WVillustrated Wrote:Owen Schmitt Celebrates His Birthday with Morgantown Concert
By Geoff Coyle for wvillustrated.com
Feb. 13, 2011

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - A merchandise booth with t-shirts, sweatshirts and stickers reading “Holy Schmitt” and “Schmitt Happens” is a sure sign that the man himself is nearby.

Owen Schmitt, Philadelphia Eagles fullback and subject of WVU football folklore, sat at a table inside the Morgantown Events Center Saturday night signing autographs on photos, Mountaineers and Eagles apparel and even a guitar modeled after the green-winged Philadelphia helmet.

This wasn’t just an autograph signing for his fans, though. This was Owen celebrating his birthday with hundreds of his closest friends. The birthday bash featured Ryan Dunn from the television show Jack@ss and the Davisson Brothers Band, which has taken Schmitt under its wing for live performances throughout West Virginia.

“About three years ago I met them down at Deep Creek, Maryland,” says Schmitt. “I went in for a beer and they were playing and it was a packed house. They were jamming. It was good music. It was something I had never really heard before and I was like, ‘Man, you guys kick butt.’ Just kind of developed into a relationship after that.”

Schmitt’s love for the state of West Virginia is something he has never tried to hide. A Virginia native, the fullback feels like an adopted son around the people who took him in throughout his time at WVU. He says when his career in the NFL comes to an end, he’d like to settle down in the hills in or around Morgantown and really be able to call it home.

“It’s all in good fun,” he says. “I’m not trying to make a career, just have fun and learn how to play guitar and meet new people, good people. I get to spend time with my buddies and just enjoying coming back. This place is a good place to be from and I’d like to eventually settle down here.”

Before he can call West Virginia home, though, he is focused on buying a home in Philadelphia. After a successful first season with the team, he is looking forward to sticking around the city that took him to his first playoff game earlier this year.

“It’s crazy,” he says of the playoff environment. “[It’s] just a whole different atmosphere. Electricity running through the crowd, you can just feel it in the stadium.”

A third-round selection of the Seattle Seahawks, Schmitt says now that he feels as though his style of play is much better utilized with the Eagles, and his stat line is all you need for proof. He did not have a single carry this season, but totaled 19 receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown. In two seasons with the Seahawks, he only managed 12 catches, 50 yards and one score.

“It was awesome,” says Schmitt. “There were a lot of young guys on the team. I feel like I really mesh with the team well and fit in. They used me and I was allowed to kind of just be me, really, and be the player I am and use my skills to the best that I could. I had a great year. It was fun.”

His third NFL season was exactly what Schmitt needed to revitalize his career after getting waived by Seattle. Now, he just hopes the league owners and players’ association can reach a collective bargaining agreement so he doesn’t have to put the league on hold.

“We really don’t know and we really won’t you,” Schmitt says of the NFL’s future. “It’s up to the owners and the PA and hopefully they can come to something quick and everybody’s going to have to give and take a little bit here on both sides. Hopefully they can work something out and we’ll go from there.”

Should his season get delayed in the negotiations, Schmitt is preparing himself to find other means of gathering income while he waits out the storm.

“I could always do some student teaching on the side or whatnot,” he says. “It won’t be anything out of the ordinary. My buddy Phil works for a landscaping company that I could easily get on."

“Those are just little things that I was like, ‘Okay, if this doesn’t happen I don’t want to sit around for six months waiting. I’ll just do something on the side as long as I have some income coming in.’”

Who knows – maybe he’ll spend some more time on that guitar and set up a tour. Just so long as smashing a guitar against his forehead doesn’t become a part of his routine he should do just fine.