Big East has plenty of offensive stars

By Darrell Laurant | Friday, July 21, 2006 | ( 1 )

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The predicted top offensive players in the Big East this season:

QUARTERBACK
1. BRIAN BROHM, LOUISVILLE. Junior, 6-4, 224, Louisville. The pros love this guy, who has size, smarts, as well as a limber and accurate arm. So accurate, in fact, that he led the Big East and finished second nationally with a 68.8-percent completion percentage. He finished with 2,882 yards passing and 19 touchdowns despite missing the last two games after suffering a knee injury against Syracuse. After an arduous and closely watched rehab, he has been declared fit and ready to pad his records in 2006.

1A. PAT WHITE, WEST VIRGINIA. 6-2, 190, Sophomore, Daphne, AL. A product of the Alabama Gulf Coast, White was heavily recruited by several Southeastern Conference schools -- as a wide receiver. Only West Virginia wanted him to play quarterback, and it turned out to be a brilliant gamble. All White did as a freshman was throw for 828 yards and eight touchdowns, rush for 952 more yards and seven scores, and lead WVU to the Big East title and a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia. In the final regular season game against Pitt, he set a Big East and West Virginia rushing record for quarterbacks, burning the Panthers for 220 overland yards. A first-team Freshman All-America pick by The Sporting News, White is on this year's Maxwell Award watch list.

Honorable Mention: Tyler Palko, Pitt; Matt Bonislawski, Connecticut.

RUNNING BACK
1. MICHAEL BUSH, LOUISVILLE. Senior, 6-3, 247, Louisville. Rushed for 1,143 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2005, leading the Big East in rushing and the nation in scoring -- and that was accomplished while sitting out two games because of a knee injury. A graduate of Male High School in Louisville, Bush is definitely the alpha male of the Cardinals' offense. His best game came in the biggest, an overtime loss to West Virginia, when he scored four times and gained 159 yards. Bush has excellent acceleration for his size and is on the short list of Heisman candidates.

1A. STEVE SLATON, WEST VIRGINIA. 5-10, 190, Levittown, PA. Sophomore. In Slaton's first game for Conwell-Egan High School, he rushed for 270 yards and scored five touchdowns. His first-year debut for West Virginia was similarly explosive -- 1,128 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns in 10 games, three more touchdowns while running for a Sugar Bowl record 204 yards in an upset victory over Georgia. A frightening blend of speed and balance, with surprising strength for his size, Slaton also scored six touchdowns against Louisville and four versus Cincinnati.

Honorable Mention: Ray Rice, Rutgers, Terry Caulley, Connecticut.

FULLBACK
1. BRIAN LEONARD, RUTGERS. Sr, 6-3, 220, Gouverneur, NY. A lot of recruiters found Leonard even in the wilds of Upstate New York's North Country, but he decided to follow brother Nate to Rutgers because he wanted to be part of building a program. Last year, Rutgers went 7-4 and played in the Insight.com Bowl, but Leonard turned down the NFL to come back for a final season. Arguably the best at his position in the country, he led the Scarlet Knights in scoring with 102 points in 2005, rushing for 740 yards and 11 touchdowns and catching 55 passes for 568 more yards and three scores. When he wasn't handling the ball, he was dealing crushing blocks on behalf of backfield mate Ray Rice, prompting Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline to write: "He (Leonard) takes on tacklers like they're breaking into his house."

2. OWEN SCHMITT, WEST VIRGINIA. Junior, 6-3, 250, Fairfax, VA. West Virginia's version of Larry Csonka, Schmitt transferred there after a season at Division III Wisconsin-River Falls. The prototype fullback, he can block (seven knockdowns against Lousville), run (380 rushing yards, including 80 against Maryland, 82 more in the Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia) and catch passes. He should make a lot of highlight reels as the lead blocker for Slaton and White.

Honorable Mention: Deriontae Taylor, Louisville; Conredge Collins, Pitt; Doug Jones, Cincinnati.

WIDE RECEIVERS
1. MARIO URRUTIA, LOUISVILLE. Sophomore, 6-6, 220, Louisville. The scary thing about this second-year player is that he's still improving. Big and fast, Urrutia was second-team All-Big East and an honorable mention Sporting News All-American as a freshman. Looming over most of the DB's who tried to cover him, he caught 37 passes for 797 yards, including three 100-yard games in a row, and provides an excellent target for Brian Brohm over the middle.

2. SHAUN TUCKER, RUTGERS. Senior, 6-2, 200, Parkland, FL. Thus far in his career, Tucker has been overshadowed by Tres Moses, now with the Baltimore Ravens. This time around, it's his turn to shine; He has the size and quickness to add another dimension to the Scarlet Knights' run-oriented offense. As a writer for Fox Sports.net put it: "Tucker has been very good -- now, he has to be great."

Honorable Mention: Brandon Myles, West Virginia; Harry Douglas, Louisville; Amarri Jackson, South Florida; Derek Kinder, Pitt, Rice Moss, Syracuse.

TIGHT END
1. CLARK HARRIS, RUTGERS. Senior, 6-6, 255, Manahwkin, NJ. Any quarterback who can't find this guy over the middle or in the end zone probably needs an immediate eye examination. Besides his bulk, Harris also owns a pair of soft hands and has worked hard to improve his blocking -- all reasons why he's made a couple of preseason All-American teams. Harris pulled in 38 passes for 584 yards last season.

2. BRENT CELEK, Cincinnati. Senior, 6-4, 260, Cincinnati. Rated as the No. 19 tight end in the country by The Sporting News, Celek should rewrite all of his school's tight end receiving records by the time he leaves. Last season, he caught 32 passes for 363 yards and seven touchdowns, including six catches for 73 yards in the most challenging game --- against Penn State. As a sophomore, he scored eight touchdowns to set a UC record for his position.

Honorable Mention: Gary Barnidge, Louisville.

OFFENSIVE GUARD
1. JEREMY SHEFFEY, WEST VIRGINIA. Sr, 6-3, 290, Catlettsburg, KY. A three-year starter, Sheffey has continued to improve since being picked as a first-team Freshman All-American by several national publications in 2003. The author of seven knockdown blocks against Louisville, he was a second-team All-Big East choice in 2005.

2. RYAN STANCHEK, WEST VIRGINIA. Sophomore, 6-4, 280, Cincinnati. Moved into the starting lineup after four games last season, he came on to become one of the best O-linemen in the Big East as a rookie. A dominating run blocker, he had nine knockdowns against Lousivlle and eight versus Cincinnati.

Honorable Mention: C.J. Davis, Pitt, Kurt Quarterman, Louisville.

OFFENSIVE TACKLE
1. PEDRO SOSA, RUTGERS. Junior, 6-5, 200, Union City, NJ. A tough kid from North Jersey, Sosa was selected by Athlon as the top pass blocker in the Big East this season. A lot of that comes from his unusually large wingspan, which serves to ward off blitzers.

2. MIKE McGLYNN, Pitt. Junior, 6-5, 325, Austintown, OH. Pitt OL coach Paul Dunn says of McGlynn: "Mike is the kind of kid you can build a team around. He's a throwback guy." Also the long snapper for the Panthers, McGlynn went both ways in high school and brought an aggressive defensive line mentality to the other side of the ball.

Honorable Mention: Jeremy Zuttah, Rutgers; Jeff Otah, Pitt.

CENTER
1. DAN MOZES, WEST VIRGINIA. Sr., 6-4, 290, Washington, PA. A strong contender for the Rimington Award given to the nation's best center, Mozes was also a finalist for that honor in 2005. Moved to center early in 2005, he was a preseason All-American choice from Playboy this season, and has emerged as the leader of a young but talented team.

2. ERIC WOOD, LOUISVILLE. Sophomore, 6-4, 296, Cincinnati. A Freshman All-American last year, this homegrown player is also on the Rimington and Outland award watch lists. He stepped in as an immediate starter out of Elder High School and anchored a Cardinal O-line that was in flux. Interestingly, he and Big East rival Mozes are the only ones left from last year's Rimington Award finalists.

Honorable Mention: Joe Villani, Pitt: Darnell Stapleton, Rutgers; Justin Outten, Syracuse.

PLACE-KICKER
1. ART CARMODY, LOUISVILLE. Junior, 5-8, 181, Shreveport, LA. Carmody comes into 2006 on a roll -- 13 straight field goals and 77 PAT's in a row (an NCAA record). He set a school record by kicking four field goals against Pitt last season.

Honorable Mention: Jeremy Ito, Rutgers; Pat McAfee, West Virginia.

- Get more info on the Big East and college football in general at Realfootball365.com

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