MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For a few snaps Saturday evening, he felt transported back to Hopewell High School.
Rushel Shell dotting the I-formation? This was throwback football, with the quarterback under center, fullback in ramming mode and Shell churning for the first down.
Having devised personnel advantages through diamond formations, twin stacked receivers and five-wide sets, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen finished off a 34-10 win over TCU by returning to vintage concepts. Shell responded with a 117-yard performance on 24 carries, third-most in his college career.
“That’s where I made a name for myself in high school, the I formation,” Shell said. “I feel like I can see everything that’s going on, so it’s easier for me to read stuff and make the right cut.”
The fifth-year senior, despite absorbing a painful helmet to his thigh, plugged along in his role as featured back, accounting for 10 of the Mountaineers’ 25 first downs. His persistence made all the more crucial by Justin Crawford’s inability to push off a sprained ankle and Kennedy McKoy’s struggles with a tender shoulder.
“I’ve been practicing my butt off from Tuesday to Friday and I feel like it’s translating on the field,” said Shell, who emerged in 2011 as Pennsylvania’s all-time prep rushing king but has yet to produce a 1,000-yard season in college. (Don’t look now but his current pace extrapolated over a 13-game schedule would give him 1,001.)
Regarding those midweek work habits, West Virginia running backs Ja’Juan Seider can confirm.
“If you guys would’ve seen Rushel practice this week, you’d understand why he played the way he did. He really turned it on.”
Shell has taken heat from fans over aspects he can’t control (a lack of breakaway speed) and heat from coaches over facets he can (too many jump-cuts instead of running downhill). Most of those criticisms sound distant after back-to-back 100-yard games factored heavily into the Mountaineers’ 6-0 start and a No. 10 ranking.
“He’s one of the team’s favorite guys, he’s one of the coaches’ favorite guys and he’s probably becoming one of the crowd’s favorite guys,” said coach Dana Holgorsen.
“He played a hell of a game. He has finally stopped worrying about living up to everybody else’s expectations and now he’s just living up to Rushel’s expectations.”
While game-planning for TCU, Seider didn’t let Crawford and McKoy’s injuries stop him from lobbying Holgorsen to lean on Shell and the running game.
“I don’t think (TCU) was as strong up the middle between the nose and the three technique as they have been. They’re more built to get after the passer,” Seider said. “We knew if we came off the ball we could back them guys up. I told Dana on Monday night if we can’t run the ball on this team then we don’t need to win this game.”
The challenge resonated with a mostly-veteran offensive line that Shell has embraced the philosophy of “just getting our knuckles bloody.” The offense converted 5-of-6 third-and-short situations against TCU, and Shell took a swing pass to the marker on third-and-7 after juking away fro the Frogs’ leading tackler Travin Howard.
“He played a hell of a game,” Seider said. “I’m so proud of that kid. We were all nicked up — I didn’t even think I was going to have Rushel in the fourth quarter, but he gutted it out.
“He has finally stopped worrying about living up to everybody else’s expectations and now he’s just living up to Rushel’s expectations, which means being the kind of football player we know he can be.”