MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Rasul Douglas, who signed with West Virginia last year in large part because of the recruiting bond forged with Brian Mitchell, felt despondent when the cornerbacks coach left for Virginia Tech in February.
“It was heartbreaking,” Douglas said. “I looked him in his eyes and when he told me he was leaving, we both broke down and cried together.
“He told me I was like his son and if I needed something I could come to him. We still have that relationship.”
A fifth-year senior currently competing for a starting spot, Douglas said Mitchell remains a father figure and the two spoke recently before preseason camp.
Mitchell commanded respect when recruiting the juco All-American at Nassau (N.Y.) Community College.
“No coach kept it real as him,” Douglas said. “He didn’t promise me anything. He said ‘When you walk in there, I’m not giving you nothing.’ He said, ‘I’ve seen you play junior college, but that’s not Division I.’ Every other coach was sort of giving me a dream.”
At age 36, West Virginia’s new cornerbacks coach Blue Adams is 11 years younger than Mitchell and the players have embraced his enthusiasm.
“Coach Blue, he’s a high-energy guy,” Douglas said. “He does all the drills with us, because he always says, ‘You can’t teach it if you can’t do it.’”
WATCH: Rasul Douglas on expectations
Nose tackle contingency: A season-ending injury to backup nose tackle Jaleel Fields has forced WVU to mull options. At nearly 300 pounds, fifth-year defensive end Christian Brown figures he could occasionally slide inside, where he played his first two seasons.
“I’ll do whatever it takes for the team. It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I know the nose technique. I’ve played it in the past, so if them guys need any help I can help.”
Five pounds matter: Mike linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton bulked up this offseason but wasn’t comfortable with the results.
“I went up a little bit, trained at about 240, but I wasn’t moving as fast as I needed to,” he said. “So I ended up going back down to 235.
“When we were doing our testing, my times were pretty good. But when I was out there trying to cover receivers in certain schemes, I felt I wasn’t as fast as I needed to be laterally.”
He shed the five pounds over a period of about two weeks, trying to trim down at a healthy pace under the training staff’s direction.
“I ate a little more greens,” he said, “and was drinking more water instead of Gatorade and juices.”