So THAT'S why Rutgers scored as much as they did...

There was a noticable dropoff in the play of the Mountaineer defense, although they did come up with the big stop when they needed it. But Williams presence in the middle in the last 2 games had the defense playing better.

Hopefully, Anthony Leonard will become a similar presence in the middle...

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:Notebook: Williams done for the season
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
October 5, 2008

MORGANTOWN - As it turns out, all the speculation over Reed Williams' status was a waste of time. The decision, it seems, was made early in the week.

"I think Reed made the decision on Tuesday,'' Anthony Leonard said Saturday. "I know I've been running with the [No. 1 defense] since Sunday.''

Williams, West Virginia's senior middle linebacker and arguably the most valuable member of the defensive unit, did not play Saturday in West Virginia's 24-17 win over Rutgers. And afterward, coach Bill Stewart said Williams was done for the season.

"He's done for this year,'' Stewart said. "I'm not going to play anybody that can't protect himself. He's in a lot of pain when he tries to play.''

Williams, the defensive MVP in January's Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma, had surgery on both shoulders during the winter and only began full contact drills a few weeks before the beginning of the 2008 season. He missed the first two games and then played - and played well - in the last two.

On Tuesday, though, Stewart said that Williams was questionable for Rutgers because he was playing in so much pain and later intimated that if Williams did not improve or voluntarily remove himself, Stewart might be forced to do it himself.

If Williams sits out the remainder of the season, he is eligible for - and almost certain to receive if he chooses - a medical redshirt that would allow him to return in 2009. Williams played as a true freshman out of Moorefield and thus has a redshirt year available. Technically, he could play next week against Syracuse and still get a redshirt because it is still the first half of the season and Williams would not have exceeded the NCAA limit of four games.

The question remains, though, whether Williams wants to return. He is scheduled to graduate in December (in 31/2 years) with a degree in finance.

* * *

West Virginia's special teams did not give up any glaring big plays Saturday, which made Stewart happy for the special teams coach.

Stewart is the special teams coach.

"I'm not near as mad at the special teams coach,'' Stewart said. "I was ready to kick his butt last week.''

After giving up two long kickoff returns to Marshall, Rutgers' kickoff returns averaged just 21.5 yards. The Knights ranked No. 6 in the country in that category coming into the game.

There was one decision by the special teams coach that will be second-guessed. After scoring a touchdown with 56 seconds to play in the first half to go up 17-3, Stewart had kicker Pat McAfee pooch the kickoff short. Mason Robinson fielded it at the 30-yard line and returned it to the Rutgers 44, giving the Scarlet Knights just 56 yards to cover in the remaining 50 seconds.

They did just that, scoring in just five plays and 31 seconds to close the gap at halftime to 17-10.

Stewart, though, defended the decision.

"I will always squib the ball or sky the ball in that situation,'' Stewart said. "I won't let them run it back with less than a minute to go.''

* * *

West Virginia's defense played well for the most part against Rutgers, giving up just 270 total yards and 72 yards rushing. But wide receiver Kenny Britt caught 12 passes for 151 yards.

"Kenny had a great numbers day,'' said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. "But we dropped too many balls.''

About the only big pass that Britt didn't catch was when Tim Brown snuck behind the WVU defense to grab a 14-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. He got behind cornerback Brandon Hogan, the converted receiver who was making just his second start.

"There were probably guys who wanted me to fire Brandon Hogan again,'' said Stewart, who said the same thing after Hogan was beaten twice in a loss to East Carolina last month. "But he came back and made the play dragging Britt down on that last drive.''

Indeed, on the play before Scooter Berry batted down a fourth-down pass to essentially end the game, Hogan collared Britt after just a five-yard gain to set up that fourth down.

Briefly

■ True freshman Tyler Urban's 25-yard touchdown catch was his first college reception and the first touchdown reception by a WVU tight end since 2005.

"I got a little nervous for a while,'' Urban said of the bootleg pass from Pat White. "It seemed like the ball was in the air forever.''

■ McAfee broke the school's all-time kick scoring record held by Paul Woodside (323) with three PATs and a field goal. He now has 329 points. That's one point away from the school's all-time scoring record of 330 points held by Steve Slaton.

McAfee also moved into second place on the Big East's all-time list for PATs made. With 188, he is two away from tying the record held by Virginia Tech's Carter Worley. McAfee now ranks sixth all-time in Big East scoring and is 71 points away from the leader, former Rutgers kicker Jeremy Ito (400).

■ White's two touchdown passes gave him 44 for his career, moving him past Oliver Luck and Chad Johnston into third place on the school's all-time list. Marc Bulger is the leader with 59. Rasheed Marshall is No. 2 with 45.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickman1@aol.com.

■ Saturday's crowd of 59,122 was only the second of less than capacity (60,000) in the past two seasons. Last year's game with Connecticut on Thanksgiving weekend drew 59,701. It was the smallest crowd since 52,790 attended the Dec. 3, 2006 home game against South Florida.

As much as I do feel for WVU, but we have lost our starting QB, our starting TE and bunch of DLs to injuries. What's going on this season?

I feel your pains but you guys have to lose a few more key players (and I hope you do NOT) to match Pitt's sorry state of affairs last year.

This wasn't totally unexpected either. They knew this was a possibility at the start of the season. But it was news, so I posted it...

One thing about Reed Williams departure, it gave Anthony Leonard a chance to show what he could do. He did pretty well too. He ain't Reed, but he's got Williams coaching him on the sideline. I figure it's just a matter of time before he's comfortable in the position...

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:Leonard refuses to rest
New middle linebacker knows he can lose job on any play
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
October 7, 2008

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - At least for the foreseeable future, Anthony Leonard seems entrenched as West Virginia's new starting middle linebacker.

Even Leonard, though, admits that the foreseeable future could be the rest of the season, the rest of the month, the rest of the week or even the rest of the day.

Shoot, it could be the rest of the first significant practice period when the Mountaineers (3-2, 1-0 Big East) reconvene today to begin preparing for Saturday's noon homecoming game against Syracuse (1-3, 0-1).

Or at least that's the way Leonard prefers to look at it.

"I have to work the same and prepare the same [as when he was a backup],'' said Leonard, who has toiled anywhere from first to third on the depth chart at middle linebacker through the first five games of the season. "The job is still open. All I have to do is mess up one time.''

For now, though, Leonard's spot seems secure. After trying four starters at the position in the first five games, West Virginia seems to have settled on Leonard, a 6-foot-1, 240-pound redshirt sophomore from McKeesport, Pa. He played well enough in his first start - Saturday's 24-17 win over Rutgers - that he was the team's nominee for Big East defensive player of the week.

Of course, it took perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to West Virginia's defense to give Leonard the chance to start. That's when Reed Williams, a senior and the defensive MVP of January's Fiesta Bowl, finally decided to shut it down for the season, his twin surgically repaired shoulders still giving him too much trouble to continue.

The most encouraging thing to come out of Williams' decision, however, was the performance Leonard put on in his stead. He led the team with nine tackles - six of them unassisted - and a tackle for loss against the Scarlet Knights.

And Williams was there every step of the way.

"Reed Williams was coaching me the whole time,'' Leonard said. "I'd go to the sideline after every series and he'd be there telling me to look for this or to look for that or to shade this way or that way. Reed's got a lot more experience than I do. He's got a lot more feel for things and I need that help.''

That Leonard has re-emerged as Williams' replacement is both a testament to his work ethic and at least somewhat an indictment of West Virginia's lack of depth at the position. While coach Bill Stewart and defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel have raved from the beginning of camp about the depth and talent the team has among its linebackers, that depth and talent can only go so far in replacing one of the guys who held everything together.

"Anthony Leonard played well. I think all our linebackers did,'' Stewart said. "But we're still going to miss Reed Williams big time.''

Aside from the leadership Williams provided, it also became quickly apparent this season that while there was depth and talent among the linebackers, no one could play the middle position like Williams.

When Williams sat out the first two games of the season, sophomore Pat Lazear replaced him in the opener, but lasted little more than one series before he was pulled in favor of Leonard, who played most of the rest of that game. Call it Plan A and Plan A-1. Looking for a better alternative in the second week of the season (Plan B), the coaches moved Mortty Ivy from outside linebacker to the middle and stuck John Holmes in Ivy's place. But all that did was weaken Ivy's original spot without really adding much to the middle, a spot Ivy is not best-suited to play.

Williams returned for the third and fourth games against Colorado and Marshall and all was well. The West Virginia defense played better than it had before Williams returned and better than it would after he left again.

So when Williams gave in to the pain in his shoulders and opted to try to play his final season in 2009 instead of this fall, it was back to Plan A-1. Leonard made his first start and the reviews were favorable, if not rave.

"He works hard and he asks a lot of questions,'' Casteel said of Ivy. "Is he Reed Williams? No. But he's going to get better.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickman1@aol.com.

Tough loss for WVU. Reed has been an outstanding players for years.

I'm curious to see if Anthony Leonard can step in and perform week in and week out. He did okay last week, but he'll need to step it up if the Mountaineers are going to compete for The BEast's BCS bid this season...

This gives a better feel for the full impact of Williams' loss to WVU's defense. Hopefully, the impact will lessen as Leonard becomes more familiar in the role with Williams coaching him in what to look for...

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:WVU Football: Williams' decision anything but simple
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
October 9, 2008

MORGANTOWN - When West Virginia plays host to Syracuse Saturday afternoon at Mountaineer Field, Reed Williams will be in a familiar place.

It's a place he hates, but it is nonetheless familiar.

"It's going to be painful. I hate standing on the sidelines on Saturday. It kills me inside,'' Williams said. "I'd rather be out there running around, but it's something I'm going to have to deal with.''

Perhaps nothing that has happened to West Virginia's football team during a rather curious first month of the season has had quite the impact of a simple decision by Williams. It was roughly a week ago when, prodded by coach Bill Stewart but left to his own devices to make the final call, West Virginia's middle linebacker shut it down for the season, his surgically repaired shoulders simply too painful to tolerate.

OK, so maybe "simple decision'' isn't quite accurate.

"It was terrible. I've never been through such mental anguish,'' Williams said. "That's probably the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life, to leave behind guys that I've played with for three years. Mortty [Ivy] is like a brother to me. He's the first person I had to tell and I broke down emotionally. It wasn't an easy couple of days."

Of course, the decision to retire for the year and take a medical redshirt and return next season affects more than just Williams. It takes neither a genius nor a seasoned football veteran to see the difference he makes in West Virginia's defense.

Forget the statistics, although those pretty much speak for themselves, considering that with Williams on the field the Mountaineers gave up 20 points in eight quarters and without him they gave up 61 in 12. The guy is among the top 10 tacklers on the team despite playing less than 40 percent of the snaps. Subtract the first four-plus minutes of the game at Colorado and with Williams at middle linebacker West Virginia gave up two field goals in essentially eight quarters - one set up by a muffed punt at the 8-yard line against Marshall and the other on a short field in overtime at Colorado.

But a guy's got to do what his body tells him to do, and Williams' body was screaming "Stop!'' even as it played so well.

"It wasn't just a decision that was made last week. We've been talking about this for a while,'' Williams said. "At the beginning of the year I didn't know if I'd play any games. I decided to play a couple and I have no regrets. But at the end I just decided to try to take care of my body and give it a little rest.

"I didn't know whether it was worth it trying to push through the pain because I didn't know how long the shoulder would last this year. Obviously the best decision was to give in this year, take the [red] shirt and come back next year, hopefully bigger and better than ever.''

The problem now, though, is this year, not next. Anthony Leonard will step in for Williams at middle linebacker and do OK. But he's far from the glue that holds a young defense together, instead increasing the number of freshmen and sophomores in the starting defensive lineup to seven.

Still, Ivy, for one, isn't as concerned about the mental loss of his linebacker running mate as he is the physical loss.

"We're going to miss him physically, that's the biggest thing,'' Ivy said. "It sounds funny, but mentally we're not going to miss him because he's still going to be there helping the young guys just like me. But physically, we'll miss him.''

If the early days of his sabbatical from the playing field are any indication, it's not going to be much of a vacation for Williams. He's already begun his offseason work in preparation for getting back for spring practice, including running the stadium steps with teammates after practice. He's working in the weight room to make his shoulders stronger and then will begin working on what caused him the most trouble when he tried to play.

"I think the biggest goal right now is to build the strength back,'' Williams said. "Range of motion will come in time.''

That range of motion is central to why Williams shut it down this season. Swinging a baseball bat or a golf club, shooting basketball and all those other things people take for granted is foreign to him right now.

"Some of the things you'd like to be able to do outside of football that I haven't been able to do for a while,'' Williams said.

And that includes picking up his kids, even if they haven't been born yet.

"That was a big part of my decision. Football can only last so long. I don't know, maybe another year might be it for me,'' Williams said. "When I'm old I want to be able to pick up my kids, throw a football with them and be able to enjoy myself.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickman1@aol.com.