By JIM BUTTA
“Everybody on this team is really mellow,” said McAfee, who will handle kickoffs, point afters and field goals once the strength returns to his leg. “We don’t have people that get really hyped up.”
WVU has found itself ranked among the country’s elite this summer, being listed as high as No. 2 in two polls and mentioned as a possible dark horse for the national championship game in Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 8.
“People think that all of the high expectations are going to get to us,” continued the kicker. “But, our team is really tight.”
Tight and talented.
“All of our big stars like Steve (Slaton) and Pat (White) don’t act different,” McAfee said. “They act the same this year as they acted last year.”
In fact talk to veteran head coach Rich Rodriguez and you get the same feeling.
“Our guys understand that this is a team effort,” the coach explained. “They know that the more the team accomplishes, the more the individual things will come their way.”
Several already have made a name for themselves before the season begins on Sept. 2 against Marshall.
Six players have seen their names appear on preseason watch lists with senior center Dan Mozes receiving All-American honors and making a trip to the Playboy mansion for a photo shoot as a selection to the magazine’s preseason All-American team.
Also finding their name listed as players to watch Kevin ’Boo’ McLee, Jeremy Sheffey, Slaton, White and Eric Wicks.
“It’s not a big deal to us,” added McAfee, who connected on 48-of-49 PATs and 11-of-18 field goals during his first season in Morgantown.
“I’m having a good time,” continued the Pennsylvania-native. “All of the camps I went to went well. I learned a lot of stuff from the other guys I was working with.”
One of those was redshirt freshman punter Scott Kozlowski, who is handling the lion’s share of the kicking and punting duties until McAfee returns.
“We would punt back and forth just to kill time,” Kozlowski said. “He (McAfee) was mostly working on his kickoffs and field goals. Especially from his right side. All the kicks he missed last season were from his right side.”
The 6-foot-1, 215-pounder was especially deadly kicking the ball off, recording 20 touchbacks, having four returned from the end zone and executing one very important onside kick in West Virginia’s season-turning, 46-44, triple-overtime victory over Louisville.
Numbers that would be good enough for most freshmen kickers, but not McAfee, who came to WVU as the No. 1 placekicker in the nation by Scout.com.
“I spent the first half of the summer in Florida at camps,” explained the kicker. “The second session I attended school and worked out up here.”
The added work, especially on his punting, has the former-Plum High School standout in line to possibly seeing some double-duty in 2006.
“I don’t really care. I’ll do both if coach Rod needs me to. If I get lucky and get a hold of one (punt), it’s going to go a pretty long way.”
So will the Mountaineers if their sophomore kicker can improve on his numbers from last year.
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