MORGANTOWN —
West Virginia’s summer camp ended with a bang.
Literally.
If it had occurred in California, they would have called out the National Guard because this shaker had to register 7.0 on the Richter Scale.
It came 22 plays into the final scrimmage of camp and it involved former Parkersburg all-state fullback Matt Lindamood and backup cornerback Darwin Cook.
Lindamood had taken a handoff and broken outside around the right end, a rather imposing sight at 6-0 and 234 pounds. Cook, however, is nothing to sneeze at himself, packing 205 pounds onto his 5-11 frame.
As the two hit, it seemed as though time stood still as Cook crumbled, his helmet coming off his head.
Robert Sands, the safety, had the best description of what had taken place.
“They both came with bad intentions on their mind.”
Lindamood continued to rumble as Cook grabbed for helmet, perhaps not sure if his head was still in it. It wasn’t until 63 yards down field that Lindamood was finally corralled.
By the time the day was over and Lindamood had caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Geno Smith, it was obvious that Lindamood would be getting a lot of playing time this year, playing alongside starting fullback Ryan Clarke in a jumbo backfield, on special teams and, to be honest, in place of Clarke if he has many more moments like he had in this scrimmage.
Stopped for no yardage on three straight plays as WVU tried to pound the ball out from the shadow of their own end zone, Clarke became frustrated, threw the ball and was called for a 15-yard penalty, which led Coach Bill Stewart to have him run the stadium steps 15 times during the scrimmage.
That had Stewart going over to his offense and explain to them that “the only team that can beat you is yourselves” and felt that Clarke’s antics showed that.
To Clarke’s credit, after running the stadium steps, he came down onto field, was back in the game on his first carry savagely burst 6 yards into the end zone for a touchdown.
“Maybe,” said Stewart, “I should make him mad more often.”
In addition to Linamood, the player who made the most progress on depth chart in camp and in the scrimmage was freshman running back Trey Johnson. Not more than 170 pounds after a Fourth of July picnic, Johnson showed speed and a rare ability to power run inside, something totally unexpected from his physique.
“He’s a small guy, but has a big heart,” said quarterback Geno Smith.
Stewart, too, was impressed and you can’t help but suspect that all of sudden he began thinking that maybe next year he could replace Noel Devine with Johnson and leave Tavon Austin at wide receiver, giving him more speed on the field.
Both Devine and Austin showed what they could do in the scrimmage, Devine taking the first carry of the day 32 yards and the second 18 to set up a touchdown pass from Smith to Jock Sanders from the 11.
“I enjoyed giving the people a sneak peek at what it will be like this season,” Devine said, referring to members of the Mountaineer Athletic Club who were allowed into the scrimmage.
As for Austin, he took a reverse untouched 25 yards for a score.
The Mountaineers showed that their young receivers will contribute, Ivan McCartney making a leaping TD grab of a fade in the end zone and making another absolutely spectacular twisting catch, J.D. Woods latching onto a 19-yard gain and another 14-yard reception while just barely being overthrow once when breaking free deep.
The defense had its moments, too, Brandon Hogan out of cornerback making up for Cook’s failure to bring Lindamood down with a huge hit and Anthony Leonard picking an errant Geno Smith pass and running it in for a touchdown.
The coaching staff continued to experiment with the offensive line with Eric Jobe playing some center rather than guard, guard Cole Bowers going out and playing tackle and center Joey Madsen moving to guard.
On the down side, linebacker J.T. Thomas was limited in his play due to injury and middle linebacker Pat Lazear missed the scrimmage after luckily avoiding a serious knee injury when he was leg whipped during Thursday’s practice.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
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