MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — An uncharacteristic 2-8 football season in 2015 has set the stage for a potential bounce-back year at University.
The Hawks went into last year having lost 18 seniors and 89 percent of its offensive production from 2014. That meant sophomores and freshmen were put into key positions last season, taking several lumps along the way, but gaining valuable experience for 2016.
“So far, it’s payed off well,” said University coach John Kelley. “We didn’t have a senior on our 7-on-7 team and we did very well there. We have a better attitude, better discipline and a group of kids that are older. I think we’re going to be a very improved team.”
Some of that improvement came throughout the course of 2015 as University won two of its final three games following an 0-7 start.
“I look at the last three games and say that we won two of them and played right with Morgantown well into the third quarter before it was decided,” Kelley said. “We played six playoff teams last year with a young group. The frustration of last year was simply that we had 14 year old freshmen out there that you have to watch go through a very painful learning experience.
“You’re thinking you need to substitute for them, but then look around and you have no one to sub – you had to let them take their lumps, and it wasn’t a very positive thing for them,” he continued. “This year, they have a lot better attitude, we got rid of some negativity and I think we’ll not only be improved on the field, but with (the positivity) alone, we can win close games.”
The maturation process includes quarterback Clay Bailey who returns for his junior season and has taken significant strides since the beginning of last year.
“He is 100 times better,” Kelley said. “He was one of those little kids playing against 18 year old big boys and had no business out there. But I had 10 seniors last year and only five of them actually played or contributed.
“A lot of times if you play a kid too early, it ruins them,” Kelley continued. “But these guys have really got in the weight room, done what they’re supposed to do and they’re gelling. Everything is just better.”
Along with Bailey, 6-foot-2, 268 pound physical fullback (and linebacker) Isaiah Utt returns for his senior season. Junior Robert Sanders will get significant carries at tailback, while 6-foot-1, 185 pound sophomore Amir Richardson has impressed in the offseason and should emerge as one of the top receiving threats for the Hawks.
“I think we have a tremendous receiving core,” Kelley said. “We’ll have a dynamic running back with Sanders and Utt in front of him. We have some good lineman, including Josh Richie who moved in from Ravenswood.
“One of the things we have to address is defensively,” he continued. “We didn’t tackle well last year – we didn’t tackle well in the open field and we gave up too many big plays.”
University opens up the year with games at John Marshall and Parkersburg South, and then hosts Brooke in week three. All three of those teams enter 2016 having sustained significant graduation losses from a season ago.
“Last year, we were the team that lost 18 seniors,” Kelley said. “John Marshall last year had over 20 seniors, Brooke had 18 seniors, Parkersburg South had over 20 seniors – those people have all graduated. Now, we’re the up and coming team and everyone else is down a little bit.
“I think we have our schedule a little bit better, picking up Buckhannon-Upshur and Hampshire, we don’t have to make any long trips over to the eastern panhandle or down to Logan,” Kelley said. “I think that will help quite a bit too.”