MORGANTOWN —
Ryan Clarke’s introduction to college football was not a pleasant one.
He spent more time in the stands than on the field, or so it seemed, so often was it that he was running the stadium steps during practice.
He came in overweight, out of shape, a project that some thought might never make it even though he was big and strong and fast, a tailback in a fullback’s body at his best.
Chris Beatty was his running backs coach and he wasn’t surprised by the Ryan Clarke who came on campus.
“I was the one who recruited him. I was the one who saw him. I could tell he was the kind of guy I’d have to stay on as far as weight and things like that go,” Beatty said.
Clarke had come out of DeMatha Catholic in Glen Burnie, Md., outside Washington, D.C.
Skills he had. Maturity he didn’t.
And so it was that his first year they redshirted him and pushed him to learn to live the right way, eat good foods, go to class, pay attention. At 6-foot and 247 pounds, they knew they didn’t have to worry about what he did once he got on the field as fullback.
The thought today is that a fullback is a blocker, a body guard for quarterback Geno Smith and a short-yardage runner. A year ago he was used often on the goal line, scoring eight touchdowns while gaining just 250 yards.
He doesn’t want to hear that he’s a body guard, however.
“I block,” he said. “Yes, but I run, too and catch passes.”
The truth is, Clarke has become a whole lot more than anyone really has imagined.
“He’s gotten to a point where he’s gotten better as a blocker, his running is getting better, too,” Beatty said. “He’s got a lot of versatility to him and he gives us a chance to do a lot of things. He can do a lot of everything.”
Think what that means in an offense where they have to defend the speed and breakaway skills of Noel Devine, Jock Sanders’ pass-catching ability on short routes, deep threats in Bradley Starks and a whole lot of speedy, dangerous new receivers.
“He’s not just a blocking back and not just a big tailback,” Beatty said. “He’s gotten to the point where if he does what he’s supposed to do he’s got a chance. He’s not there yet, but he’s getting better. He’s got a chance to be as good as there is.”
In fact, Beatty said, in another scheme, one where Noel Devine does not exist, he could operate as a tailback.
But, the reason he is able to do this is his growth as a person.
Beatty says fathering a child has helped mature him, although Clarke does not want to discuss that.
The difference is obvious to Beatty off the field.
“It’s little things. He sits up, he pays attention, he takes notes. Before, you didn’t know what to expect. To see that is a gratifying thing in coaching,” Beatty said. “He’s grown up. His life has changed since he had a baby. Now he’s at the point where he’s become a man as far as the way he takes care of his business. He does a lot better.”
More important, Ryan Clarke is not alone in that respect.
“I’ve been so fortunate as a coach to see the progression of Clarke now and Jock and Noel before him. They all have matured so much since they first came in. To see what they are right now is something,” Beatty said.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
WVU Sports
WVU’s Clarke has grown on and off the field
- WVU Sports
-
-
Orlando, Pastilong highlight ’12 WVU Hall of Famers
Retired athletic director Ed Pastilong and safety Bo Orlando of the 1988 football team that played Notre Dame for the national championship lead a class of seven into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Patrone finally gets his due
Lee Patrone says he remembers it vividly, even though more than 50 years have passed, and while it was the greatest accomplishment in his life it has nothing to do with the West Virginia University basketball career that has lifted him into the Class of 2012 that will be inducted into the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in September.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: No doubt WVU made out well
There was a cold, ill wind blowing in from the north on Friday.
It was the kind of wind that blows whenever a Pitt man opens his mouth, as the Pittsburgh athletic director Steve Pederson did. -
Tears and memories: VIDEO
It was mid-Thursday afternoon at the Morgantown Event Center and the crowd stood mostly silently in line that wound out of the Events Hall and into the hallway toward the staircase.
A young lady was there holding a singular golden rose
“I wish,” Rebecca Durst said, “it could be gold and blue.” -
HERTZEL COLUMN: Stew fondly remembered by players
The tributes have poured in all week for Bill Stewart, the former West Virginia University football coach whose sudden and unexpected death from a heart attack at age 59 on Monday stunned the state, but it wasn’t the administrators or executives or politicians who really knew him.
-
Friends, fans mourn loss of Stewart
Condolences streamed in from as far as Texas and Massachusetts as fans and friends gathered Thursday in Morgantown to pay tribute to former West Virginia University football coach Bill Stewart.
Stewart died Monday of an apparent heart attack at age 59 while on a golf outing with former athletic director Ed Pastilong. -
HERTZEL COLUMN: White right there with Hall of Famers
Back on New Year’s Eve, 2008, shortly after West Virginia University had edged North Carolina, 31-30, to win the Meineke Car Care Bowl, an attempt was made to put Mountaineer quarterback Patrick White into his proper historical perspective.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Pat Beilein follows in father’s path
In a day filled with the sorrow of former West Virginia University football coach Bill Stewart’s sudden and unexpected death, there was a ray of sunshine that managed to slip through, a happening that shows us all that even in death there is life and as one son grieves, as does Stewart’s son, Blaine, somewhere else a father basks in pride over his son.
-
Bill Stewart services scheduled
Visitation and funeral arrangements for former West Virginia University football coach Bill Stewart have been announced.
There will be public viewing from 2-9 p.m. Thursday, at the Morgantown Event Center, 2 Waterfront Place. -
HERTZEL COLUMN - Stewart’s gift was giving
It was the kind of cosmic happening that defies description. We all come across them from time to time, leaving us in a state of disbelief.
- More WVU Sports Headlines
-
Orlando, Pastilong highlight ’12 WVU Hall of Famers
