MORGANTOWN - It was the winter before his senior year in high school and Greg Romeus pretty much had his future all planned out.
MORGANTOWN - It was the winter before his senior year in high school and Greg Romeus pretty much had his future all planned out.
A 6-foot-5, 228-pound forward, he was about to move into a newly opened high school, Coral Glades, in Coral Springs, Fla. It would be his chance to hone his basketball skills and get the college scholarship he wanted.
Football? Uh, no, that was something he'd only played in back yards. Never had he so much as tried on a helmet or a set of shoulder pads.
A funny thing happened on the way to his basketball career, though.
"The football coach was at a basketball game and he needed people to come out,'' Romeus said. "I figured, why not? And after playing that one season of football I didn't even play basketball my senior year. I was hooked.''
Basketball's loss was Pitt's gain. Despite having played just that one season of organized football, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt took a chance. Four years later, Romeus is arguably the most disruptive player on Pitt's defense, if not in all of the Big East.
And he will be one of the main points of concern for West Virginia Friday night when the Mountaineers (7-3, 3-2 Big East) play host to No. 8 Pitt (9-1, 5-0) in the 102nd Backyard Brawl.
"Greg's one of my favorites because he shows up every day and he does all the right things on and off the field,'' Wannstedt said. "When you reflect back on when he first showed up here as a skinny basketball player who played football for one year, and now you see him developing into one of the better defensive ends in the country, you love to see that.
"You love to see that for any player, but particularly for ones that do it the right way. He's a smart guy, he's committed and you can count on him every week.''
In three seasons playing at Pitt, Romeus' growth has been remarkable. Part of that is his physical growth. He's now a 6-6, 270-pound monster.
But it has been his growth as a player that has been even more rapid. After playing on the scout team as a true freshman, Romeus was a nearly consensus freshman All-America in 2007 after recording 111/2 tackles for loss and four sacks. In Pitt's landmark 13-9 upset of West Virginia at the end of that season he had four tackles and recovered one of the Mountaineers' three fumbles.
As a sophomore he was a second-team all-league selection with 51 tackles, 151/2 tackles for loss, 71/2 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and three blocked extra points. He capped the year off as the Sun Bowl's Most Valuable Lineman after a two-sack performance in a 3-0 loss to Oregon State.
MORGANTOWN - It was the winter before his senior year in high school and Greg Romeus pretty much had his future all planned out.
A 6-foot-5, 228-pound forward, he was about to move into a newly opened high school, Coral Glades, in Coral Springs, Fla. It would be his chance to hone his basketball skills and get the college scholarship he wanted.
Football? Uh, no, that was something he'd only played in back yards. Never had he so much as tried on a helmet or a set of shoulder pads.
A funny thing happened on the way to his basketball career, though.
"The football coach was at a basketball game and he needed people to come out,'' Romeus said. "I figured, why not? And after playing that one season of football I didn't even play basketball my senior year. I was hooked.''
Basketball's loss was Pitt's gain. Despite having played just that one season of organized football, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt took a chance. Four years later, Romeus is arguably the most disruptive player on Pitt's defense, if not in all of the Big East.
And he will be one of the main points of concern for West Virginia Friday night when the Mountaineers (7-3, 3-2 Big East) play host to No. 8 Pitt (9-1, 5-0) in the 102nd Backyard Brawl.
"Greg's one of my favorites because he shows up every day and he does all the right things on and off the field,'' Wannstedt said. "When you reflect back on when he first showed up here as a skinny basketball player who played football for one year, and now you see him developing into one of the better defensive ends in the country, you love to see that.
"You love to see that for any player, but particularly for ones that do it the right way. He's a smart guy, he's committed and you can count on him every week.''
In three seasons playing at Pitt, Romeus' growth has been remarkable. Part of that is his physical growth. He's now a 6-6, 270-pound monster.
But it has been his growth as a player that has been even more rapid. After playing on the scout team as a true freshman, Romeus was a nearly consensus freshman All-America in 2007 after recording 111/2 tackles for loss and four sacks. In Pitt's landmark 13-9 upset of West Virginia at the end of that season he had four tackles and recovered one of the Mountaineers' three fumbles.
As a sophomore he was a second-team all-league selection with 51 tackles, 151/2 tackles for loss, 71/2 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and three blocked extra points. He capped the year off as the Sun Bowl's Most Valuable Lineman after a two-sack performance in a 3-0 loss to Oregon State.
This year he again has 71/2 sacks in just 10 games, along with 31 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, an interception, a fumble recovery, two forced fumbles and another blocked extra point. In Pitt's last game, a 27-22 win over Notre Dame, he blocked a PAT and, on what turned out to be the Irish's final play, he tackled quarterback Jimmy Clausen and forced a fumble.
And the thing is, he's still not the player he will be eventually.
"Oh yeah, there's so much more I have to learn,'' Romeus said. "Every year and really every game I see the mistakes I make and all the things I have to correct, just because I never learned.''
Romeus is beginning to catch on, though. Much of what he's able to do is simply raw athleticism and talent, but his knowledge is much greater than it was when he first started playing at Pitt.
"The coaches really didn't have a lot of time to spend with me because who was I? I was a guy on the scout team,'' Romeus said. "But then when I was a redshirt freshman they'd throw me in there just to see what I could do. They just told me to go after the ball and just go with my instincts.''
This could be the last year colleges have to concern themselves with Romeus. Were he to bypass his senior season he would certainly be a first-day NFL draft pick.
"Oh, without a doubt,'' Wannstedt said. "I don't know when [he will head to the NFL], but we'll cross that bridge and sit down and have a good discussion when the year is over.''
Until then, Romeus is just trying to learn the game he came to so late.
"I hear [the NFL talk] all the time, but at the same time there's just so much more I have to learn,'' Romeus said. "I just have to worry about getting better and see where it takes me.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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