CULBERTSON, SUPER SIX BIDS, WVU RECRUITING

Publication: THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
Published: 12/07/2005
Page: 1B
Headline: CULBERTSON, SUPER SIX BIDS, WVU RECRUITING
Byline: MITCH VINGLE

THE VIEWS from here: Talk about brutal. Nitro High running back Josh Culbertson carried his Wildcat team all season. Became the overwhelming favorite to take the Kennedy Award as the state's best high school football player. Piled up more yards than dogs in West Virginia.

Then, in the state championship against Morgantown, Culbertson experienced his worst athletic nightmare. In overtime, on a third-and-6 from the MHS 16, the Nitro tailback headed off tackle for what looked like a 4-yard gain. But Jordan Pinto, a Mohigan linebacker already in Culbertson's rearview mirror, batted the ball free. It bounced into the hands of Morgantown's Josh Davis. Game over. Dream of a state title dissolved. Cruelly replaced by the nightmare.

"[Culbertson] took it real hard," said Nitro coach Scott Tinsley. "He felt like he carried the team all year then let them down.

"But I had a long talk with the team. I gathered everyone and asked those who played to raise their hands if they could have done something different to have helped us win that game. Of course every one of them did."

That, my friends, is called excellent coaching. Excellent life coaching.

"I told the kids a lot of times you give your best in life and things still don't work out the way you want," Tinsley said.

Let's not kid ourselves. Culbertson will remember that moment. But some day the big picture will come into focus. There's absolutely, positively no way his Wildcat team would have had such a terrific ride without his talent.

Culbertson gave his teammates, his school, his town and his state thrills aplenty. And that, Josh, is what we'll remember. When high school fans talk about the great ones, you'll be right in the mix. We'll talk about your body of work. The way you ran. How you broke records as easily as you broke tackles.

Yes, Pinto got the strip. Davis got the recovery. Morgantown got the win.

But when talk gets around to the great ones, it's you, Josh, we'll always remember.

s While on the subject of high school football, Secondary School Activities Commission executive director Mike Hayden will be accepting Super Six bids for another nine days.

"Bids must be postmarked by Dec. 16," Hayden said. "We're expecting a decision to come out of a Jan. 25 Board of Directors meeting. But that date will be decided for sure on Friday [when it meets]."

Hayden said no proposals have reached his desk yet, but Charleston is definitely expected to make another run for the event.

s On Wednesday, WVU football recruiting coordinator Herb Hand was in Daytona Beach, Fla., making pitches to prospects.

And his location was appropriate. Because there's a bunch of sunshine in the Mountaineers' camp right now.

"The last week or so has been real good as far as the players we've been talking to," Hand said over the weekend. "They recognize we won our [Big East] conference and are going to a BCS bowl.

"That holds a lot of weight with recruits. There's been a noticeable difference when we've called. A lot of congratulations."

He said, though, WVU fans shouldn't expect many surprises off the team's recruiting radar.

"By this time, we're in the finalizing part," he said. "As crazy as recruiting is these days, it's late in the process." The national letter-of-intent day is in February.

Hand said the Mountaineer coaches are still after cornerbacks, offensive linemen and a wide receiver or two.

"We're kind of big-game hunting right now," said the assistant coach.

s And finally . . .

West Virginia is listed as an 81/2-point underdog to Georgia in the upcoming Sugar Bowl. It's almost a home game for the Bulldogs.

But WVU defensive lineman Ernest Hunter believes his team can hang.

"I think so," Hunter said. "I feel it. I think we can do it. I think we're going to give Georgia a good game. I think [the Bulldogs] are going to give us a good game. And whoever wants it more will come out the winner."

To contact sports editor Mitch Vingle, send e-mail to mitchvingle@wvgazette.com or call 348-4827.