MORGANTOWN — The other day, while trying to become acquainted with West Virginia’s new football roster as the season approaches, I discovered that something very important was missing.

There was no fullback, it was nowhere on the roster, and while to many the image of Rich Rodriguez football at West Virginia may be of Pat White’s elusively thrilling escapes at quarterback or Steve Slaton’s touchdown dashes, to me, the real fun of WVU football was provided by Owen Schmitt.

Schmitt was every man to WVU White’s Superman. He was the guy sitting next to you at the bar, the guy filling in the potholes on the streets. He was the team’s enforcer, the man who smashed his own head with his helmet, who broke facemasks with hits on defenders the way politicians break promises to their voters.

He wore the Mohawk haircut, played in the backfield listed at the 235 pounds he reported with when Rodriguez recruited him but who was playing at 255 or so pounds by the time he left, the result of good food and Morgantown beer.

And speaking of Morgantown beer, he now is part of a brewing company that produces “Runaway Beer Truck” beer, put out by Berkeley Springs Brewing Company which can be found in grocery stores and bars in the area, a sidelight to what now is a healthy family life filled with a house full of kids and with a job in Berkeley Springs.

n n n

Having noticed the lack of any fullbacks on the WVU roster, that afternoon I was moved to ask Rich Rodriguez if it indicated that football had come to a point in time where the fullback is now obsolete.

It was hard to imagine Owen Schmitt being obsolete, so the question was an important one and Rodriguez understood that.

“I hope not,” he replied. “There’s a place for them. We don’t really have one on the roster. We have a couple of guys who are playing tight end who are kind of fullbacks, but I think it’s going to come back.”

Now, it might not be as Schmitt or Larry Csonka or Jim Taylor, but there is a need for a bruiser who can pass protect, block or pick up a yard in short yardage situations.

“They will come back like the tight ends are back. They aren’t just the guy next to the tackle who wears a tight end number,” Rodriguez said. “I think fullback will be the next thing back, where he can be a big running back, be like a tight end and on occasion you can put them out a little bit.”And when he comes back, Rodriguez wants one of them.

“I think that’s what we need in our program and I think about Owen Schmitt today, tomorrow and every day after that,” he said.

n n n

Michael Nyswander is the Mountaineers’ new tight end coach. You ask him about the disappearance of fullbacks and the one-time Alabama player admits he’s thought about it right from the minute he took the job.

“It’s funny, a lot of our players are like old school fullbacks but we kind of play them in the sniffer position or the wing position or whatever you want to call it. There’s a lot of schemes where those guys are doing what you want to call old time fullback things.

“When I got here, we went to the position room and on the door there it says “FULLBACK/TIGHT ENDS” and we were in a staff meeting early on and I was like, ‘I’m not sure, did we change the offense? Are we using a fullback now?'”

The answer to that is no … and yes.

Like Rodriguez, Nyswander believes we have not seen the extinction of the fullback in modern football.

“I think it will come back, at least here,” he said. “Coach has always been good at utilizing the types of players we have on the team. That goes back to how you recruit, but maybe if there’s a bad son of a gun that is nothing but a fullback and is really good and can’t afford not to be out of the field, coach will use him there.

“It’s just really a title. There are schemes that remind you of a fullback,” Nyswander went on. “I know at Jacksonville State, the very first touchdown they ever had in a bowl game we lined up with a fullback in the I formation and we handed the ball to him and he scored.”

n n n

So, what does the original Runaway Beer Truck think about this? Had to know, so I gave him a call.

“Now the kids get labeled as tight ends, more of a hybrid, shorter, stockier guy for more of a blocking and the taller, more athletic guys for route running,” he said. “The real special ones can do both.”

Schmitt was one of those special ones who are born to play fullback.

“I played fullback my entire football career,” he said. “When I grew up, my grandfather told me if you want to play football, the first thing you want to do is to learn how to block. I went to my first camp as an O-lineman, learned the skill and developed it from there.”

He was a weapon as a blocker, but he also developed athletic skills that allowed him to hit as hard carrying the ball as he did blocking for the ball carrier.

He played as a ball carrier in a wing-T offense in high school, then went to University of Wisconsin-River Falls and played fullback in a traditional wishbone offense, gaining more than 1,000 yards.

“I walked on at West Virginia and it wasn’t like the fullback was a main cog in the offense,” he explained. “Me, evolving as a player, I realized I had to understand I needed to learn different skills; I had to broaden my repertoire as a player.

“It evolved to what it was. Rich just sprinkled me to where he could use me.”

It is hard to picture “sprinkling” Schmitt into an offense, but that was an image he cast and he expects something like it to come about at WVU this year.

“I think you’ll see that this year,” Schmitt went on. “He’s just so good at finding the hidden talent once he brings a kid in.”

It was the late assistant Donny Young who had recruited him.

“He was the one who helped me with the process. I sent a highlight tape and he would tell me how to get information and apply,” Schmitt said. “I then just drove to Morgantown from Wisconsin with my mom and we did a tour ourselves and then drove home.

“I guess Rich watched the film and felt, ‘Hey, maybe I can use this guy?’ “It was a match that was meant to be,” Schmitt said. “For me it was comforting; a guy who would really push me. He made me understand if I worked hard, I would get an opportunity and when that comes you just have to make your plays.”

Rodriguez’s “hard edge” attitude didn’t begin with Schmitt but he certainly became the billboard for it. Too bad there wasn’t NIL then.

“When I got there I felt I was going to showcase what I could do,” Schmitt remembers. “I was a strong kid so I worked hard in the weight room and got attention. Then, in the spring, there were some injuries so I got to play some tailback. There was series of things that happened that if they hadn’t happened I never would have been that guy.”

Schmitt was the example of exactly what Rodriguez was preaching.

“The attitude of the team, being a tough guy, raised in adversity, hard edge, I really bit into that,” he said.

The game was fun for Schmitt and it was contagious.

“I really enjoyed the physical aspect of the game that our strength coach Mike Barwis and Rich pushed,” Schmitt said. “For me, competing on the field that was the showcase of all the hard work you put in over the summer and during the season in practices, pushing yourself to levels you never thought you’d reach.

“On game days, you could just let yourself go and have fun and enjoy the reward of hard work.”

It became something special.

“It was a perfect storm. None of them knew what we had. It was like a special spice blend, once you get the recipe right it was hard to beat,” Schmitt said. “As a team we had a bunch of tough guys who played together, loved the game. A lot of us were misfits, to use a word they used back in the day.

“The guys were maybe a little too short, not big enough in the rear end, not fast enough. There’s different things. Some guys test real well, some guys have game speed. Some guys have a true passion to play the game.

“At the college level, everybody works hard, everybody runs hard, everyone plays hard, but you really love it and embrace it, it’s that hard edge, that bit edge you get that will put you over the top,” Schmitt concluded.

n n n

And so we remember the fullbacks, miss the fullbacks.

For example, I reminded Schmitt of Wes Ours moving from the offensive line to fullback in Don Nehlen’s final years, mainly to block, but taking a swing pass from Brad Lewis and running 40 yards for the first touchdown in Nehlen’s final game as coach.

“Remember it? It’s a legendary story, man. It’s the Wes Express, man. Fullback is really a fraternity. Everyone loves watching the fullback. Normally, it’s always the tough guy, maybe not the most skilled or talented, but it’s an effort position. It’s an effort thing, a will and want to get the job done.”

And that will never be obsolete.