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WVU coach knows how to build a defense

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MORGANTOWN — Think Rich Rodriguez football and what do you think of? Offense. Innovative. Pat White. Steve Slaton. Noel Devine. Owen Schmitt. Rasheed Marshall. Chris Henry. But here's a pretty well-guarded secret about Rich Rodriguez football in his first go-round at West Virginia. They played defense, too. Some of the best defenders at WVU played for Rodriguez. Pac-Man Jones. Grant Wiley. Brian King. James "Dirty " Davis. David Upchurch. Jahmile Addae. You don't put together three consecutive 11-win seasons simply by outscoring the opposition. Even in the game that brought an ...

WVU has 'legitimate' competition at placekicker

Local Sports

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s spring practices were for experimentation and figuring out what needs solving in the fall. Nothing regarding the depth chart is written in ink in the spring. It’s written in pencil. Rich Rodriguez talked throughout the spring about a depth chart, and he was ...

Lady Mountaineers soccer to battle Penn State

Local Sports

MORGANTOWN — In 2017, West Virginia women’s soccer hosted and beat Penn State 2-1. That was the last game the Mountaineers have won over the rival Nittany Lions. Since then, WVU-Penn State have played nine games, and WVU have lost eight of them and drawn the other one. The Mountaineers are on a six-game losing streak against the Nittany Lions. “They have extremely talented players," head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "Obviously, their coaching staff is very experienced. I think between them being tactically sound and talented, obviously it's a very hard opponent for us, and we ...

High school golf teams in action

Local Sports

TERRA ALTA — The Elkins High School Golf team placed second in a quad match held Tuesday Alpine Lake Resort Golf Course. Lewis County won the match with a score of 167. The Tigers followed with a 170 and Tucker County was third with a 178. Kendrick Smith was the top golfer for Elkins with a 37. Luca Collier followed in third place with a 38 and Dyer Barger was 12th for the Tigers with a 48. Lincoln Fletcher (49) and Kaden Marcum rounded out the list of competitors for EHS. "Alpine is a new course for all of us and I was proud of how Luca (Collier) and Kendrick (Smith) played ...

WVU great Akers passes away at 89

Local Sports

MORGANTOWN – Willie Akers, a starting forward on WVU’s 1959 national runner-up men’s basketball team and an award-winning high school coach in West Virginia, died Tuesday in Logan at the age of 89. The Mullens native was inducted into the WVU Hall of Fame in 2002. He was a two-year starter for the Mountaineers, including the 1958-59 season in which WVU fell to California in the national championship game. He averaged 7.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game that season. Along with Jerry West, the two in-state products forged a longtime friendship during their high school days that ...

Sapp, Bush emerging in WVU tight end room

Local Sports

MORGANTOWN — Rich Rodriguez’s usage of the tight end has changed over his 37 years of running the offense. Rodriguez went from 10 personnel to 20 personnel and didn’t use much of a tight end for the first 10 years of his offense, which included the early beginnings at West Virginia. The tight end has evolved into a three-down player. He can block and run a route as a mismatch on a safety or linebacker in the pass game. That’s what the tight end looks like in Rodriguez’s offense now. “It gives you a lot more variety offensively when you have a tight end that can do what we ...