J D Woods Turns WVU Dynamic Duo into Three Amigos!

All season long Geno Smith has had two outstanding receivers to rely on, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey. But during the first couple of games, Geno seemed to be searching for that third "go to" guy.

Geno had his long time receiver from Miramar High, junior  Stedman Bailey. In four games he has 41 catches for 635 yards and 10 touchdowns. Incredible.

Geno also was fortunate enough to have a guy from Baltimore, Maryland. Senior Tavon Austin now with 48 catches for 560 yards and seven touchdowns.

These two have been called the most prolific pair of receivers in college football, and rightfully so. Tavon is Mr. Inside and Stedman is Mr. Outside.

But something was missing. These two get a lot of their yards after the catch from short to medium passes. Geno kept looking for another receiver to step up, to go vertical. With height, speed and good hands to complement these two and to draw off double coverage.

Geno threw passes to several deep receivers with mixed success. Ivan McCartney was a hope to fill that role. Too many drops. Jordan Thompson, the freshman receiver from Katy, Texas had promise, with 7 catches for 36 yards, but no touchdowns receiving and he was an inside receiver.

Then J.D. Woods stepped up. The 6'1" 190-lb senior from Naples Florida had shown promise in his sophomore and junior seasons, but just never caught fire. In the opening game Woods caught 7 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. Very respectable.

Compared to the other two top receivers, Geno didn't seem sure of Woods as a target for the next couple of games; he only caught 6 more passes for 71 yards and no touchdowns. Then Baylor came to town.

Baylor thought they would try to concentrate at first on Austin and Bailey. Good luck with that. But Geno found Woods getting open also. In the record setting game against Baylor, Bailey caught 13 catches for 303 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Tavon also had 14 catches for 214 yards for 2 touchdowns. That should pretty much leave anyone else out, right? Not Woods. In addition to Bailey and Austin, he managed 14 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown.

As if to add an exclamation mark to his arrival as a threat, Woods grabbed a rare inaccurate throw from Geno with one hand and ran 13 yards with it when WVU badly needed it for a first down.

Geno, I think your third receiver has arrived!

Comments welcome and appreciated!