MORGANTOWN - Tonight's Gold-Blue scrimmage at Mountaineer Field figures to give fans a glimpse of what West Virginia's 2010 football team will look like. But it will in no way resemble the finished product.
MORGANTOWN - Tonight's Gold-Blue scrimmage at Mountaineer Field figures to give fans a glimpse of what West Virginia's 2010 football team will look like. But it will in no way resemble the finished product.
That's because the most important player to the Mountaineers' offense and perhaps two of the best players on defense won't see the field. Subtract Geno Smith, Scooter Berry and maybe J.T. Thomas and this becomes a very different football team.
Berry hasn't practiced all spring after having surgery to repair an injured shoulder. Thomas hasn't been in contact drills for more than a week because of a neck injury and the WVU coaches aren't likely to allow him to play, either.
But the real missing link will be Smith, who has practiced in skeleton drills throughout the previous 14 spring practices but hasn't taken a snap in live action while he protects the broken bone in his foot he suffered in January. He won't play at all.
Still, the spring has not been a total loss for the sophomore, who is unquestionably being groomed as the starting quarterback for next season. Quite the contrary, in fact.
"I think I developed a lot, just becoming more of a leader out there on the field,'' Smith said after what amounted to his final practice on Wednesday. "We all knew it was a big spring for me and then I got injured. The guys really wanted to see how I responded to my injury and I thought it went well.''
Indeed, perhaps the most pleasant thing to come out of West Virginia's spring practices has been the poise, the leadership and the sharpness of Smith. Routinely, he took every snap in skeleton drills where backs and receivers run plays against linebackers and defensive backs without any line play. Smith's decisions have been solid all spring, and his passes quick and crisp.
Still, all of that was done without the mayhem that can occur when adding 300-pound offensive and defensive linemen to the mix.
Smith said after Wednesday's practice that he would have no problem playing in a game, but why take the chance?
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Spring hasn't been total wash for injured Smith
MORGANTOWN - Tonight's Gold-Blue scrimmage at Mountaineer Field figures to give fans a glimpse of what West Virginia's 2010 football team will look like. But it will in no way resemble the finished product.
That's because the most important player to the Mountaineers' offense and perhaps two of the best players on defense won't see the field. Subtract Geno Smith, Scooter Berry and maybe J.T. Thomas and this becomes a very different football team.
Berry hasn't practiced all spring after having surgery to repair an injured shoulder. Thomas hasn't been in contact drills for more than a week because of a neck injury and the WVU coaches aren't likely to allow him to play, either.
But the real missing link will be Smith, who has practiced in skeleton drills throughout the previous 14 spring practices but hasn't taken a snap in live action while he protects the broken bone in his foot he suffered in January. He won't play at all.
Still, the spring has not been a total loss for the sophomore, who is unquestionably being groomed as the starting quarterback for next season. Quite the contrary, in fact.
"I think I developed a lot, just becoming more of a leader out there on the field,'' Smith said after what amounted to his final practice on Wednesday. "We all knew it was a big spring for me and then I got injured. The guys really wanted to see how I responded to my injury and I thought it went well.''
Indeed, perhaps the most pleasant thing to come out of West Virginia's spring practices has been the poise, the leadership and the sharpness of Smith. Routinely, he took every snap in skeleton drills where backs and receivers run plays against linebackers and defensive backs without any line play. Smith's decisions have been solid all spring, and his passes quick and crisp.
Still, all of that was done without the mayhem that can occur when adding 300-pound offensive and defensive linemen to the mix.
Smith said after Wednesday's practice that he would have no problem playing in a game, but why take the chance?
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MORGANTOWN - Tonight's Gold-Blue scrimmage at Mountaineer Field figures to give fans a glimpse of what West Virginia's 2010 football team will look like. But it will in no way resemble the finished product.
That's because the most important player to the Mountaineers' offense and perhaps two of the best players on defense won't see the field. Subtract Geno Smith, Scooter Berry and maybe J.T. Thomas and this becomes a very different football team.
Berry hasn't practiced all spring after having surgery to repair an injured shoulder. Thomas hasn't been in contact drills for more than a week because of a neck injury and the WVU coaches aren't likely to allow him to play, either.
But the real missing link will be Smith, who has practiced in skeleton drills throughout the previous 14 spring practices but hasn't taken a snap in live action while he protects the broken bone in his foot he suffered in January. He won't play at all.
Still, the spring has not been a total loss for the sophomore, who is unquestionably being groomed as the starting quarterback for next season. Quite the contrary, in fact.
"I think I developed a lot, just becoming more of a leader out there on the field,'' Smith said after what amounted to his final practice on Wednesday. "We all knew it was a big spring for me and then I got injured. The guys really wanted to see how I responded to my injury and I thought it went well.''
Indeed, perhaps the most pleasant thing to come out of West Virginia's spring practices has been the poise, the leadership and the sharpness of Smith. Routinely, he took every snap in skeleton drills where backs and receivers run plays against linebackers and defensive backs without any line play. Smith's decisions have been solid all spring, and his passes quick and crisp.
Still, all of that was done without the mayhem that can occur when adding 300-pound offensive and defensive linemen to the mix.
Smith said after Wednesday's practice that he would have no problem playing in a game, but why take the chance?
"I would [feel comfortable]. But I'm trying not to rush anything,'' Smith said. "I'm just trying to do whatever's best for the team. The coaches and the trainers have come to an agreement that it's best for me not to play, and they have my best interests at heart.
"I don't think I'd be rushing it. But I'm not going to play so I'm not even going to think about it.''
Without Smith available, the onus falls on sophomore Coley White to take snaps for both the Blue (starters) and Gold (reserves) teams in tonight's public scrimmage, which begins at 7 p.m. with an old-timers game (the scrimmage itself will begin at about 7:25 p.m.).
White went into the spring knowing that he would take most of the live snaps at quarterback, but also hoping to get some work at wide receiver. That didn't pan out and now, after spending the entire spring at quarterback, White isn't sure what will happen with his experiment at receiver.
"I'm not even thinking about that right now,'' White said. "I have one more practice left and that's all I'm thinking about right now.''
As for Smith, he will stand on the sideline and watch, even though he could probably play and stay safe from injury.
"If it was a regular-season game, I would definitely play,'' Smith said.
This article is available only to our premium digital content subscribers.
Spring hasn't been total wash for injured Smith
MORGANTOWN - Tonight's Gold-Blue scrimmage at Mountaineer Field figures to give fans a glimpse of what West Virginia's 2010 football team will look like. But it will in no way resemble the finished product.
That's because the most important player to the Mountaineers' offense and perhaps two of the best players on defense won't see the field. Subtract Geno Smith, Scooter Berry and maybe J.T. Thomas and this becomes a very different football team.
Berry hasn't practiced all spring after having surgery to repair an injured shoulder. Thomas hasn't been in contact drills for more than a week because of a neck injury and the WVU coaches aren't likely to allow him to play, either.
But the real missing link will be Smith, who has practiced in skeleton drills throughout the previous 14 spring practices but hasn't taken a snap in live action while he protects the broken bone in his foot he suffered in January. He won't play at all.
Still, the spring has not been a total loss for the sophomore, who is unquestionably being groomed as the starting quarterback for next season. Quite the contrary, in fact.
"I think I developed a lot, just becoming more of a leader out there on the field,'' Smith said after what amounted to his final practice on Wednesday. "We all knew it was a big spring for me and then I got injured. The guys really wanted to see how I responded to my injury and I thought it went well.''
Indeed, perhaps the most pleasant thing to come out of West Virginia's spring practices has been the poise, the leadership and the sharpness of Smith. Routinely, he took every snap in skeleton drills where backs and receivers run plays against linebackers and defensive backs without any line play. Smith's decisions have been solid all spring, and his passes quick and crisp.
Still, all of that was done without the mayhem that can occur when adding 300-pound offensive and defensive linemen to the mix.
Smith said after Wednesday's practice that he would have no problem playing in a game, but why take the chance?
