MORGANTOWN - If there's one thing Reed Williams has always been, above everything else, it's a team player.

OK, so maybe that sounds corny, but it's also true. You want somebody toeing the company line, Williams is your guy. You will never, ever hear a peep of dissension or a hint of rebellion from West Virginia's fifth-year senior middle linebacker.

Until this week, that is, when he openly and brazenly disagreed with his head coach, Bill Stewart.

Not that Stewart minds, though. After all, it wasn't exactly mutiny.

But at the beginning of the week, Stewart admitted that he had pretty much lost any hope that Williams would ever fully recover from all that ails him. Oh, he will continue to play when he can and for as long as he can as West Virginia goes through the final four games of the season.

But every down?

"Reed is not going to be an 80-play guy,'' Stewart said. "Will he play? Yes he will play. And he played very well [during limited action during Friday's 30-19 loss at South Florida].

"We'd sure like to have Reed in there for 80 plays or however many plays we have to play in any ballgame, but I don't think Reed will ever play a complete, every-play game again this year.''

Then again . . .

"No. I have confidence I can finish a game,'' Williams said when asked if he agreed with Stewart's assessment of his health. "It's a tough sport. You have to play through it. You might have to tie me down or rip my legs off, but I'm going to be out there as much as I can.''

So far, Williams' second senior season has not gone the way he planned, much as his first did not. He sat out most of last year after having surgery on both shoulders in the winter of 2008 and then tried it again this year, using his medical redshirt.

OK, so maybe that sounds corny, but it's also true. You want somebody toeing the company line, Williams is your guy. You will never, ever hear a peep of dissension or a hint of rebellion from West Virginia's fifth-year senior middle linebacker.

Until this week, that is, when he openly and brazenly disagreed with his head coach, Bill Stewart.

Not that Stewart minds, though. After all, it wasn't exactly mutiny.

But at the beginning of the week, Stewart admitted that he had pretty much lost any hope that Williams would ever fully recover from all that ails him. Oh, he will continue to play when he can and for as long as he can as West Virginia goes through the final four games of the season.

But every down?

"Reed is not going to be an 80-play guy,'' Stewart said. "Will he play? Yes he will play. And he played very well [during limited action during Friday's 30-19 loss at South Florida].

"We'd sure like to have Reed in there for 80 plays or however many plays we have to play in any ballgame, but I don't think Reed will ever play a complete, every-play game again this year.''

Then again . . .

"No. I have confidence I can finish a game,'' Williams said when asked if he agreed with Stewart's assessment of his health. "It's a tough sport. You have to play through it. You might have to tie me down or rip my legs off, but I'm going to be out there as much as I can.''

So far, Williams' second senior season has not gone the way he planned, much as his first did not. He sat out most of last year after having surgery on both shoulders in the winter of 2008 and then tried it again this year, using his medical redshirt.

But while Williams has played in seven of eight games this season, he's been a full-time guy only on occasion. A combination of injuries that includes turf toe, a bad foot, a whip to his leg and recurring soreness in his shoulders has made his participation each week almost a hit-or-miss proposition.

"It's all just something you have to learn to play through,'' Williams said. "Good players go out and play through every injury.''

The shoulders have been perhaps the biggest problem lately. There was a question if he'd be able to play at all against USF, and he didn't start. But he played.

It took a strategy cooked up by Williams and the trainers and defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel to make it happen. Essentially Williams started out playing on third downs or passing downs, the ones where he was less likely to have to get down and dirty, fighting off linemen or tight ends and finding a ball carrier. As the game wore on he played a few second downs, and by the end was taking more snaps than he expected.

The idea is to get as many plays out of him as possible without exposing him to getting worked over and lost for the season. It's a delicate balance.

"It's basically trying to limit my reps and give my body a break,'' Williams said. "You wish you could put the season on pause, but you can't. I bought myself a little bit of time for this week and now my body feels much better.''

"What he needs is a couple of weeks off to rest,'' Stewart said. "But we don't have a couple of weeks, that's all.''

For his part, Williams tries to take it all in stride. He points to five years of college football and says simply that it "wears on your body.'' He feels good one day, the next day not so much.

"I'll play when I can,'' Williams said. "But it's going to be hard to keep me off the field for the next four games. I don't have many left so I'm going to take full advantage.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.