from both Gregg Pugnetti and Corey Smith, the West Virginian who transferred in from Alabama. As for the place-kicking without starter Tyler Bitancurt, who is nursing a minor injury, “that was awful,” Stewart said … The middle linebacker job is going to be a battle with redshirt freshman Branko Busick and Pat Lazear strongly in the mix … Wide receiver J.D. Hill suffered a slight hamstring injury during the practice.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
