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MORGANTOWN -- In one way, sportswriters are much like coaches. Coaches are involved in a lot of games. You win some, you lose some.
Coaches remember the losses far longer, far more vividly than the wins.
It's no different with sportswriters, who write a lot of stories. You win some, you lose some … but it's the bad stories that stick with you.
Sometimes, however, a good one lingers through the years … and so it is that we discuss West Virginia wide receiver Sam James' and his quest to reach his potential.
Three years ago I wrote what has proven to be a prophetic lead to a story about James:
It comes slowly, this thing called greatness.
The theme of the story was that James possessed the tools to become a star … the speed, athleticism, the courage, the "want to," but he was working with a strong push from coach Neal Brown not to fall into the trap of thinking that was enough.
"I coach him harder than anyone else on the team because he has a huge ceiling," Brown said before that year's Kansas State game, which WVU would engage in while in the midst of a five-game losing streak. "I coached him that way since I got here. I liked his high school film. I like the film the G.A.'s made when they scrimmaged last year. I liked the talent you saw in the winter and you saw glimpses of what was there. That's why I coach him like that. You have to coach your best players the hardest."
James was in the midst of creating a national name for himself. Against North Carolina State he had caught nine passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. A few days before that article had been written he had elbowed his way into the Mountaineer record book by catching 14 passes for 223 yards against Texas Tech to earn Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors.
But in that 14-catch day, he offered hints of what would haunt him for the next couple of years. It was noted in the story:
And, were it not for four drops and a couple of underthrown balls that could have been touchdowns, he might have had the greatest day any WVU receiver ever had with 18 catches for about 330 yards.
He never repeated either game.
Over the next two years he caught just 73 passes for a combined 803 yards, just seven more catches and 131 more yards than he had in that redshirt freshman season.
Plagued by dropped passes, he was still going through the stages one goes through in the quest of greatness … but this year, with Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Kaden Prather taking pressure off him on the outside, James has blossomed again.
With two games left he has finally grasped the brass ring of success. He owns 41 receptions for 624 yards, second on the team, while leading the team with 15.22 yards per catch.
This is pushing him into some pretty strong company. He ranks fifth in career catches at WVU with 185 and needs only seven more to tie David Saunders for fourth place. That would leave only Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey and Jock Sanders ahead of him.
He recently surpassed 2,000 career receiving yards, breaking into the top 10 in Mountaineer history.
And last week, as WVU stunned Oklahoma, he showed that he still can take over a football game as he made three of the key plays that led to victory.
James caught three passes for 90 yards, including a difficult, contested 35-yard grab on second and 15 that set up the drive that led to the game-tying touchdown.
But that was not his best contribution on that drive. As the third quarter was coming to a close the Mountaineers were facing fourth and 4 and sent the punt unit onto the field.
But Neal Brown had a trick up his sleeve with a fake on which James carried around left end. He needed 5 yards, got 5.
"We're down seven points and then executed the fake punt," Brown said in his post-game analysis. "Sam James got the first down, just barely, but he got it. That extended that drive, and we go down and score to tie it up on that drive."
James' biggest play, however, may have been on special teams. Oklahoma had just scored to take a 10-0 lead when he returned the kick 42 yards to the WVU 47.
"I thought the kickoff return by Sam James in the first half was huge. We blocked it really well, and that kind of got us going," Brown said. "We go down and score right after that when it was 10 to nothing."
So, James contributed catching the ball, running the ball and returning kickoffs.
In fact, his special team play was such that when the coaching staff gave out its weekly awards, James was named special team's player of the week for the Mountaineers.
"He's the best we have in punts in blocking punts, putting pressure on the other team's punter," Neal Brown said. "That may not show in the stat sheet, but has an effect on the game."
Take the fake punt play that gained that key first down.
"It was an RPO," James recalled. That meant he had the option to run or throw the ball.
"I was hoping they would give me a look where they run everyone towards me so I could throw it," he said.
See, pass receivers -- darn near all of them -- think they can throw the ball, too.
But he didn't get the right look.
"So I put my feet down and got what I needed," he said.
Needed 5 yards, got 5.
"As soon as I got tackled, I looked to the markers and was like, 'Yeah, I got this.'"
That disproved, of course, the old adage that "close only counts in horseshoes."
But it is as a pass receiver where James is most crucial to the team and it is there that the real improvement has come.
"He's fifth on our career receiving list, which speaks to his longevity," Neal Brown said. "But what he's grown into and that I'm proud of is he's become one of our most consistent practice players from an effort/production standpoint.
"Consistency is a trait that I think is one of the highest compliments you can give," the coach continued. "He's grown into a really good football player."
That's important to James.
"Coming in here, I just thought I'd come here and catch balls and be a wide receiver but there's more to the game than just playing receiver," James said. "Coach Brown helped me learn that special teams play would help me in my future so I took that and started working on it."
As for repeating the big game he had as a redshirt freshman, James doesn't put that high up on his list of things to do.
"You know, there's only one football and it takes a lot for the receiver to get the ball. The line has to block, the quarterback has to throw a good ball … a lot goes into it," James said. "I've had pretty good games this year and I'm really not focused on having a 100-yard game without winning."
With Saturday's meeting with Kansas State being senior day, James could walk but isn't sure he will as he has another year of eligibility.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm going to talk to my mom and coach Brown and see what's the best option. It's up in the air right now."