WVU's Mecksroth was 'more of a Marshall fan'

Mickey Furfari
For the Daily Mail
Tuesday July 04, 2006

http://www.dailymail.com/news/Sports/200607047/

MORGANTOWN -- No one on West Virginia University's football team could be more excited about the Sept. 2 opener against Marshall than Aaron Meckstroth.

That's because the 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior is the only current Mountaineer player from Huntington, and both of his parents are Marshall graduates.

"I was more of a Marshall fan than a West Virginia fan when they last played in 1997," Meckstroth said. "Of course, now I'm strictly a WVU fan.

"I'm so excited. I can hardly wait to play in that game."

He was invited to walk on at both schools after graduating from Spring Valley High in 2002.

"I decided to come here because I didn't want to be so close to home," Meckstroth explained. "Marshall's campus is, like, five minutes from my house.

"So, I had to get away and I liked the program here. I liked the coaches and the players. They made me feel at home."

While he grew up rooting for the Thundering Herd, he enjoyed getting into a recruiting process that included WVU.

"It was a hard decision," he admitted. "But I feel I made the right choice coming up here."

His father, Rick, is not a Huntington native. He went to high school in Cincinnati, but came to Marshall on a football scholarship.

In fact, the elder Meckstroth was a sophomore middle linebacker on the 1971 team, a year after the tragic airplane crash that killed all 75 aboard.

He didn't make that fateful trip to East Carolina in 1970 because frosh weren't eligible.

Meckstroth eventually settled in Huntington and, now, owns a construction business there. He also has a small role in the movie, "We Are Marshall," which hits the screen this fall. That commemorates the terrible tragedy.

"I think my father was just in the backdrop," Aaron said. "He went to Georgia a couple weeks ago for the movie's final shoot."

The youngster earned a letter last season as a reserve strong safety, that also performed on special teams.

He was credited with making just three tackles. But he received the "hammer award" for a key play in the 46-44 triple-overtime conquest of Louisville.

Meckstroth put a jolting block on a Louisville player on an onside kick in the fourth quarter, allowing Thandi Smith to catch Pat McAfee's bloop kick.

"I was told to block the guy," he recalled. "So that's what I did. The officials said it was legal. The guy kind of went in, cut back and then was going for the ball."

That turned out to be one of the most significant blocks of the year for WVU.

"I figured when I came to WVU that the Marshall series had a good chance of being resumed," Meckstroth said. "I didn't know whether it'd be my last year or the year after I'm done.

"I'm glad it happened this way. A lot of my friends go to Marshall. It's going to be exciting."