Early end for Mullins
Mike Mullins, whose father retired from the coal mines because of a disability, undergoes back surgery.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Michael Mullins is neither the first coal miner's son nor the first Bluefield native to play football for Virginia.
He has an interesting background nonetheless, complete with a bittersweet ending.

Mullins, a senior offensive tackle who battled homesickness to become the first member of his family to graduate from college, had started 17 consecutive games for the Cavaliers before undergoing back surgery Monday in Charlottesville.

Mullins is hoping to travel to Charlotte, N.C., where the Cavaliers (8-5) will meet West Virginia (9-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Continental Tire Bowl on ESPN2, but he will not be in uniform.

"I had the same operation myself and worked 10 more years in the mines," said Mullins' father, Vernon, who took early retirement because of a disability. "I hope he comes back from it as well as I did."

In an ironic twist, it was the physical toll exacted by heavy lifting - "brute work," he called it - that convinced Vernon Mullins that he wanted his three sons to find different careers.

"You always want better for your son than what you had," he said. "My dad did work in the coal mine and, as soon as I got out of high school, I went to work in the coal mine. I determined right then that that wasn't a job for my boys."

The mother of former Virginia All-American Thomas Jones was a coal miner, so the Cavaliers might have known, in Mullins, that they would be getting a player with a strong work ethic.

They got him, but they almost didn't keep him.

"I believe, if there had been a car to bring him home, he'd have been back here," said Mullins' coach at Graham High School, Glynn Carlock.

Bluefield, located on the Virginia-West Virginia border, is not a customary breeding ground for UVa students, although it was the home of perhaps the greatest living Cavalier, college and pro football Hall of Famer Bill Dudley.

Vernon Mullins credits a UVa teammate and one-time prep rival, Princeton (W.Va.) High School graduate Yubrenal Isabelle, for giving his son a shoulder to lean on during the toughest times.

"Some days, it just got bad, like, 'What am I doing here?'" Mullins said. "It was a case of the small-town boy going to the big city, not that Charlottesville is a big city, but it was like Jethro [on 'The Beverly Hillbillies'].

"Sometimes, I felt so out of place because it was so unlike where I'm from."

Mullins is from Falls Mills, a community on the outskirts of Bluefield. He thinks the nearest stoplight is in Brush Fork, W.Va., "if there is one," he said.

He hasn't been inside the mines, but he has heard his father's stories.

"Claustrophobic," Mullins said. "That's what I would be, crawling around on your stomach. Why would you want to do that? Just being 400 or 500 feet underground spooked me. For a young kid, it was scary."

Mullins had nearly completed his degree requirements when he was a fourth-year junior. He did not become a starter at UVa until the ninth game of the 2001 season.

Mullins started all 13 regular-season games this year despite an injury suffered in practice before the Cavaliers' next-to-last game, against Maryland.

"When it first happened, I was like, 'I don't know about this,'" said Mullins, a 6-foot-8, 292-pounder. "It was tough that week."

On the Friday before the Maryland game, Mullins had an MRI that indicated he had a problem in his back, but he started and played against the Terrapins the next day and at Virginia Tech the next week.

"I went to a chiropractor but that didn't do a lot of good," he said. "When I was actually playing in the games, I didn't have enough time to think about how much my back hurt."

The condition did not improve after the season; in fact, numbness in his legs and feet convinced Mullins that he needed to undergo the operation, in which a sliver was shaved from a disc.

"It's a blow not being able to play in the bowl," Mullins said, "but Coach [Al] Groh tells us that sometimes there are more important things than football. After playing in two games with my back like that, I figured it would be pressing my luck to go for three."

Groh said that sophomore offensive guard Elton Brown is making progress after playing most of November with a high-ankle sprain. Brown will start Saturday, freeing backup Brad Butler to take Mullins' place at right tackle.

 

Phoebus linebacker still mulling offers
Adibi the state's best

The top five football prospects in the state, including two players from Phoebus, have yet to pick a college.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   When asked for a list of offers received by linebacker Xavier Adibi, Phoebus High School football coach Bill Dee has grown accustomed to reporters asking, "Is that all?"

    The impression Dee has gotten is that a player must have 15-20 offers to be considered an elite prospect

    "What's an offer?" said Dee, whose team in Hampton recently won its second straight Group AA Division 5 state championship. "A verbal offer? If it's a verbal offer, then he's had 100.

    "Of course, if it's a verbal, they can come back and say, 'We never offered.' Schools are trying to save face. He could have gone anywhere in the country. Miami was calling up about him and wanting him to visit.

    "If Miami wants you to visit, you're probably pretty good."

    Adibi had an injury-plagued senior year that caused him to miss most of the preseason with a sprained ankle and one game with a sprained shoulder, but he still finished with more than 30 tackles for loss, including 14 sacks.

    Players are allowed to take five paid visits. Adibi, rated the No.1 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, is taking four. He will go to Tennessee, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and Maryland.

    Some schools he eliminated for lack of interest, either in the program or its location. Others, including Virginia, did not pursue Adibi in an apparent concession that he would be following his older brother, Nathaniel, to Virginia Tech.

    "For instance, Penn State never even came by," Dee said. "Now, you want to tell me Penn State doesn't want to recruit Xavier?

    "I think a lot of schools just didn't think they had a shot at him. There wasn't one school in the spring that came by - and we must have had 80 schools come through here - who said they didn't want Xavier. It was all, 'Do you think we have a chance?'"

    "Pretty much every coach asked me, 'Is it a sure thing you're going to Tech?'" Adibi said. "They wanted to make sure my mind wasn't set on Tech because my brother was over there. I told them my mind was wide-open and I would consider any school that was willing to offer."

    The Adibis' father, Abi Adibi, is a professor of biology at Hampton University who had been through the recruiting process once and felt no need to cultivate dozens of colleges in order to build up Xavier's recruiting profile.

    "They're just not that type of family," said Dee, who has been at Phoebus for 18 years, "and I don't believe in it, just like I don't believe in a press conference. Xavier doesn't want a press conference. When he makes his decision, we'll put it in the newspaper.

    "To be honest with you, that's all a kid needs. Everybody pretty much knows where a kid's going before he holds a press conference anyway. It's all an ego thing. It's not like they're signing for $100 million or something."

    Dee has had some prominent players in the past, most notably running back Antwoine Womack, who was No.1 on The Roanoke Times' list in 1996, and the older Adibi, who was sixth in 1999.

    Dee has never been in a situation where he has had the Nos.1 and 2 prospects in the state, as he does this year with Adibi and defensive back Phillip Brown.

    The rivals.com Web site is listing Brown as the No.1 prospect in the state, and Dee doesn't argue that Brown might be the most gifted player at his position in the state. However, there is a strong chance that Brown will not meet NCAA requirements for freshman eligibility.

    "For the record, I would never say a kid doesn't have a chance to qualify," Dee said.

    Brown almost certainly will sign a letter-of-intent in February with one of the schools that is continuing to recruit him: Virginia Tech, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina State.

    "Schools want you to sign so that you will feel a certain loyalty to them," Dee said. "When he does whatever he has to do, probably prep school, then there's an obligation there even though there isn't."

    Ahmad Brooks, rated the No.1 prospect in Virginia last year, failed to qualify academically after signing with Virginia in February but never wavered in his commitment and will enroll at UVa next month.

    "A lot of it is, one, because of the recognition," Dee said. "And, two, they might qualify. Phillip has a lot more offers [than Adibi] but he's a little different kind of kid. Till after the season there were still 10 schools coming by here and talking to him."

    Of the top 25 players on The Roanoke Times list, only seven remain uncommitted, including all five players on the Top 5. All have visited or plan to visit Virginia Tech, which already has commitments from eight Top 25 players, and three will visit UVa, which has seven Top 25 commitments.

    It is likely that at least 20 of the state's Top 25 will sign with either the Hokies or Cavaliers.

    Tech has been a favorite from the start with the state's No.3-ranked prospect, linebacker Vince Hall from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, alma mater of such ex-Hokies as Shryone Stith, Emmett Johnson and Lorenzo Ferguson.

    The state's No.4 prospect, defensive end Chris Ellis, is from the same program at Bethel High School in Hampton that produced Tech freshman defensive back Jimmy Williams. Ellis and Adibi are friends, and Adibi was a spectator at one of Ellis' recent basketball games.

    "We've compared notes," said Ellis, who said he once favored Tech but will keep an open mind as he heads into scheduled visits to Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, N.C. State and Tennessee, if he can get to Knoxville, Tenn., in the middle of a week.

    The schools have been making home visits and Ellis said that his mother found UVa assistant and Bethel graduate Mike London to be "a real charmer," in his 2 1/2 -hour visit.

    "If it had been up to her, I would have been going up to UVa," Ellis said, "but, ultimately, it's not going to be her decision."

    Chase Anastasio of Fairfax, a late addition to the Top 5, has one Robinson High School teammate (John Kinzer) who has committed to Tech for football and another (Adam Fassnacht) who is headed to UVa to play lacrosse.

    Anastasio had been to Notre Dame and Ohio State on official visits before canceling a trip to Stanford scheduled for last weekend. He will go to UVa and Tech for the two major recruiting weekends those teams are holding Jan.17-19 and Jan.24-26, respectively.

U.Va., Rodriguez: Could it have been?
WVU coach happy with way things are
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 25, 2002
CONTINENTAL TIRE BOWL
U.VA. VS. WVU
SATURDAY:
11 a.m., ESPN2

Whether George Welsh would retire after the 2000 season - or a year or two hence - wasn't certain that fall. But Welsh clearly was in the twilight of his career as Virginia's football coach, and Terry Holland wanted to be prepared.

Holland, then U.Va.'s athletic director, could not, until Welsh announced his retirement, contact head coaches at other schools to gauge their interest in relocating to Charlottesville.

Assistants were another matter, though, and Rich Rodriguez, then Clemson's offensive coordinator, had built a reputation as one of the nation's most promising young coaches. Holland received permission from Clemson to speak to Rodriguez, and they talked on the phone periodically during the 2000 season.

"There were some conversations going on a little bit," Rodriguez said, "but I think it's worked out well for both schools."

Rodriguez, of course, is in his second year as coach at West Virginia. His 15th-ranked Mountaineers (9-3) meet the Cavaliers (8-5) on Saturday at the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl in Char- lotte, N.C.

"It's ironic that we're playing them," Rodriguez said.

Would Rodriguez have succeeded Welsh at U.Va.? We'll never know. The interest was mutual that fall, but on Nov. 4, 2000, Don Nehlen announced he would retire as the Mountaineers' coach at the end of the season.

Three weeks later, Rodriguez, a former West Virginia defensive back, was named coach at his alma mater. Two weeks after that, Welsh announced he would retire after the Cavaliers' bowl game in Hawaii. The subsequent search for Welsh's successor ended with the hiring of Al Groh, a U.Va. alumnus who'd coached the New York Jets in 2000.

The challenges Rodriguez, 39, faced in Morgantown last year were not unlike those Groh encountered in Charlottesville. Nehlen had won the most games of any football coach in WVU history. Welsh retired as the ACC's all-time winningest coach.

"Both Al and I took over for very successful coaches who had long tenures at their schools," said Rodriguez, a native of Grant Town, W.Va. "In the first year, there's a lot of transition, and any time there's a transition, sometimes it takes a while to get adjusted."

The Cavaliers went 5-7 in 2001, their first losing season in 15 years. At WVU, Rodriguez installed the spread, no-huddle offense with which he'd amassed eye-popping statistics as Glenville State's coach and as offensive coordinator at Tulane and Clemson. The Mountaineers lost seven of their last eight games and finished 3-8, their fewest wins since 1978.

"We thought were going to do all right," star tailback Avon Cobourne said, "but things didn't mesh."

And that wasn't easy on Rodriguez or his assistants, who were keenly aware of Nehlen's legacy at WVU.

"We didn't sleep well, we didn't eat well," Rodriguez said. "It really weighed on us."

Virginia, picked to finish eighth in the nine-team ACC this season, tied for second with Maryland, a team it demolished 48-13 last month. Groh was named ACC coach of the year, and junior quarterback Matt Schaub was honored as ACC player of the year.

WVU's turnaround has been equally impressive. Rodriguez "tweaked" his signature offense, and now the Mountaineers are "doing some different things right now to match our personnel and our strength," he said. "We're probably running it a bit more."

It's impossible to argue with the results. The Mountaineers finished second in the Big East, behind top-ranked Miami, and won six of their last seven regular-season games. The lone loss was to the Hurricanes, and everybody loses to them.

"We thought we were going to win some games," Cobourne said, "but this is a shock to everybody."

Rodriguez was rewarded last week with a new seven-year contract, which will pay him $700,000 next season.

"I knew we'd be a better team, but I didn't know we could get this far along as quickly as we did," Rodriguez said.
 

Injury benches U.Va. tackle
Mullins had back surgery
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 25, 2002

Mike Mullins, the University of Virginia's starter at right offensive tackle for the past 17 games, had surgery on his back Monday and will miss this weekend's Continental Tire Bowl, coach Al Groh said yesterday.

Mullins is a 6-8, 292-pound fifth-year senior from Falls Mills in Southwest Virginia. His back problems prevented him from practicing late in the season, though he played extensively in the games. Brad Butler, a 6-8, 271-pound freshman from Lynchburg, will start in Mullins' place.

Virginia (8-5) plays No. 15 West Virginia (9-3) on Saturday at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. The Cavaliers' offensive line might be the youngest in the history of NCAA postseason play.

The first-team tight end is redshirt freshman Heath Miller, and his backup is sophomore Patrick Estes. The starting tackles are freshmen: Butler and D'Brickashaw Ferguson. The center, Zac Yarbrough, is a sophomore, as is right guard Elton Brown. The left guard is a redshirt freshman, Brian Barthelmes. The 6-7, 286-pound Barthelmes will back up Butler and Ferguson at tackle.

"I wouldn't want to look at 12 more games like this," Groh said, "but pending serious circumstances, I think we have enough for this one."

Brown, slowed by a stress fracture in his right foot late in the regular season, participated fully in practice Monday, Groh said, and "seems to have done very well."

Also, Groh said, linebacker Dennis Haley will not play against West Virginia. Haley, who started the Cavaliers' opener, missed the rest of the regular season because of an undisclosed academic issue. He practiced with the team throughout the season, however, and Groh had hoped Haley would be cleared for the bowl.

In addition to Mullins, four players who started at least one game for U.Va. will miss the Continental Tire Bowl because of injuries: tailback Alvin Pearman, defensive end Chris Canty, center Kevin Bailey and safety Chris Williams. Pearman and Canty are from Charlotte.


 

NFL likely to be calling on Avon
WVU's Cobourne has pro potential
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press

Published December 25, 2002

It was almost three years ago, and pre-NFL draft evaluations were in high gear. Going into his first season as the New York Jets' head coach, Al Groh was checking out a tight end at West Virginia named Anthony Becht. He liked what he saw, but someone else also caught his eye.

"I remember asking one of the coaches, 'Whoa, who's that tailback?' " Groh said. "He was like, 'Coach, that guy's got two more seasons to go.' At that point, I thought to myself, I'll probably have to deal with that guy someday, but I didn't think it would be in the Continental Tire Bowl. I thought it would be on Sundays."

Instead, Groh has to deal with Avon Cobourne on Saturday as Virginia faces the 15th-ranked Mountaineers in Charlotte's Ericsson Stadium. But few doubt this compact combination of speed and power will get his chance on Sundays starting next fall.

If you're into numbers, consider these:

4,922 career rushing yards, most in Big East Conference history and 13th on Division I-A's all-time list.

1,593 yards this season, eighth in the nation.

40 career touchdowns, leading to the inevitable "Avon calling!!!" from the Mountaineers' radio guy when he scores.

Four consecutive seasons of more than 1,000 yards, which only four I-A players - North Carolina's Amos Lawrence, New Mexico State's Denvis Manns, Wisconsin's Ron Dayne and Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett - had done before him.

Yet Cobourne remains somewhat anonymous outside his region. Those who have faced him - including No. 1 Miami, which gave up 175 yards on 26 attempts - know all about him. Yet on the national stage, Cobourne doesn't get the attention of, say, Miami's Willis McGahee or Penn State's Larry Johnson. Or Colorado's Chris Brown or Oklahoma's Quentin Griffin.

"I don't really care about that," Cobourne said. "That's not important. People are noticing our team. They're saying, 'Wow, West Virginia, they came out of nowhere and won some games.' That's all I care about. That's attention enough."

Cobourne grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J., and attended Holy Cross High - the alma mater of Cavaliers freshman tailback Wali Lundy. He scored 32 touchdowns as a junior but tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in the second game of his senior season. Some schools backed off, but WVU didn't. Loyalty paid off.

After redshirting the 1998 season, Cobourne took over as the Mountaineers' primary back in '99. His 1,139 yards, a Mountaineer Field-record 210 coming in a victory over Pitt, broke Amos Zereoue's freshman record at WVU.

After another solid season in 2000, Cobourne was concerned when West Virginia coach Don Nehlen announced his retirement after 21 seasons. Nehlen's replacement, former Clemson offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez, promised the same up-tempo, no-huddle spread offense the Tigers used. Many, including Cobourne, assumed the words "no-huddle" and "spread" meant "passing game."

But WVU is running from that spread. Cobourne had 1,298 yards last year and this season has rushed for at least 100 yards in all but three of the Mountaineers' 12 games. West Virginia is averaging 287 rushing yards a game, second in the nation behind Air Force.

"He's a competitor," Rodriguez said. "The thing that makes him the player he is his competitiveness. He plays hard on every snap. He's also as good a player without the ball as I've ever seen, and that's what we tell the pro scouts. Some players see that's how you're supposed to play, with or without the ball."

The most amazing thing Rodriguez has seen Cobourne do?

"It didn't have to do with him running the ball," he said. "I've seen him - I think it was against Wisconsin and Miami - block 290-pound defensive ends and flat-back them. I mean, get leverage and get underneath them and pin them on their back."

It's the kind of thing Cobourne doesn't mind doing.

"They're going to hit me every chance they get," he said. "So when they don't see me coming, I'm definitely going to take a shot at them."

Virginia has become an authority on running backs this season. It started opening night against Colorado State's Cecil Sapp and went on to include Florida State's Greg Jones, Penn State's Johnson, N.C. State's T.A. McClendon and Virginia Tech's "Untouchables" duo of Lee Suggs and Kevin Jones.

Cobourne is the latest. Is he the best?

"He's certainly the most productive we've played against," Groh said. "He's got a chance to ruin your day, that's for sure."
 

Where football meets NASCAR
Some players ask: What's the big deal
Wednesday December 25, 2002

By Dave Hickman
STAFF WRITER
 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rasheed Marshall just doesn’t get it, but Lance Nimmo sure does.

Avon Cobourne wonders what all the fascination is about. Maybe he should ask Arthur Harrison.

And Rich Rodriguez is intrigued by the nuances involved, but that’s purely from a curiosity standpoint. Dusty Rutledge could probably explain it to him, but if the questions were ever asked the answers would surely be more than Rodriguez ever wants to know.

As West Virginia’s football team resides in Charlotte this week while preparing for Saturday’s Continental Tire Bowl game with Virginia, the Mountaineers find themselves smack dab in the middle of NASCAR country. And when in Charlotte, they as Charlotteans do. That means a trip this week to Lowe’s Motor Speedway, one of the hotbeds of NASCAR racing.

To some, it’s the thrill of a lifetime. To others?

Yawn.

“I ask people, ‘Why do you want to go to a speedway and watch cars drive around a track?’ ’ said Marshall, West Virginia’s sophomore quarterback from Pittsburgh. “But I guess some people probably think the same thing about football, like ‘Why would you want to sit there and watch people run into each other and bang heads and hurt themselves. I guess it’s all about preferences.’’

Talk about your preferences. Sunday afternoon the Mountaineers went en masse to an NFL game down the street at Ericsson Stadium. Well, at least most of them did.

Rutledge, the team’s video coordinator, wanted nothing to do with that. Instead, he drove 40 minutes north of Charlotte to Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the vast spread where the late Winston Cup star — and, now, his son, Dale Jr. — had a base of operations.

And get this: He went there even though he knew the place was closed, just to see it firsthand.

“Oh, I’ll go back when it’s open, too,’’ Rutledge said.

That’s just the way it is with NASCAR fans, of course. They are devoted to the sport like no others.

“It’s fun to watch, especially being there in person, the wildness and things like that. It’s unbelievable,’’ said Nimmo, who is looking forward to this week’s trip to he speedway more than any other part of this trip. “If we get to do something with one of the cars that would be great. But even if we just get to see the speedway, that’ll be all right. That’ll be pretty cool.’’

The only thing cool about visiting a speedway for Rodriguez, though, might be if he gets to see a pit crew in action. The racing itself? Ugh.

“It’s like track. What’s the strategy, stay to your left and hurry back?’’ said West Virginia’s coach. “I know there’s a lot more to it than that, but I just don’t get it.

“I’m kind of interested in the inner workings of the pit crew and that kind of thing, the teamwork involved and how fast they have to work. The driving is boring, but the other things are interesting.’’

Cobourne is a lot like Marshall. He doesn’t get the allure of the sport, but he doesn’t necessarily put down those who do, either.

“I can’t understand it. But it’s like some people can’t understand football,’’ said the Big East’s all-time rushing leader. “I can’t understand why people want to drive a car. But if that’s what they want to do, hey, go right ahead.’’

Harrison, though, understands it well. While he’s not a huge NASCAR fan, he watches on TV sometimes and even has some racing in his blood, going back to his childhood in Syracuse.

“What’s the hook? Fast cars. Vroom, vroom, vroom,’’ said the senior safety. “I watch it sometimes on TV. I like Jeff Gordon.

“My father has a couple of drag racers, a couple of Chevy Novas and a Malibu. So I’ve gone to the races every Sunday in the summer since I was little. I’ve driven with him to the starting line, but that’s where I get out.’’

Nimmo, on the other hand, would never get out if he ever got a chance to get in a race car. Then again, at 6-foot-6 and 295 pounds, he’s not exactly the right size.

“If I could fit in a car, I would love to drive,’’ he said. “I don’t know if that’ll ever happen, though.’’

Mountaineers everywhere in bowl city
Wednesday December 25, 2002

By FROM WIRE REPORTS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mike Petruski is like any inconspicuous Charlotte resident — until he wears the blue and gold.

Mountaineers face a large target
Mike Cherry <mikecherry@dailymail.com>
Daily Mail sportswriter

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In a season recently devoid of a significant quantity of problems, one seemingly has popped up in every recent game for West Virginia University.
Large receivers.

One of the first was Syracuse's David Tyree. WVU held him to four catches. In Week 11, WVU met Virginia Tech's Ernest Wilford. He was held to five catches, although he hurt the Mountaineers with a punt block.

Finally, talented Pittsburgh freshman Larry Fitzgerald caught 11 passes for 159 yards and two scores. Fitzgerald, however, did not beat WVU and was, in fact, not the target on the game's last throw into the end zone during the Mountaineers' 24-17 victory.

Now, in WVU's reoccurring secondary nightmare, here comes 6-foot-4, 208-pound University of Virginia senior Billy McMullen.

"He's a big kid," said Tony Gibson, who coaches WVU's cornerbacks. "Uses his body well. Catches the ball real well. And he's as fast or faster than the other kids."

Why unranked Virginia (8-5) will likely present a greater challenge for WVU's secondary than the other games featuring tall receivers is because of the quality of quarterback. In this case, it is 6-5, 235-pound junior Matt Schaub, who threw for 27 touchdowns with just seven interceptions in capturing the Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year honor.

The Cavaliers and No. 15 WVU (9-3) meet 11 a.m. Saturday in the first Continental Tire Bowl. The game from sold-out Ericsson Stadium will be televised by ESPN2. Both teams practiced Monday for the first time in Charlotte after arriving Saturday night.

A native of Richmond, Va., McMullen is a two-time all-ACC performer who caught 68 passes for 886 yards and three touchdowns this season. That came after an 83- catch, 12-touchdown 2001 year.

His largest assets might be in 11-inch hands. Schaub will often throw the ball high or on fades to take advantage of McMullen's personal baseball gloves, size and speed.

"What our guys have to do is make sure we use our bodies," Gibson said. "Slow them down in their routes. Be physical with them."

By now, WVU cornerbacks Lance Frazier and Brian King are used to looking up to look in their opponents' eyes. Frazier is 5-10; King is 6-foot.

"(McMullen's) closest to Wilford," Frazier said. "I think he runs better and runs better routes. Our biggest thing is we have to keep the guy in front of us. Me being 5-10, his advantage is huge."

Rodriguez said he saw both Schaub and McMullen at Sunday's Chicago-Carolina NFL game at Ericsson. He called them both "basketball players."

"Those players (such as McMullen) are forcing everyone in college to adjust and look at bigger corners," Rodriguez said. "But with taller players, they might not be able to cover in man so much. ... They'll throw it up to him."

Schaub actually has more-frequent touchdown targets. Freshman tight end Heath Miller, actually more of a tree than a target at 6-5 and 256 pounds, has 30 catches, nine for touchdowns. Fullback Jason Snelling has caught four and wideout Michael McGrew another two, one on an option pass from McMullen against Maryland.

Still, WVU is more concerned with McMullen on the catching end rather than passing end.

"We have worked all (last) week on that," Gibson said of guarding McMullen. "Get in good position and cut him off."

* * *

Mountaineer bowl crumbs:

* WVU practiced for slightly more than two hours on a 55-degree, partly cloudy day in Charlotte. The team will practice the next three days, then conduct a walk-through Friday at Ericsson. The weather is expected to turn colder beginning today.

* Starting strong safety Jermaine Thaxton sat out part of Monday's practice after reaggravating a shoulder injury. Rodriguez said he did not know the extent of the injury.


Backup tailback Cassel Smith did not make the trip to Charlotte. The junior had just 12 carries in 10 games this season in playing behind Avon Cobourne and Quincy Wilson.
* Rodriguez on what he learned Sunday: "I thought our games were slow until I went to the NFL game. I think it was about a two-hour first half. I was bored to death."