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CAMPUS CONNECTION
By John Antonik for WVUsports.com
September 22, 2011 05:14 PM
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| Thurman Thomas ran for 157 yards and four touchdowns to lead Oklahoma State to a 35-33 victory over West Virginia in the 1987 Sun Bowl. |
| Submitted photo |
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Many West Virginia fans still remember Thurman Thomas’ four-TD performance against the Mountaineers out in snowy El Paso, Texas in the 1987 Sun Bowl.
Well this weekend, Thomas is in town to help honor Buffalo Bill teammate Darryl Talley, who is being recognized by West Virginia University as its newest member in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Friday’s luncheon will take place at noon at the Waterfront Place Hotel in downtown Morgantown.
When Thomas was a Bills rookie back in 1988, Talley was one of the first veteran players to take Thomas under his wing. Thomas says those things are never forgotten.
“The relationship that we built has continued through the years, even after our playing days,” Thomas said. “He was a guy who I looked up to. I heard about Darryl Talley when he was at West Virginia, and I knew some things about him, but once I got there and I saw the type of person and the type of player that he was, he was a guy that was going to lead. And I was going to be a guy who followed him.”
Thomas said Talley had instant respect in the locker room by the way he played on the field and by the way he led his teammates off of it.
“He always played hard; he always wanted the hardest assignment on the football field, and not only is he one of the best players the Bills has ever had, he was also one of the great leaders in the National Football League,” Thomas said. “He was just an outstanding individual to be around both on and off the field.”
The tight bond those great Bills teams had led to five AFC championship game appearances and four consecutive trips to the Super Bowl from 1990-93 – a feat that will likely never be duplicated.
“Sure we wanted to win one but we didn’t, but you know what, it was a heck of a run and we’re proud of what we tried to accomplish,” Thomas said. “The system doesn’t fit for players to stay with the same team now for 10-11 years. I played with Bruce (Smith) for 12 years. That’s unheard of now. You have players who get drafted by different teams for different reasons and they’re gone four-five years after that. That was one of the things (Bills coach) Marv Levy wanted us to be like – he wanted us to be a family and that’s why we stuck together there for so long.”
Talley was on a team full of superstars – quarterback Jim Kelly, wide receiver James Lofton, defensive end Bruce Smith and Thomas are all members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame – and Thomas is glad other key players like Talley are finally beginning to receive their just due.
“Think about it, Darryl lined up next to Bruce Smith. That’s a lot,” Thomas explained. “Had that been somebody else besides Bruce Smith, Darryl would probably be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, because he would have been over there doing the job that Bruce was doing.
“But he played next to Bruce and some of the credit went away from him, but it’s great to see him get his due and be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame,” Thomas said.
As for Thomas’ 157-yard, four-touchdown performance against West Virginia in the 1987 Sun Bowl, he admits that was one of his more enjoyable afternoons as a college football player even if everyone there froze their butts off.
“You mean the 1987 Snow Bowl?” he laughed. “I tell everybody that was probably one of the reasons why I got drafted with Buffalo because they saw me play in cold weather in the snow.
Of course Thomas is only teasing, but he does have clear memories of that game.
“I remember that game well,” he said. “Major Harris was the quarterback at that time. Even though I ended up playing the following year with Darryl in Buffalo, I played against John Talley (Darryl’s younger brother) before he got hurt early in the game.”
The Cowboys had a 14-7 lead after the first quarter before West Virginia erupted for 17 second-quarter points to take a 24-14 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the second half, Thomas scored a pair of touchdowns to help the Cowboys pull out an exciting, 35-33 victory over WVU on Christmas day.
“It was an exciting football game,” he said. “We jumped ahead very quickly, West Virginia came back, and we pulled it out there in the end. It was one of the most exciting bowl games I have ever been in.”
Follow John Antonik on Twitter: @John Antonik
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CAMPUS CONNECTION
By John Antonik for WVUsports.com
September 22, 2011 09:56 AM
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| Freshman Vernard Roberts leads all West Virginia runners with 112 yards and three touchdowns through the first three games of the season. |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
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Progress for West Virginia’s running backs right now is being measured by baby steps. In the season opener against Marshall, the Mountaineer runners managed a meager 42 yards on 26 carries.
Two weeks ago against Norfolk State, the output increased to a 102 yards, but WVU had trouble getting tough yards including an embarrassing goal line situation when West Virginia had six cracks to get the ball in from the 1 and couldn’t do it. And then last week against Maryland, the rushing total fell to 92 yards.
However, running backs coach Robert Gillespie was encouraged by what he saw from his young backs last weekend in College Park.
“Every week is going to be a chance for us to get better with every rep and I think we took step forward,” Gillespie said earlier this week. “This week is going to be a big challenge. These kids are excited because this is what they have waited their whole life for a chance to play in a game like this and play in a game against really good competition.
“Hopefully we can do some things that move us forward and helps us get better for our games throughout the rest of the season.”
Because Gillespie is working with such a young and inexperienced group of players, he has had to literally teach them how to do things from scratch. Consequently, he’s had to spend more time pointing out their mistakes.
“In order to get better you’ve got to make mistakes,” he said. “That’s the part where we wish it wasn’t true, but I think these guys will get better with every mistake they make. They were able to see that patience can help set their blocks versus Norfolk. Missing that fourth quarter versus Marshall was critical because every rep these guys play they will be better, from a protection standpoint and also from being a ball carrier.”
Gillespie says all of his players must be able to handle constructive criticism.
“I tell my guys all the time being a coach my job is to correct, critique and encourage,” Gillespie said. “I will show briefly the good things they do, but my job is to really point out the things they do wrong – show the things they do well but let’s shelf that and move on to the things to get better. Let’s work on it and keep putting a magnifying glass on that until we get it right.
“At times I think the guys may think it’s hard – it’s tough love – but my job is to find the next thing to get you better at.”
The goal is to have fewer and fewer bad cutups to show his running backs as the season goes along.
“I tell the guys, ‘Your ultimate goal would be for me not to say anything to you during practice. We get here and watch the film and it goes by smooth,’” Gillespie said. “But, we’ll spend as much time on one play as we have to before we move on to the next. Let’s focus on the things that we can get better at.”
True freshman Vernard Roberts is West Virginia’s leading ground gainer with 112 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries. Another true freshman, Andrew Buie, is a close second with 88 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
Shawne Alston, a junior with limited playing experience, is third on the team with 20 yards while a third true freshman, Dustin Garrison, is fourth on the team with 19 yards.
There are just not a lot of veteran guys in Gillespie’s meeting room and that means they are all trying to figure it out together.
“I wish they had a situation where they could learn from an older guy how to prepare for a game, how to watch tape, but right now we don’t,” Gillespie pointed out. “We’re in a situation where the older guys are guys who don’t have a lot of reps either.
“But the older guys have been really good. They ask really good questions in the meeting room and those are the things a younger guy needs to understand. What type of questions to ask? What am I looking for on tape? Coming off the field and communicating on the sidelines.”
Gillespie believes it will eventually come, if not this weekend against second-ranked LSU, then soon.
“They’re eager. They’re willing and they want to learn all of those things in order for them to be good football players.”
Follow John Antonik on Twitter: @John Antonik
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