Despite all the ice bags taped to various body parts, no West Virginia starter will miss the Maryland game Saturday due to injury. "We got out of it (Wofford game) relatively injury free, and this will be a peak week for us," Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez said Tuesday at the Milan Puskar Center. Rodriguez said starting tight end Josh Bailey suffered a hip bruise, but he is expected to practice today.
All 51,500 tickets to the West Virginia-Maryland game at Byrd Stadium have been sold. "I figured it would be a sellout," Rodriguez said. "There are a lot of West Virgina fans in the eastern panhandle of the state. And they'll be in our corner of the end zone when we come out on the field. It should be a neat atmosphere."
Rodriguez listed Pitt and Maryland at the top of his list of teams West Virginia constantly battles for recruits. "I don't think who wins this game wins the recruiting battle, but it helps," he said. "There are a lot of good players we try to recruit in that (Maryland-Washington D.C.) area."
The West Virginia-Maryland football series goes back to 1919, when the Mountaineers won 27-0 in Morgantown. The Terrapins lead the all-time series 21-20-2. West Virginia has lost three straight in College Park, Md., averaging just nine points a game in those three losses. "I don't think there's gong to be a lot of surprises," Rodriguez said. "I think Maryland and West Virginia know each other very well."
As a reward for a superior day of blocking against Wofford, redshirt freshman wide receiver Dorrell Jalloh of Greensboro, N.C., will start against Maryland. "Blocking or catching, it doesn't matter. Everything I do I try to do well," Jalloh said.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print
E-mail
