MORGANTOWN - Bill Stewart is fond of saying that, as a general rule, he's seldom the smartest guy in any given room. Even when West Virginia's football coach does something that turns out to be fairly intelligent, he portrays it as the rare instance in which the blind squirrel actually tripped over a nut.
MORGANTOWN - Bill Stewart is fond of saying that, as a general rule, he's seldom the smartest guy in any given room. Even when West Virginia's football coach does something that turns out to be fairly intelligent, he portrays it as the rare instance in which the blind squirrel actually tripped over a nut.
Enter one Ricky Kovatch, an unrecruited "nut'' that Stewart likes to compare to none other than Owen Schmitt.
"For whatever reason, these recruiting gurus and us smart coaches pick guys like Owen Schmitt to go to Division III schools. I'm one of those coaches,'' Stewart said. "But we think he has a chance to be pretty good.''
He, as in Kovatch, not Schmitt.
Schmitt is already pretty good, of course, having wandered uninvited into West Virginia's football program four years ago when no one else would give him as much as a sniff. After being ignored to the point of having to spend a year on the non-scholarship Division III level, Schmitt shopped his highlight tapes of that season around and finally landed a walk-on chance at WVU. All he did was become a folk hero and an NFL draft choice.
It's way too early to compare Kovatch to Schmitt, but as a 6-foot-2, 230-pound fullback and tight end hybrid - one no one else wanted - his story is at least familiar.
"Coming out of high school, West Virginia was really the only place that gave me a chance,'' Kovatch said. "They actually gave me a serious look.''
Just a week and a half into his college football career - before he had even stepped into his first classroom, in fact - Kovatch was already proven worth that look. And now, just 10 days before West Virginia opens the season with a home game against Villanova, Kovatch appears to have managed something Schmitt didn't: earn playing time right off the bat. It's a good bet that even if Kovatch doesn't see time at fullback and tight end, he will find a spot on special teams.
"I just went as hard as I could every time I got a chance,'' Kovatch said of his solid first impression. "And a couple of guys got some injuries and I got a few chances in scrimmages.''
MORGANTOWN - Bill Stewart is fond of saying that, as a general rule, he's seldom the smartest guy in any given room. Even when West Virginia's football coach does something that turns out to be fairly intelligent, he portrays it as the rare instance in which the blind squirrel actually tripped over a nut.
Enter one Ricky Kovatch, an unrecruited "nut'' that Stewart likes to compare to none other than Owen Schmitt.
"For whatever reason, these recruiting gurus and us smart coaches pick guys like Owen Schmitt to go to Division III schools. I'm one of those coaches,'' Stewart said. "But we think he has a chance to be pretty good.''
He, as in Kovatch, not Schmitt.
Schmitt is already pretty good, of course, having wandered uninvited into West Virginia's football program four years ago when no one else would give him as much as a sniff. After being ignored to the point of having to spend a year on the non-scholarship Division III level, Schmitt shopped his highlight tapes of that season around and finally landed a walk-on chance at WVU. All he did was become a folk hero and an NFL draft choice.
It's way too early to compare Kovatch to Schmitt, but as a 6-foot-2, 230-pound fullback and tight end hybrid - one no one else wanted - his story is at least familiar.
"Coming out of high school, West Virginia was really the only place that gave me a chance,'' Kovatch said. "They actually gave me a serious look.''
Just a week and a half into his college football career - before he had even stepped into his first classroom, in fact - Kovatch was already proven worth that look. And now, just 10 days before West Virginia opens the season with a home game against Villanova, Kovatch appears to have managed something Schmitt didn't: earn playing time right off the bat. It's a good bet that even if Kovatch doesn't see time at fullback and tight end, he will find a spot on special teams.
"I just went as hard as I could every time I got a chance,'' Kovatch said of his solid first impression. "And a couple of guys got some injuries and I got a few chances in scrimmages.''
Indeed, had it not been for an injury to Will Johnson and the fact that fellow freshman fullback Ryan Clarke missed parts of a few practices because of a summer school class conflict, Kovatch probably would have been automatically ticketed for scout team duty this fall, just as was Schmitt when he arrived. But Kovatch got a few reps in practice because the offense was simply running out of bodies at the position and he opened some eyes.
That's all Kovatch ever wanted - a chance to prove he could play.
"Going into my senior year of high school, one of my goals was to earn a chance to play at the highest level I could play at. And I thought I could play Division I,'' Kovatch said. "When no one gave me a serious look it got me aggravated. I thought I could play at this level and when no one else seemed to think that I just decided to go for my goal and keep on pushing through. West Virginia was the place that gave me a chance to do that.''
And, of course, there was the Schmitt angle. Kovatch knows all about Schmitt. And while he said that the fact that Schmitt played at West Virginia wasn't much of a reason to follow him here, the mere fact that a guy like Schmitt played anywhere at all was huge.
"Owen Schmitt's success story motivated me, sure, but it didn't really have anything to do with why I came here. I came here because they seemed like they wanted me,'' Kovatch said. "But his story did give me some inspiration.''
Kovatch had no Division I-A offers after finishing his career as a fullback and linebacker at Jerome High School in Dublin, Ohio. He could have gone to one or two I-AA schools that liked him or any number of Division II outposts, but he chose to take a chance.
Stewart, for one, is glad he did.
"He's a tough guy who can run and will hit you,'' Stewart said. "With all these press-clipping guys, you have to wonder. There's always an Owen Schmitt out there waiting. Maybe Ricky will be another success story like that. We hope so because that's a good thing. It's good for sports, it's good for America, it's good for everything. Heck, it's good for everyday living.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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Wonders never cease