MORGANTOWN — So much has happened through the first half of West Virginia’s football season that transfer Reid Carrico slipped through a crack while the media was tied up writing about Penn State and Pitt, about Garrett Greene and Jahiem White and Wyatt Milum, about lost opportunities and lost games and the status of coach Neal Brown.
And that says nothing of a redshirt freshman with the pedigree of a thoroughbred named Josiah Trotter.
Under normal circumstances, more would have been made of Carrico’s arrival, for he comes — like Trotter — from football royalty.
Trotter, of course, is the son of former NFL All-Pro linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles, while Carrico’s regal roots come through the school from which he transferred, Ohio State.
Ohio State, of course, is one of those schools, with Michigan, Penn State, Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Texas and a few others, around whom the history of college football is written. It plays in the biggest stadiums and is part of the greatest of rivalries. It opens its recruiting doors to four- and five-star recruits.
It lives in a different world, so when someone transfers from Ohio State to West Virginia, one expects him to be a special player. So it is with Carrico, who in his fourth season of college football has helped give a hard edge to the defense and special teams WVU runs.
“He’s a physical kid, obviously, but just how he plays, his effort and his toughness, he’s been a really nice addition for us,†Mountaineer defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said. “He gives us kind of an edge when he’s in there, especially in those bigger sets.â€
Last week was one such week. WVU was playing Kansas State, a big, rough, physical group that came into town as the nation’s No. 2 rushing team and was stuffed by the Mountaineers’ ground defense, with Carrico having a big day.
“We moved him around, in the middle, on the edge,†Lesley said. “He put some pressure on the edge of the offense, which we need in a game like that, when we are selling out to stop the run.â€
He and Trotter give the Mountaineers an old-fashioned, big-hitting set of linebackers when they are on the field, and it showed time and again.
But what is most interesting, especially when you are sitting at 3-4, is perhaps the way Carrico compares life within the West Virginia football program and life at Ohio State.
WVU has, of course, its own proud history and a marvelous facility and fan base, but is there really a difference between life here and life in the penthouse of college football?
“Ohio State, there’s a little bit more glitz and glamour, obviously,†Carrico said. “And this is probably more of a developmental type of program, where you get guys that might take one or two years. You’re not getting these freak shows that are coming in and are ready to go right away physically. I’d say those are probably the biggest differences.â€
The Mountaineers have done quite well with that type of player over the years. It fits in with the culture of the state and the people who live in it. Remember, they mine coal, not gold, in West Virginia, but diamonds do come from coal, don’t they?
“As far as a culture standpoint and having a close team and team camaraderie, there hasn’t been really any difference. West Virginia, we have a close team like we did at Ohio State, †Carrico said. “That was appealing to me, and that’s why I’m here.â€
Carrico grew up in Ironton, Ohio, just a few miles across the Buckeye State’s border with West Virginia. So, in a way, he was returning to his roots after his time in Columbus, Ohio.
“To come to Morgantown when you’ve lived in Columbus the last three years, there’s a big difference. There’s like a million or 2 or 3 million people in the Columbus area. And then here, I don’t know, there’s nothing like that,†he said. “I’m from a small town. There are 10,000 people in Ironton. It’s kind of nice to go to a place where it’s a little slower-paced. I’m fine with that.â€
In a way, that’s what drew him to Morgantown in the first place.
“There are more players here from my area that I had already known, like Wyatt Milum, Treylan Davis, Bryce Biggs, Doug Nester, Graeson Malashevich,†he said. “All of them, they were from my general area. When you have people that you already know, I was excited to play with guys I was familiar with.â€
And it certainly wasn’t any kind of step down from Ohio State, as he opened his WVU career at home before a crazy full house with Penn State. Then, after the Albany game, he dove headfirst into the deepest pool WVU swims in, going to Pittsburgh for the Backyard Brawl against Pitt.
For West Virginians, that’s the greatest show in the world, but around Columbus, they believe the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry has it beat.
Having been involved in both, how does Carrico view it?
Is the intensity the same?
“West Virginia and Pitt took a break in the rivalry, but now it’s getting back to where it used to be,†he said. “It was definitely a hostile environment when we went up there this year. The most hostile environment I’ve ever been in was when we went up to Ann Arbor in 2021, but going up to Pittsburgh this year definitely compared to that. It’s a great rivalry.
“I basically traded off playing one big rival for another. Now, it’s all about beating Pitt.â€
