CSNbbs

It's good to see Owen getting the recognition he truly deserves. Now there is a player who comes with his lunch bucket.

Charleston Daily Mail Wrote:WVU fullback is a throwback at the position
By Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sportswriter
August 23, 2007

http://www.dailymail.com/story/Sports/WV...2007082346


Courtesy photo
West Virginia University’s 6-foot-3, 250-pound fullback Owen Schmitt is just as hard-nosed and iron-jawed as his profile suggests.

MORGANTOWN -- Steve Slaton, Patrick White and even Ryan Stanchek or Keilen Dykes had their choice of All-Pro or Hall of Fame players to emulate and idolize on the way to playing football at West Virginia University.

It was easy for them to find a hero on any given Sunday. Quarterbacks controlled game-winning drives and running backs made up much of the highlight reel. Commentator John Madden circled offensive linemen on his telestrator and defensive linemen sacked the quarterback.

What, though, for a fullback?

"I don't know if there are as many as there used to be, a true fullback who will block, stick his face on someone as hard as he can and run through the block," Mountaineers Coach Rich Rodriguez said. "That's a rare commodity.

"That's old school. I think everybody thinks they have some of them, but do they have a guy like we have?"

WVU has one that arguably is better than all the rest in senior Owen Schmitt.

ESPN.com picked him as its preseason All-America player at the position. That's noteworthy not just because of the honor, but because virtually nobody sets aside a spot for the fullback these days.

"It's not really a position people use anymore," Schmitt said. "The game is changing. People still use it, but when you look at things now, it's more like speed is the game."

This is what makes Schmitt such a unique presence. He combines the brute force of a fullback with the grace of a tailback. He's a 6-foot-3, 250-pounder who can hurdle a would be-tackler as easily as he can level a defender.

Among current or recent players, Schmitt admires Tampa Bay Buccaneers' star Mike Alstott the most with a more traditional fullback like Green Bay's William Henderson also on his radar.

Schmitt goes even further back to better illustrate his style, bringing up names like John Riggins or Larry Csonka.

"I kind of like the way they run," said Schmitt, who plays the Riggins part with his mohawk. "There's not a lot of guys who run like that anymore."

In fact, it's unlikely many of Schmitt's peers even know of Csonka.

"I don't know about that," Schmitt said. "He did host ‘American Gladiators.' ''

That's the dilemma. Schmitt respects a player at a lost position from a lost age of football, a name remembered better now for the show he hosted on Saturday mornings than for the way he played on Sundays.

Schmitt is indeed more like the players of the past than players of the present. He's more like Riggins dragging a defender into the end zone than Barry Sanders juking a defender to the ground.

"Those guys were big tailbacks, but because they were 250 pounds, they got labeled as a fullback," Rodriguez said of Riggins, Csonka and others cut from the same granite. "Essentially, they were tailbacks and that's what Owen has basically been most of the time.

"Sometimes he's been a lead blocker, but mostly he's been a bigger tailback when we've had a big tailback and a smaller tailback."

There is no doubting Schmitt's skill. He understands blocking and how to inflict punishment, perhaps because he always has been a physical player.

"In high school, when I ran the ball I'd actually run at a person," he said. "I don't know why I would, but I'd see someone and run at them. It's what I've been taught. Don't be a wuss. Go hit someone."

Yet, that's just a small part of who he is and how he plays. To call him a fullback is to limit his ability. That's why he has learned to play tight end for this season.

"He has some natural skills as far as being able to cut and have soft hands," Rodriguez said. "That's why we're trying to do some things to get him more time."