Not so good. Looks like Harris’ earlier comparisons to Antonio Bryant had more accuracy than he realized. Henry seems to have been challenging WVU Coach Rodriguez’s authority, leaving Rodriguez no choice but to suspend him.
You and I didn’t know that Henry skipped a class last week, reportedly almost immediately after Rodriguez warned him about attending classes.
You and I didn’t know that Henry apparently also missed a weightlifting session, which is akin to just blowing off a practice.
You and I didn’t know that on Saturday morning when the team was supposed to gather for a group photo, Henry showed up an hour late.
The questions remaining are, does he get to play in WVU’s bowl game and will he go pro after the season? Best guess from me, yes to both.
Before Henry was suspended, the Hoopies were last in the Big East (102nd overall) in passing offense. The loss of Henry really hurts the receiving game, unless someone steps up far bigger than previously.
Henry’s absence could deal a crippling blow to the West Virginia offense, which has had little success throwing the ball to anyone other than Henry. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound junior from Belle Chase, La., has 49 receptions for 820 yards and a school record 12 touchdowns this season. No other receiver has more than 15 catches, 200 yards or two touchdowns.
And to make matters worse, the Nos. 2 and 3 receivers on the team are both hobbled. Miquelle Henderson, who has 15 catches for 158 yards, has battled shoulder and rib soreness the past week. And Eddie Jackson, who has 14 receptions for 200 yards, hasn’t played since the first half of the Temple game after spraining a knee.
Jackson has resumed practicing with a brace and Henderson has practiced lightly and Rodriguez hopes both will be able to play Thursday. But after those two, the next wide receivers in catches are Brandon Myles and John Pennington with just six catches each. Charles Hales and Dwayne Thompson, both backup quarterbacks doubling as wideouts, are the only other wide receivers with any catches at all this season — four each.
For the year, Rasheed Marshall has passed for 1610 yards, meaning that Henry was responsible for a little more than half the yardage. Think WVU will be looking to run even more? A team that is 1st in the Big East (5th in the country) in the rushing offense. I’m assuming that Pitt Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhodes understands the what “eight (or even nine) men in the box” means.
In other stories, a WV paper gets around to doing the Rasheed Marshall going home story that the Pittsburgh papers did a few days ago. Another columnist brings up Pitt’s improvement as the season progressed. Improvement on offense, anyways.
A pretty good news and notes around the Big East piece. Kind of depressing to read about the drop in cash and how attendance has dropped. Only WVU has broken 50,000 per game attendance this year.
A match-up story gives a decided edge to WVU. They only give an edge to Pitt on linebackers, special teams and WRs. They give the QB edge to WVU, but I would call that even. They don’t do a coaching match-up.
Final note, WVU is getting serious about protecting its trademarks. Don’t want anyone else trying to use the Mountaineer. Right.
