MORGANTOWN - If anyone is still looking for evidence of what acrapshoot college football recruiting is, look no further than WestVirginia's game at Maryland last Saturday.
The Mountaineers' most effective backfield during that 31-19 winconsisted of one guy that everyone in the country wanted and anotherthat no one wanted.
Hey, can things get more diverse than this? There was JasonGwaltney, who turned down two-time defending national championSouthern Cal to come to West Virginia, lined up beside Owen Schmitt,who had to supply his own highlight tape - and quite possibly a VCRon which to play it - so that Rich Rodriguez wouldn't laugh him outof his office.
Not only that, but it was Schmitt who may have emerged as thebigger star, at least in a folksy kind of way.
Really, now, don't you have to love the way things turn outsometimes? Some recruiting wizard who makes his living off of feedingcrap to the sheltered masses on the Internet is completely in thedark about a guy like Schmitt. To listen to recruiting experts, youcould swear that a player isn't really a player until he shows up ontheir lists. Well, Owen Schmitt never showed up on anyone's list.
Of course, to be fair, he never showed up on any coach's list,either. And isn't that where all recruiting lists are born? TheInternet guy at rivals dot superprep dot give-me-your-money-suckerdot com finds out that USC and Ohio State want Jason Gwaltney, soJason Gwaltney becomes a five-star guy. The Internet guy wouldn'tknow a five-star kid from a five-star general, but what does thatmatter? He's still going to get your money.
Anyway, I digress. The point is that the guys who really do knowthe difference between a five-star and a Division III player oftendon't. Which is why Jason Gwaltney announces his college choice liveon ESPNews and Owen Schmitt winds up going to Wisconsin-River Fallsbecause he has relatives there and a place to stay.
And it's also why Division I programs take chances on walk-ons.
"There's a lot of guys like that out there," West Virginia coachRodriguez said, referring to Schmitt. "I think that's one reason whywe've been so big on our walk-on program. There's a lot of guys outthere that maybe develop late or didn't have a chance in high schoolfor whatever reason - injuries or the systems or whatever - to showwhat they can do."
It's not just Schmitt, of course. West Virginia's top two strong-side linebackers against Maryland were former walk-ons, starter JeffNoechel and backup Bobby Hathaway. Shoot, West Virginia has anoffensive lineman with 26 career starts who was nearly a walk-on.Rodriguez and his staff wanted to pull the scholarship offer DonNehlen's staff had given Garin Justice five years ago and didn't onlybecause it would have been unseemly to do so to a state kid. Had theyhad their way, they never would have recruited either startingtackle, Justice or Travis Garrett.
In retrospect, what a mistake that would have been.
"You get them in your program and [see what happens]," Rodriguezsaid. "I think with Owen, the way he's improved in just the year he'sbeen here has been amazing.
"A lot of it has been due to his hard work. He's one of thestrongest guys on the team. He was always pretty strong naturally,but I think he's worked his way up in the weight room and duringworkouts."
That's what walk-ons have to do. Noechel and Hathaway did it.Justice and Garrett, even though the new coaching staff honored theold one's scholarship offers to them, were pretty much the same way.
The one who stands out as the real feel-good story right now,though, is Schmitt, who gained 80 yards against Maryland, playingboth fullback and tailback.
"Owen played well. He ran the ball physically and made some niceblocks," Rodriguez said. "We've got a lot of confidence in him now.We've had confidence in him, but we've seen him improve in everyballgame. He's going to be a nice weapon for us.
"He's got tailback skills. He can catch the ball, he's got goodvision, he runs pretty well and he's a 245-pound guy who understandshow to run the football. When you have a guy like that you try tofind different spots for him."
Even if just a short time ago there was no spot for him on anyrecruiter's list.
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, call 348-1734 or send e-mail to dphickman1@aol.com.
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