By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University’s next-to-last football practice of spring, 2010, was unlike any other held at Milan Puskar Stadium this spring or, for that matter, any other spring in the past decade.
Working in the passing game, Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith, who was pronounced out of Friday night’s spring game due to his broken foot that has kept him from any kind of contact work, over and over made classic connections with his tight ends.
Just that he recognized that there was such a thing as a tight end in the offense was a major departure from years past, but that they were running patterns and getting open and being found by the young quarterback was like a dozen new pages had been added to the playbook.
Tyler Urban and Will Johnson were literally gobbling up yardage as Smith time after time hit them in stride, be it on the sideline or over the middle. What’s more, they were catching nearly everything thrown their way, Johnson making the only slipup when he dropped a pass that would have resulted in six points.
Still, it was a signal that things are changing in this WVU offense, that the passing game is expanding with Smith running the show and that opponents are going to have figure out a way to not only stop Noel Devine running, Jock Sanders running short patterns, Bradley Starks going deep, but a pair of nifty tight ends who can both block and catch.
“We’ve seen Jock and Bradley make plays,” head coach Bill Stewart said. “We need to have our tight ends used on a more consistent basis.”
And they will be, offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen vowed.
“It’s a numbers game,” Mullen explained. “You have your five offensive linemen and your quarterback. That leaves five players. You have a running back, and that leaves four players. You want your best four other players on the field.
“In the past, Tyler Urban was young and was not one of our top four players,” Mullen continued. “Now it’s safe to say he clearly is one of the top four other players.”
With the Mountaineers short on wide receivers, the tight ends are figuring in the mix more and more and it is giving a whole different look to the offense, much to their delight.
“I feel like we’re getting a lot more of a role,” Urban said.
Last year he caught just 10 passes for 117 yards and Johnson caught only six for 78 yards, each tight end scoring one touchdown.
Smith, however, seems to enjoy using them in the offense.
“Geno has a gift, I really believe,” Mullen said. “He has a natural vision. A couple of times in one-on-ones today he literally made the receiver break his route off by throwing the ball on his back shoulder. I asked him what he saw and he said, ‘I just felt it.’”
Robert Sands is an All-Big East safety who has spent the spring defending against Smith’s passes and he’s impressed, but more important, he’s been impressed with Smith since he was in the youth leagues in the same area.
“He was making throws like that when he was a little kid,” Sands said. “He made them in the park and in high school. Some guys peak young, but he hasn’t peaked yet. He’s processing everything quickly, making good reads, good decisions.”
He may just make a star of Urban, who is a traditional tight end, or of Johnson, who is more of an H-back who goes in motion more often.
“Me and Tyler are older guys now,” Johnson said, about to enter his senior year while Urban is a junior. “I really think we will be used differently. We’re lining up a lot of different positions and learning a lot of different routes. And Geno, he’s making his second and third and fourth reads.”
Smith really appreciates the skills that Johnson brings to the offense.
“He’s one of the fastest guys on the team and he seems to get open,” Smith said.
And, from what has transpired in skeleton drills this spring, anyone who gets open has a big chance of getting the football thrown to them.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
