Miller excited about all WVU athletics

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May 15, 2010

By BRIAN WOODSON Bluefield Daily Telegraph The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Sat May 15, 2010, 05:00 AM EDT

BLUEFIELD — Frazier Miller knows West Virginia sports, and especially Mountaineer football.

Miller and the Mercer County branch of the Mountaineer Athletic Club will welcome the annual Coaches Caravan into Bluefield on Wednesday at the Bluefield Elks Club.

Needless to say, with the spring sports season winding down across the country, thoughts are turning to college football.

Miller is excited about a club that returns a significant part of last year’s 9-4 squad that lost to Florida State in the Gator Bowl.

“We’ve got a good team this year, we’ve got a good solid first and second team,” Miller said. “For example, on our defensive line we’ve got all returners back and we’ve got backups for both defense and offensive lines — not quite as strong on offense — and we’ve got the running backs, we’ve got the little guy (Noel Devine).”

The biggest question is quarterback where oft-injured Geno Smith is expected to take the reins from departed Jarrett Brown.

However, Coley White — the brother of former WVU star Pat White — played well in the spring with Smith out with a broken foot.

“The big surprise is Coley White, they were all set to make him a receiver,” Miller said. “If Smith was to go down, he would have to go in there, that is the way Pat got his chance.”

The ‘Eers also brought in a pair of highly-touted recruits, including Barry Brunetti from Memphis, and Texas product Jeremy Johnson.

Depth, not only at quarterback, but in other positions is definitely a concern for the Mountaineers. West Virginia opens the 2010 campaign by hosting Coastal Carolina on Sept. 4.

“I think they’re going to have a good team, I really do, they’ve got the players,” Miller said. “They are thin in some positions and they are using people at double positions, but their starters are good. They are backed up with good talent in certain positions.

“You’ve got Brunetti and Johnson, and those are all five star (athletes). You’ve got Smith and you’ve got Coley, that is going to be a real battle, they’re just throw all those in there and we’ll see how it comes out.”

While West Virginia has developed the reputation of being a football school in recent years, another sport enveloped Mountaineer fans in 2010, that being the basketball program for the men and the women.

That isn’t a new trend, hoops has always been big in Morgantown.

“Going back I would say they are about equal,” Miller said.

Miller credits much of the success West Virginia is now having under men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins and football coach Bill Stewart to former WVU mentors, hoops coach Gale Catlett, and football coach Don Nehlen.

“You had Gale Catlett and he would win some and lose some, and at that particular time in football, we would win some and we would lose some.” Miller said. “We really began to move up in football under Don Nehlen, he did a great job up there and put us on the map, he did a great job.”

While those are the two sports that get the most attention for most any college athletic program, Miller said the MAC doesn’t forget about the others.

After all, the monies raised from Wednesday’s caravan will go to WVU athletics, and not just to the ‘big two.’

‘The big train is football and basketball, but we love the soccer up there too, soccer and baseball,” Miller said. “They play good sports.”

Tickets — at a cost of $65 — are still available for Wednesday’s event. A social time will begin at 6 p.m. with the program starting at 7. Stewart, assistant men’s basketball coach Erik Martin and ultra-successful gymnastics coach Linda Burnette will be among the six WVU representatives present for the proceedings.

For more information, call (304) 887-3190 or (276) 322-0109, or tickets can be purchased at Appalachian Engineering in Bluefield, and in Princeton at First Community Bank and Cheap Thrills.

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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Miller excited about all WVU athletics

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