O. Schmitt v. P. McAfee

The week nine game Eagles vs. Colts featured two former WVU players: Owen Schmitt and Pat McAfee.

It was McAfee's first time punting after his one game suspension for his arrest. He had five for an average of 36.8 yards and one inside the 20 yard line.

Schmitt had just one catch on the day, for 12 yards. The catch is in the first play of the video below and shows how much he loves that leaping move.

The second play in the video, a quick squib kick at the end of the second quarter, is usually a throw away play of no interest. But this one was a little unique to a WVU fan since it was kicked by McAfee and, after being muffed by another Eagles player, recovered by Schmitt.

Pat McAfee Arrested

Former WVU punter/kicker Pat McAfee was busted for public intoxication early Wednesday morning in Indianapolis after going for a swim in a local canal. Check out the 911 audio. Local News video below.

Colts, Pats, 'Boys Look at McAfee

McAfee gets NFL attention
By Colin Dunlap
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 24, 2009

Pat McAfee is long on leg strength -- and confidence.

The West Virginia place-kicker and Plum native is on brink of being selected in this weekend's NFL draft. He's one of the top-rated kickers by most draft analysts and a projected late-rounder by some.

So, when asked, McAfee never wavered, figuring if he doesn't get drafted, there's still a spot for him in the NFL.

"I'm just staying even keel about all this," he said. "If I don't get drafted, hey, no big deal, man, I'll just have to go into a camp as a free agent and take someone's job from them. That is honestly the way I feel, so why not just say it like that?"

McAfee, 6 feet, 228 pounds, handled all three components of the kicking game at West Virginia last season -- punting, field-goal kicking and kickoff duties. And he excelled at all portions of the triumvirate, which have the NFL scouts intrigued.

A semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award -- presented to the nation's top punter -- he had a 44.7 yards per punt average, dropping 23 punts inside the 20 yard line. McAfee was also a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, given annually to the nation's top kicker after he went 17 for 20 in field goals, including 7 of 8 from beyond 40 yards, and also had eight touchbacks.

Some teams like him as a kickoff man, some like him as a place-kicker, where others have raved to his Pittsburgh-based agent Eddie Edwards about his punting.

The Indianapolis Colts extended one of their limited college prospect invitations -- rare for a kicker -- to McAfee a few weeks ago. He said the Colts, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys have been in contact with him most.
. . .
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09114/965134-144.stm

Pro-day in Mo-town II

Here's a rundown on the other players at pro day:

- Here's a video interview with linebacker Mortty Ivy. NFL.com reports:

...Ivy (6-1 5/8 and 239 pounds) put up 40 times of 4.84 and 4.78. He had a 28 1/2-inch vertical and a 9-foot, 2-inch broad jump with times of 4.44 in the short shuttle and 7.15 in the three-cone drill. He put up 17 reps on the bench press at 225 pounds.

- Dorrell Jalloh, wide receiver, caught passes from Pat White and ran a 4.55 second 40. The DA reported:

He also caught passes from White in all of his quarterback drills, including an over-the-shoulder grab on a deep pass that drew an loud applause from those in attendance.

- Pat McAfee, the punter/kicker, had an impressing effort. The DA reported:

McAfee kicked and punted for scouts and was especially impressive as most of his kickoffs traveled deep into the end zone.

- Interestingly, a linebacker who graduated two years ago, Marc Margo, also participated in drills for scouts.

- Ellis Lankster, a corner back, ran the fastest 40 time at 4.3 seconds.

- Backup linebacker Jim Lewis was impressive in his drills and ran a 4.5 second 40.

- Lineman Greg Isdaner didn't try to improve on his bench press but did participate in other drills. NFL.com reports:

...Isdaner (6-3 5/8 and 324 pounds) had 40 times of 5.29 and 5.28 seconds. He had a 25 1/2-inch vertical leap and an 8-foot, 6-inch broad jump, with times of 4.75 in the short shuttle and 7.73 in the three-cone drill.

- Lineman Ryan Stancheck tried to wow the scouts too. NFL.com reports:

...Stanchek (6-3 3/8 and 298 pounds) turned in times of 5.32 and 5.31 in the 40. He had a 27 1/2-inch vertical and an 8-foot, 7-inch broad jump with a 4.74 short shuttle and a 7.65 three-cone drill. He put up 29 reps on the bench press.

- Linebacker John Holmes, long snapper Adam Hughes, and lineman Stephen Maw also participated in drills.

Here's a general pro day video.

Pro-day in Mo-town

Pro hopefuls and scouts gathered today at the Mountaineers' indoor field. WVU players attracted scouts from 25 pro-teams and at least one head coach, Mike Tomlin. So far as I can find, Pat White has had the only mentions in the news. Except for a quick mention of Pat McAfee. I'll update on the versitle kicker and others as information becomes available.

Back to White. By all accounts, White appears to have continued to impress. The most interesting development would be a local TV station saying White was not asked to perform wide receiver drills. However, NFL.com and a couple others said Coach Stewart was the one to lay down those rules. Rule or not, most left after White was finished throwing.

Also, if you're interested, here's a Q&A session with White.

Update (3/13/09): Mike Mayock of the NFL Network reports (video) that many scouts were disappointed in the no wideout drill rule. He also suspects that if White does not show a willingness to play positions outside of QB, it will hurt his stock.

Video interview with Pat White