WVU's Devine ready for senior year

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/03/2010 -

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -Noel Devine stayed in school just for this.

Rather than take a chance on the NFL draft last April, Devine is returning for one final season in which he believes ``the sky is the limit.''

Liftoff starts Saturday when No. 25 West Virginia plays FCS school Coastal Carolina.

``It's my senior year,'' Devine said. ``I'm just trying to enjoy it all and embrace it. I'm happy with the team we have now and I'm proud of my decision. It's a destiny. It's laid out already and it's not like I'm in control.''

Despite rushing for 1,465 yards last season, including a 220-yard effort against Colorado, Devine wasn't the center of attention even within his own conference, and that might be the case again this year.

All eight Big East teams return their top rushers from 2009, led by Pittsburgh's Dion Lewis, who ran for 1,799 yards as a freshman. Not far away at Virginia Tech, teammates Ryan Williams and Darren Evans are being touted as perhaps the top running back tandem in the nation.

Devine needs 1,784 yards to overtake Avon Cobourne as West Virginia's career rushing leader, although that would require an amount of carries atypical of West Virginia's philosophy of spreading the ball to many weapons.

``As many times as they'll give it to me,'' said Devine, who averaged nearly 19 carries a game last year. ``I want to be a key aspect to this team and do all that I can.''

If the diminutive Devine can approach Cobourne's record, it might end up getting him mentioned as a Heisman Trophy candidate.

Those suggestions get stopped as quickly as Devine changes directions when he has the ball.

``It's all talk. I have to prove myself on the field,'' Devine said. ``It's an honor to be mentioned, but it's just going to be up to me to come through with it.''

Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett wishes Devine had taken the money and run to the NFL.

``Our guys have an opportunity to try to slow him down a little bit,'' Bennett said. ``You're not going to completely stop him. He is lightning. What he does a great job is hiding behind those big ol' linemen that they've got.''

Devine's decision to return in January came the same day slot receiver Jock Sanders also announced he'd return for his season season.

It was fitting considering the Florida natives - Devine from Fort Myers, Sanders from St. Petersburg - entered the program together in 2007. Both are fathers and would be the first in their families to earn college degrees.

``We just had that instant vibe,'' Sanders said. ``We're just always on the same page because we're around each other so much.''

Sanders led the team a year ago with 72 catches for 688 yards and needs 55 catches to become the school's leading receiver.

But he'll have someone new throwing to him. Sophomore Geno Smith is making his first start after backing up Jarrett Brown last season.

Smith's arm might get plenty of work Saturday. Coach Bill Stewart warns Coastal Carolina might follow the lead of other teams in the past by clogging the line of scrimmage and denying Devine his running lanes.

``If we can't get free, if they load the box, it's going to be a long struggle no matter who you play,'' Stewart said.

Coastal Carolina quarterback Zach MacDowall is hoping for a better season after throwing for more interceptions (11) than touchdowns (nine) in 2009.

That chance may have to wait until after Saturday. West Virginia intercepted 17 passes a year ago and returns nine starters on defense.

Coastal Carolina is the second straight Big South team to open a season at West Virginia. Liberty gave the Mountaineers early fits last year before West Virginia pulled away in the second half for a 33-20 win.

Bennett said he might follow up on someone's suggestion to get some tips on playing West Virginia from Liberty coach Danny Rocco, but that his biggest worry wasn't his opponent.

``We're really more concerned about our guys, getting us ready,'' he said. ``I think in coaching a lot of times, we worry too much about what are the other guys going to do.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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