MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In the first half of his first college game, West Virginia’s Adam Shuler knocked loose a fumble. He finished that victory over Missouri with six tackles, including one on which he chased a receiver for a crushing hit 10 yards downfield.
A backup at defensive end, Shuler made 33 tackles as a redshirt freshman, recording his lone sack against Baylor and making his lone start at Texas in Week 9 while Noble Nwachukwu was injured.
Though West Virginia hung on to win in Austin, the Longhorns piled up 536 yards on 100 plays and forced Shuler to realize how far he had to go to earn a permanent starting job.
“In that game at Texas, it hit me that I need to get right,” he said Friday. “I wasn’t using my hands and I wasn’t getting in my gaps. But I’m way more advanced now.”
At 6-foot-4, 280 pounds, long-armed and regarded as the Mountaineers’ best pass rusher entering 2017, Shuler credited defensive line coach Bruce Tall’s use of video cutups to teach technique.
“I had to learn to deal with all different types of offensive linemen,” he said. “You’ve got to deal not just with their first moves but their countermoves.”
Cajuste lauds McKivitz
When the Mountaineers lost left tackle Yodny Cajuste to a torn ACL in the 2016 opener, freshman Colton McKivitz salvaged the line from what could have been a debilitating scenario.
“Colton was rushed onto the spot, but he showed everybody. He proved everybody wrong, all the doubters,” Cajuste said. “He played exceptionally well and that helped him out a lot. It also helped me out a lot just from watching him.”
Now that Cajuste is healthy again, McKivitz is serving as a bookend at right tackle.
Camp softens up
The NCAA’s ban on two-a-days — and its less taxing stance on preseason camp overall — suits senior offensive lineman Kyle Bosch.
“When I was a freshman at Michigan, we were locked in a Marriott for 28 straight days and we weren’t allowed to leave unless we were going to the stadium,” he said. “This is definitely a little bit more laissez faire and I think it’s much better for the older guys.”
Midway through his third camp at West Virginia, Bosch initially was shocked to learn the players were given Saturday off.
“It’s an actual off day, and that’s the first off day in the history of any camp I’ve ever known,” he said. “It’s like the Fourth of July for me.
“I’ll just sit down, pop on a movie or pop on some TV, and I don’t leave there unless I’m going to eat or going to the restroom. It’s about getting your body back and getting your legs fresh for the next day.”
McKoy’s hair draws double-takes
Kennedy McKoy felt like doing “something spontaneous” this summer when he dyed his dreads blue-and-gold, and was spontaneously nicknamed “Popsicle” by fellow running back Justin Crawford.
That was just the start, though.
“The whole team called me all types of names, like Fruit Loop and Fruit Roll-up,” McKoy said. “But I’m cool with it because I like to make people laugh and smile.”