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- Thread starter Buckskin86
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scarletngrey11
All right, all right, all right.
Sounds like he has plenty of time to surf other college message boards now...
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Found this on BN. Originally posted by by EdRooneywithamullet:
Charleston Gazette
November 16, 2005 Rodriguez: Gwaltney has ‘other issues’
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer MORGANTOWN — Jason Gwaltney won’t be playing football for West Virginia any time soon. And when and if he returns is largely up to him.
Rich Rodriguez Tuesday made his first public comments about Gwaltney, the heralded freshman running back who hasn’t played in more than a month because of a knee injury. The West Virginia coach admitted that Gwaltney’s issues involve more than his injured knee.
“Jason Gwaltney still has a problem with his knee, but he also has other issues,’’ Rodriguez said during his weekly press conference. “He understands that all of our players have obligations and responsibilities that they must meet as a student-athlete. And he’s not meeting those.’’
Rodriguez didn’t expand on what obligations and responsibilities Gwaltney is not meeting, but there is little doubt about what the coach was talking about. Since Gwaltney sprained a knee on Oct. 8 in a game at Rutgers, the 6-foot-1, 240-pound tailback has apparently taken a less-than-serious approach to both his class work and his rehabilitation.
Rodriguez met with Gwaltney for about 10 minutes Tuesday afternoon, just as his 1 p.m. press conference was scheduled to begin.
“Until he meets those [obligations and responsibilities] — and he gets healthy — he won’t play,’’ Rodriguez said. “We’ve talked about that and he’s got to take care of those issues before he gets back on the field. And with just two regular-season games left, it’s pretty obvious he won’t be ready by then.’’
West Virginia’s final two regular-season games are a week from Thursday at home against Pitt and then the hurricane-postponed finale against South Florida on Dec. 3 in Tampa.
Beyond that, the Mountaineers are assured of at least three-plus weeks off before a bowl game, so Gwaltney could conceivably right his ship and get back on the field by then. Gwaltney has already played in six games (rushing for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 45 carries), so holding him out of a bowl game in order to redshirt him is not an option.
Before Gwaltney can even think about playing again, though, he must reform his ways both academically and athletically.
“You’re disappointed when any athlete [doesn’t reach for his potential],’’ Rodriguez said. “You’re probably more patient with young guys, with freshmen, because it’s an adjustment.’’
Rodriguez at times on Tuesday seemed to try to defend the highly recruited tailback from Long Island, while at the same time saying that his circumstances as a high-profile recruit can’t be used as an excuse.
“To me, all the recruiting services and the hype are ridiculous. I’m not using that as an excuse, but there’s way too much hype and build-up and all that on any recruits coming in,’’ Rodriguez said. “A lot of guys come in under the radar and they don’t have to deal with it. Some guys, like Jason, have all kinds of hype. It’s ridiculous how these recruiting services and the Internet sites and all that build a guy up. They basically set them up to fail.
“But that’s not an excuse. It’s disappointing. It’s no different than anybody having their own child, their own son or daughter, that goes off to college and doesn’t do as well academically as they’d like or whatever. We take great interest in our players. And in recruiting, every kid we sign we expect him to be able to meet these obligations and do these things. And when they don’t it makes it a little bit tougher. It doesn’t mean they can’t recover from it and most of them do.’’
Charleston Gazette
November 16, 2005 Rodriguez: Gwaltney has ‘other issues’
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer MORGANTOWN — Jason Gwaltney won’t be playing football for West Virginia any time soon. And when and if he returns is largely up to him.
Rich Rodriguez Tuesday made his first public comments about Gwaltney, the heralded freshman running back who hasn’t played in more than a month because of a knee injury. The West Virginia coach admitted that Gwaltney’s issues involve more than his injured knee.
“Jason Gwaltney still has a problem with his knee, but he also has other issues,’’ Rodriguez said during his weekly press conference. “He understands that all of our players have obligations and responsibilities that they must meet as a student-athlete. And he’s not meeting those.’’
Rodriguez didn’t expand on what obligations and responsibilities Gwaltney is not meeting, but there is little doubt about what the coach was talking about. Since Gwaltney sprained a knee on Oct. 8 in a game at Rutgers, the 6-foot-1, 240-pound tailback has apparently taken a less-than-serious approach to both his class work and his rehabilitation.
Rodriguez met with Gwaltney for about 10 minutes Tuesday afternoon, just as his 1 p.m. press conference was scheduled to begin.
“Until he meets those [obligations and responsibilities] — and he gets healthy — he won’t play,’’ Rodriguez said. “We’ve talked about that and he’s got to take care of those issues before he gets back on the field. And with just two regular-season games left, it’s pretty obvious he won’t be ready by then.’’
West Virginia’s final two regular-season games are a week from Thursday at home against Pitt and then the hurricane-postponed finale against South Florida on Dec. 3 in Tampa.
Beyond that, the Mountaineers are assured of at least three-plus weeks off before a bowl game, so Gwaltney could conceivably right his ship and get back on the field by then. Gwaltney has already played in six games (rushing for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 45 carries), so holding him out of a bowl game in order to redshirt him is not an option.
Before Gwaltney can even think about playing again, though, he must reform his ways both academically and athletically.
“You’re disappointed when any athlete [doesn’t reach for his potential],’’ Rodriguez said. “You’re probably more patient with young guys, with freshmen, because it’s an adjustment.’’
Rodriguez at times on Tuesday seemed to try to defend the highly recruited tailback from Long Island, while at the same time saying that his circumstances as a high-profile recruit can’t be used as an excuse.
“To me, all the recruiting services and the hype are ridiculous. I’m not using that as an excuse, but there’s way too much hype and build-up and all that on any recruits coming in,’’ Rodriguez said. “A lot of guys come in under the radar and they don’t have to deal with it. Some guys, like Jason, have all kinds of hype. It’s ridiculous how these recruiting services and the Internet sites and all that build a guy up. They basically set them up to fail.
“But that’s not an excuse. It’s disappointing. It’s no different than anybody having their own child, their own son or daughter, that goes off to college and doesn’t do as well academically as they’d like or whatever. We take great interest in our players. And in recruiting, every kid we sign we expect him to be able to meet these obligations and do these things. And when they don’t it makes it a little bit tougher. It doesn’t mean they can’t recover from it and most of them do.’’
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
I know he is hoping that it is just the adjustment period that the majority of freshmen go through and not the beginning of a downward pattern of behavior.
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jimotis4heisman
Banned
sounds like the kid was never derecruited to me, i can think of another freshman taiback who was never derecruited.
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The Mountaineers will be fine with fellow freshman Steve Slaton, who has by far out-performed Gwaltney on the field.
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crazybuckfan40
Head Coach
Man he has been sour grapes ever since we started to hear about him and his recruitment.
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Just a season update:
Played in 6 games....
45 rushes, 186 yards, 4.1 avg, 3 TDs
4 catches, 15 yards, 3.8 avg, 0TDs
Played in 6 games....
45 rushes, 186 yards, 4.1 avg, 3 TDs
4 catches, 15 yards, 3.8 avg, 0TDs
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Cornerback6
Optimism Lover
he better have a rocket crammed in his rectum and a forcefield straight out of a sci-fi thriller if he wants to reach that mark. hears to landing cwells instead of this pain in the butt. and to think, we were all so upset at losing him...time heals all wounds wonderfully we see. :)
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NightmaresDad
Woody Rules!
I think the main reqason we were upset at losing him was because we had no idea how solid Beanie was on being a Buckeye. The day he committed early to tOSU is the day I completely stopped thinking about Gwaltney.
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