West Virginia NFL draft profile: Darius Reynaud

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, February 28, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

West Virginia Mountaineers
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A pretty decent case could be made for West Virginia receiver Darius Reynaud as one of the most underrated players in the Big East last football season.

Not that Reynaud was exactly flying under the radar. He caught 64 passes (fourth best in Mountaineer history) for 733 yards and 12 touchdowns, and scored on a reverse and a pass reception in the 48-28 rout of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. He also amassed 211 yards on eight kickoff returns.

Still, most of the attention during WVU's league championship season was focused on the backfield triumvirate of Pat White, Steve Slaton and Owen Schmitt, with Noel Devine occasionally shoving his way into the spotlight.

Without Reynaud, however, there would have been no deep threat. Without a deep threat, opposing teams would have concentrated more on stopping the run. Without the leeway to run, quarterback White would have been hemmed in. And without White as a threat on the outside, the same holes wouldn't have opened up for Schmitt as well as Slaton and Devine inside.

Now, the decision of Reynaud to bypass a final year of college eligibility for the NFL leaves a gaping hole in the Mountaineer offensive game plan.

A product of Luling, La., Reynaud has decent speed (in the 4.4 range), toughness and strength (20 bench-press reps at last week's NFL Scouting Combine). He also placed fourth among wide receivers in Indianapolis in the vertical leap and third in the long jump.

The knock on him has always been his 5-foot-10 altitude, but that hasn't stopped Reynaud from grabbing almost everything thrown in his direction. At 200 pounds, he was also one of the most physical receivers in the Big East.

Reynaud's decision to turn pro was, he said, a pragmatic one. He and his longtime girlfriend have a 2-year-old daughter together, and Reynaud told the Charleston Daily Mail: "I have to feed my daughter. Every time I step onto the field, that's my motivation."
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