Owen Schmitt has heard all the talk that his position is dying. He’s heard that he is a glorified blocker – nothing more than a lineman with a crooked number. He doesn’t care. In fact, he loves it.

See, Schmitt doesn’t worry about carrying the ball or catching a pass. What he really wants to do is knock defenders on their backsides.

‘Yeah, it’s always nice to score a touchdown,’ Schmitt said. ‘But it’s even nicer to make a killer block for a touchdown.’

If that’s all it takes to make the 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior who bench presses 365 pounds and squats 640 pounds happy, he must be having a whole lot of fun blocking for the West Virginia rushing attack. Just five games into the season, the Mountaineers have 20 rushing touchdowns and average 323.2 yards per game on the ground.

Schmitt has been an integral part of that dominance on the ground, paving the holes for All-American stars Steve Slaton and Pat White to tear up opposing defenses and etch their names into West Virginia football history.

‘They’re dynamic players, very explosive,’ Schmitt said of Slaton and White. ‘They make your job a lot easier because they’re so good you don’t have to hold your blocks as long. That makes you look a lot better.’

But it is Schmitt who helps make Slaton and White better by sacrificing his body – and sometimes his equipment – to keep defenders away from the star players.

His aggressive style has put a strain on the equipment managers: Schmitt has broken nine facemasks in his career. Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez was so impressed by his fullback’s toughness that he kept the first broken facemask and put it in his office.

‘He leads the right way,’ Rodriguez said. ‘He blocks with his face up, and when you get a 255-pound guy coming full speed, sometimes the equipment won’t stand up.’

That toughness is nothing new for the former walk-on from Fairfax, Va. At just 8 years old, Schmitt was feeding his dog when it bit a hole in his hand. Schmitt started crying, and his grandfather told him to ‘suck it up.’ He poured alcohol on his grandson’s hand, bandaged him up and sent him to school.

But if Schmitt was just a tough blocker, he most likely wouldn’t be allowed to wear a number in the 30s; he would be wearing a 60 or 70 number and playing offensive line. With more teams abandoning traditional fullback sets in exchange for extra tight ends or wide receivers, the only way for bruisers like Schmitt to stay on the field is to be able to adjust.

‘The way it’s evolved a little bit, the fullbacks have to be a little more versatile than what he was in year’s past,’ Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said. ‘Today’s fullbacks are better ball carriers than in years past, and they have to be a little sharper from a football knowledge standpoint because they’re moving around in different spots.’

Wannstedt said the pure blocking fullbacks are out of style in today’s college football. Players like Schmitt need to be able to catch the ball out of the backfield and play multiple different positions for their offenses.

Schmitt recognized that fullbacks don’t have to be tied to their position as the lead blocker in the backfield, which is why he started taking snaps at tight end this year. The new position still allows him to put licks on opposing defenders, but it also gives him the chance to be a threat in the passing game. So far this year, Schmitt has taken advantage of the opportunity and has five catches for 29 yards.

On those rare chances where Rodriguez sees fit to give blocker the ball, Schmitt has actually proven to be a very proficient runner. In three years with the Mountaineers, he has taken 133 carries for 854 yards, an impressive 6.4 yards per carry average.

South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt said Schmitt adds another dimension to the already-potent West Virginia attack – one that has to be respected.

‘He’s so big and strong,’ Leavitt said. ‘He can block, he can run and you have to be aware of him. You can’t focus in on one guy back there, they’re all that good.’

Schmitt scored a career-best seven touchdowns last season, including two in the Gator Bowl against Georgia Tech in January. In that game, he opened up by breaking a 52-yard run – the second longest of his career – on the first play from scrimmage. By the end of the day, Schmitt racked up a career-best 109 yards.

Even with all that success on the ground, Schmitt said he never asks his head coach for the ball.

‘It’s not really a big deal to me,’ he said. ‘I mean, for me it’s just being able to get in there and block. I take a lot of pride in blocking, and I think that’s a huge part of the game that people overlook, and it’s just a fun thing to do.’

While Schmitt’s rushing stats aren’t even in the same ballpark as Slaton’s and White’s – 3,428 and 2,493 yards, respectively, in their careers – his teammates showed him last year how much he means to them. At the end of the season, Schmitt was presented with the Whitey Gwynne Unsung Hero Award, a fitting honor for someone playing perhaps the most unheralded position on the field.

‘It’s a great honor because fullback is kind of being forgotten,’ Schmitt said. ‘So it’s nice that everyone remembers me.’

Published on October 3, 2007 at 12:00 pm