Schmitt happens

[Atlas]

Owen Schmitt

Is it time Denver drafts a true smash mouth FB? I think Denver could really, really use this guy. A good character, hard working overachiever. The kind of person who is a good lockeroom guy plus he would be a 260 lb roadgrater that would put some LBers on their asses.

Strengths:
Has good size and a solid frame...Really tough, strong and powerful...Outstanding blocker...Runs hard and is a load to bring down..Has good hands and runs decent routes...Effective in short yardage situations..Hard worker and a true team player.

Weaknesses:
Is not a great natural athlete...Speed and quickness are just average at best...Is not real elusive and offers very little in space...Needs to take a little better care of the football...Isn't a big play threat...Will play too high at times...Upside is limited.

Notes:
Began his college career at Division 3 Wisconsin-River Falls and then sat out in '04 after transferring...A monster in the weight room...What you see is what you get with this guy...A classic throwback with excellent intangibles who isn't necessarily one-dimensional but will definitely earn his paycheck as a lead blocker in the pros.


WVU's Schmitt Is the Gift That Keeps on Hitting
Said Schmitt: "I don't understand why I get that attention. I mean, we have actual stars on this team."

Schmitt spent his life identifying himself as the underdog, and the last few years have done little to override that outlook. He grew up with his grandparents in Gilman, Wis. -- a 500-resident town without a youth football league -- and moved to live with his mother in Fairfax after eighth grade. Schmitt spent two years on junior varsity at Paul VI Catholic before transferring to Fairfax High School. He became a star running back for one of the worst teams in the AAA Liberty District, but mediocre grades and a 6-14 record as a varsity player discouraged recruiters.



WVU's Schmitt Is the Gift That Keeps on Hitting

By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 12, 2007; Page E01

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Owen Schmitt and his mother woke up before dawn in Fairfax on a January morning in 2003. They borrowed a car from a family friend, filled the gas tank and drove 215 miles through snow to West Virginia University. When they finally pulled into the parking lot behind Mountaineer Field, Schmitt suggested they turn around.

Already during his winter vacation, Schmitt had made a half-dozen similar trips to colleges within driving distance of Fairfax. He had peddled a tape of his football highlights to coaches at Maryland, James Madison and Virginia Military Institute -- only to be turned away each time. As Schmitt sat in the car, he watched West Virginia players walk to and from Mountaineer Field and felt convinced that failure loomed again.

"Just look at these guys," Owen told his mother, Serena Drangle. "They're all ungodly giants. This is a waste of time. There's no way I could ever play here."

On Monday afternoon this week, Schmitt walked through the same parking lot, himself the ungodly giant. A senior preseason all-American for No. 4 West Virginia, Schmitt wore a tattered weightlifting T-shirt and hair shaped into a mohawk. His right thumb was heavily bandaged -- "a nuisance," he called it -- and a three-day beard obscured a few cuts on his cheeks. Schmitt is 6 feet 3, 260 pounds, and his coaches and teammates consider him the toughest player in college football, an essential cog in the offense for West Virginia, which will play Maryland in College Park at 7:45 p.m. tomorrow.

Even now, in his third year as West Virginia's starting fullback, Schmitt can't quite make sense of his role reversal. In five years, he progressed from a losing team at Fairfax High School to a losing team at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to the West Virginia scout team to, finally and improbably, college football stardom.

"Honestly, my mind is kind of stuck back when I was the guy nobody noticed," Schmitt said. "Some days, I'll be talking on the phone with one of my old buddies, explaining all this, and it will just totally hit me. I mean, I can't believe I'm even playing with these guys."

Nor can teammates believe that they're playing with him. Schmitt has built a reputation at West Virginia for accomplishing the unbelievable, and his feats are gossiped among coaches and players like folklore. He can squat 650 pounds and clean more than 500, which means he can bend to the ground, pick up a quarter-ton weight and then lift it to his head. He bulldozes down the field headfirst when blocking, and he already has cracked and mangled eight face masks during his college career. One such twisted bar of steel sits in the office of West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez, who once said, "I didn't know you could bend those things before."

Schmitt has a high tolerance for pain borne from practice. He underwent several surgeries to correct a cleft palate as a child, including one when he was in fourth grade in which doctors inserted a piece of hip bone into his jaw. That scar runs under Schmitt's nose and pinches his upper lip, and it's a constant reminder that he has endured worse, no matter what football throws at him. Last season, Schmitt played through wrist, leg and back injuries. He separated a rib from his vertebrae late in the year, and he couldn't so much as sit down two days before West Virginia's bowl game. He played anyway, running for 109 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Georgia Tech.

"Whatever legend you've heard about Owen Schmitt, double it and you're getting close to the truth," said Bill Stewart, a West Virginia assistant coach. "The pro scouts come in here and leave drooling over him. This guy emulates everything you'd want in a football program. He's happy to do anything. And then he does everything well."

In West Virginia's win at Marshall on Saturday, Schmitt was on the field for 66 plays, lining up at fullback, tailback, tight end and wide receiver. It was, he said, the perfect role for him: a heavy dose of blocking for stars Patrick White and Steve Slaton interspersed with the occasional run of his own. Schmitt ran for more than 300 yards in both 2005 and 2006. In 120 carries for the Mountaineers, he has never lost yardage.

Coaches at West Virginia promote Schmitt as emblematic of what their program aspires to become. He's an honor roll student, a selfless team player and the star of the offseason weightlifting program. West Virginia fans cheer for him with cult-like fervor. At games, one group of students holds a giant sign that reads, "Schmitt Happens." Preteens have begun emulating his shaggy mohawk.

"He's like 'Rudy' or something," Slaton said. "Everybody loves him."

After graduation, he moved back north and joined the football team at the only school that would take him: Division III Wisconsin-River Falls, a team coached by John O'Grady, an old friend of Schmitt's grandfather.

During the team's first contact practice, Schmitt bruised three experienced linebackers during a blocking drill, and O'Grady blew his whistle. He pulled the freshman over to the sideline and asked Schmitt to sit out, so that he wouldn't hurt any of his teammates. Then O'Grady moved Schmitt to running back, where he amassed 1,063 yards as a freshman.

"It was so clear he didn't belong here," O'Grady said. "He loved hitting, loved contact, more than any kid I've ever had. After that first season, I told him: 'You've got bigger places to be. Go find them.' "

So Schmitt came home for winter break and started making road trips with his videotape. A coach at Maryland told him to "stay at River Falls," Schmitt said. Another school sent Schmitt's tape back to his mailbox in Fairfax, unopened.

One day before he flew back to Wisconsin for the second semester, resigned to a Division III career, he made the trip with his mother to West Virginia. He handed the tape to an assistant coach, who eventually passed it along to Rodriguez. A former walk-on himself, Rodriguez watched the tape and decided his scout team could use a gritty fullback. A few weeks later, West Virginia contacted Schmitt in Wisconsin and offered him a chance to pay his own way and join the practice squad as a walk-on in 2004.

"Anybody who watched him play that first year on the scout team knew he wasn't going to stay there," said Stewart, the assistant coach. "He was tearing it up, making our guys look silly. All of us coaches kind of looked at each other like, you know, 'Wow.' It was kind of like that feeling of just winning the lottery."

[Atlas]

Surprise, Surprise
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
September 19, 2005

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Surprise, surprise, West Virginia gave the football to its fullback Owen Schmitt during last Saturday’s 31-19 victory at Maryland. And the result was a stunning 80-yard performance on just six carries that left more than a few mouths open.


Fullback Owen Schmitt became the third different WVU ball carrier to lead the team in rushing this season when he gained 80 yards last Saturday at Maryland.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

One of them just happened to be teammate Pernell Williams. “He was playing like Mike Alstott, Jr.,” Williams said.

“Maryland didn’t even know that I would ever get the ball,” giggled Schmitt after the game.

Schmitt probably didn’t either.

A Washington Post columnist on Sunday cleverly referred to Schmitt’s running style as being similar to a “runaway beer truck with no parking brake.”

During MSN’s post-game show WVU play-by-play man Tony Caridi said West Virginia last gave the football to the fullback during the (Richard) Nixon administration.

Well, almost. The last fullback to really play a prominent role in West Virginia’s offense was 21 years ago in 1984 when Ron Wolfley led the Mountaineers in rushing with 475 yards and four touchdowns. Ironically, WVU coach Rich Rodriguez was a member of that ‘84 Mountaineer team Wolfley played on.

There have been other fullbacks to come from out of nowhere and distinguish themselves in big games. Dane Conwell had a big performance against Florida in the 1981 Peach Bowl and Heywood Smith ran for a career-high 146 yards in an important road win against nationally ranked Cal in 1975. Later under Coach Don Nehlen, fullbacks Rico Tyler and Kantroy Barber had their moments carrying the ball, too.

But unlike Smith, Conwell, Wolfley, Tyler and Barber, Schmitt is not a full-time fullback. In reality he’s more of a hybrid tailback, lining up at fullback sometimes in the I, or slipping back to the tailback spot when Rodriguez goes to two tailbacks. The 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound-plus runner can also work alone in the one-back set.

“Some of the yards Owen was getting were when he was in the tailback spot,” said Rodriguez. “As I said before he’s one of our tailbacks. He’s got great hands, he’s got good vision and he made some really big runs for us.”

And that's why Rodriguez is sticking the football in his belly.

Schmitt’s emergence gives West Virginia yet another power runner to utilize late in games when it needs to milk the clock and hold onto the football. Four of Schmitt’s six carries came in the fourth quarter when the game was on line.

After Schmitt’s three-yard TD plunge gave the Mountaineers a 14-6 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, Rodriguez’ decision to use Schmitt led to another score. On first and 10 at the West Virginia 43, Rodriguez crossed up the Maryland defense with a handoff to Schmitt that netted 19 yards to the Terrapin 38. Two plays later, Schmitt got the ball once again and rumbled 34 yards to the Terp two.

“(Jason) Gwaltney had some awesome blocks on the linebackers and I just read the blocks and he made me look good,” Schmitt said.

Owen had two more key runs during West Virginia’s important seven-play, 73-yard drive that resulted in the Mountaineers’ fourth score to give them a more comfortable 28-19 lead.

“The inside fullback play we haven’t run it at all this year,” Schmitt said. “It caught them off guard and I just kind of shot through the gap there. I was so happy they even called my number. I just did what I did and we got it done.”

West Virginia offensive coordinator and running backs coach Calvin Magee said the objective in the second half was to utilize both Schmitt and freshman Jason Gwaltney, two 245-pound-plus guys.

“We just went more downhill instead of running laterally. It really paid off for us,” he said.

It was a particularly gratifying performance for Schmitt, a resident of nearby Fairfax, Va., who had some interest in returning to Maryland after spending a year at Wisconsin-River Falls.

“The funny thing is I was actually going to transfer to either Maryland or West Virginia, whoever wanted me,” Schmitt said. “I talked to the Maryland coaches and I didn’t think they were really interested. So I called up (administrative assistant) Donnie Young and just walked in one day over Christmas break with my mother and showed them some tape. The coaches sent me an email asking me to send my transcripts and I came to school and now I’m here.”

Yes, here Schmitt is.

“I’m so proud of Owen,” said Magee. “He came here from a little school in Wisconsin and he just wanted a chance. He’s worked his butt off and he’s got an even keel about himself. He doesn’t get too high or too low but after the game all he did was hug all of the coaches saying thanks for the chance. That’s special.”

[Killericon]

If not, sign Dan Kreider.

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by killericon

If not, sign Dan Kreider.

Good call.

[2KBack]

Anyone know what Schimtt's injury was during Senior bowl practice?

[iforgotmypassword]

he's a pimp, I've wanted him for awhile..... I love how everybody on the mane respects the non-sexy positions as much as they do, its a clear sign of an intelligent fan

OL, DT, hard nosed FB baby..... I've even heard props for Chad Mustard which IMO is huge for us on the goal line, he's cheap, he blocks, i'll take him any day.

[CBF1]

Where do you think he will be drafted round wise?

[Beantown Bronco]

Originally Posted by CBF1

Where do you think he will be drafted round wise?

I've seen him anywhere from late third to late fourth. If nobody was there that we really liked at 12, and we were able to move down a few picks to the mid to late teens, they'd most likely gain the additional 3rd round or early 4th round pick needed to snag him. It would almost be a freebie.

[Beej]

Originally Posted by Atlas

He bulldozes down the field headfirst when blocking, and he already has cracked and mangled eight face masks during his college career. One such twisted bar of steel sits in the office of West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez, who once said, "I didn't know you could bend those things before."

Holy crap!!

[Inkana7]

The story goes that while at Wisconsin-River Falls, his coach asked him not to practice for awhile because he was hurting other players on the team.

[Drek]

Love to have him, but I don't see Shanny getting off his "convert HBs into blocking FBs" kick. Damn shame too, he'd be a stud here. We ask our fullbacks to block, catch a few screens, and occasionally bull for a first or TD. Schmidt's specialties across the board.

[Liquid Courage]

this seems like the kind of kid that the Pats will draft in the 2nd/3rd round and everybody will freak out about them overpaying and then he'll play 10 years, make 2 pro bowls and be a proven soldier that cares about winning more than 'touches' and 'gettin' his'.

meanwhile, we'll draft a DT that was injured his junior year but played GREAT for 3 games during his sophomore year and has 'measurables' and looks the part . . . . . and the kid will be working construction within 3 years.

am i overstating??

[Triplelefthook]

i agree - i think we really need to draft a true blocking FB. I haven't seen a whole lot of great FBs - but the guys i like are Peyton Hills from Arkansas, Schmitt, and Brannon Sutherland from GA....

this HB conversion project is not working. Anderson could hack it, but its still not the same

[2KBack]

I believe Howard Griffith was a converted Tailback

[Liquid Courage]

for me it isn't so much about who is converted from where . . but about attitude and determination. Mike the Marine could instill some respect as a fullback because he'd put his facemask in someone's grill and not think a thing of, the same goes double for Howard. But put Mike Bell back there and LBs have to lining up at the chance to take a hit . . . no attitude (at least not the kind of attitude we're looking for ;-)), little determination as evidenced by his comments and for damn sure no fear.

This kid seems to meet the mold we need to match LB or DE against a reasonable counterpart . . . as opposed to a literal bump in the road to hurdle or step on.

[Drek]

Originally Posted by 2KBack

I believe Howard Griffith was a converted Tailback

So it worked once, twice if you consider Mike Anderson (who was only an average blocker at best) a successful attempt.

How many other guys have we run through the position? The only one since Griffin that was truly good at FB duties was Kyle Johnson, a FB coming into the league who was a surprise to start, largely because converted HB Cecil Sapp can't stay healthy.

One of the bigger mistakes in this organization's mindset is that FBs are failed HBs with some size.

[elsid13]

Originally Posted by 2KBack

Anyone know what Schimtt's injury was during Senior bowl practice?

It was minor tweak to the hamstring I think. Don't worry the kid will run through a wall if asked to

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

Originally Posted by Inkana7

The story goes that while at Wisconsin-River Falls, his coach asked him not to practice for awhile because he was hurting other players on the team.

That is not just a story - It is true. And off the field he was a pretty good fun loving guy that never got into any trouble

[chaz]

this is the type of players and attitude we are missing on this team...too many pre-madonnas not wanting to get their hands dirty. i'd take him in the third and not look back

[OrangeShadow]

um,yes please.

[ohiobronco2]

Originally Posted by Billy Clyde Puckett

That is not just a story - It is true. And off the field he was a pretty good fun loving guy that never got into any trouble

That's what I like in a football player, a tough competitor on the field, and off of it, someone who will be good in the community. I can't remember, is he the guy certain people wanted to trade Champ Bailey in order to get enough ammunition to more up for (or was that McFadden ). I hope he is around by our first 4th round pick.

[-Slap-]

Originally Posted by Billy Clyde Puckett

That is not just a story - It is true. And off the field he was a pretty good fun loving guy that never got into any trouble

No question Schmitt would become a fan favorite before he took a snap, but he'll also come off the board early on day two. What do you think of another bruiser, who should be available 100 picks later, by the name of Jehuu Caulcrick?

Schmitt scored 18 rushing touchdowns in his career, Caulcrick scored 21 touchdowns this season, 39 for his career.

He certainly passes the eyeball test.

[lazarus4444]

I like....

[lazarus4444]

Actually, i like anybody that is a real football player. The guys who aren't necessarily the biggest, fastest or quickest but they are the best. This is one of those guys. Bent facemasks? Holy Shiza!

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by 2KBack

I believe Howard Griffith was a converted Tailback

Carolina converted him to FB. By the time Shanny picked him up in FA he was already one of the best FBs in the league. That is why he got a 4 year $5 million deal.