MORGANTOWN -
Chavas Rawlins is feeling pretty good today.
Now that one of the nation's top dual-threat quarterbacks is
committed to West Virginia University, he can go on with his life, the
recruiting process behind him.
"I have so much stress off my shoulders, so much more time I
can spend doing things other than think about where I'm going to go to college,"
Rawlins said Friday. "I feel relaxed, relieved, I feel like everything's in
front of me and I just have to go get it now."
With over 15 scholarship offers, Rawlins had quite a task to
narrow down his focus and ultimately choose one school. The Monessen, Pa.
native grew up as "the biggest Pittsburgh fan there ever was," after his stepfather,
Jo Jo Heath, starred for the Panthers, but the other side of the Backyard Brawl
won out.
"Everything I asked, they had an answer for it and it was a
great answer," Rawlins says of his interactions with WVU. "The location, the
coaches, the style of play, the winning, academics and everything about it is
just great."
Rawlins took in one of the Mountaineers' spring practices
and says he fell in love with the offense, how the team practice and just about
everything he witnessed that day in Morgantown.
In conversations with WVU quarterback Geno Smith, Rawlins
felt like he learned what exactly is needed to be the right fit for head coach
Dana Holgorsen's offense.
"Geno is a great passer, a great progression reader, but I
think over anything, he's smart. He prepares himself and stuff like that," says
Rawlins. "He throws the ball very well, but I notice that he has the option to
run every single play. If he wanted to run, he could do it, but he makes those
passes along with his feet. That's what makes that offense so elite."
Apparently West Virginia believes that Rawlins can fit that
mold, and if there was any question on the staff's part, it could just ask Andy
Sacak, Rawlins' coach at Monessen High.
"He'll fit just fine in that [offense] because he can throw
it anywhere," Sacak says. "If you think you're going to cover everyone that's
available and confound him, he's not going to be confounded at all. He's going
to tuck it down and make you pay."
What Sacak has been seeing in practices and games in recent
years is what caught the eyes of both Holgorsen and quarterbacks coach Jake
Spavital when they popped in Rawlins' junior film.
"Coach Holgorsen knew I was his guy from the first time I
met him," says Rawlins. "He saw my tape and said, ‘We really want him and
there's no doubt about it,' so they stayed recruiting me really hard, said I
was their man from the jump and now I'm their man."
According to Sacak and others at Monessen, the man West
Virginia is getting is just as impressive as the athlete. Seen as a star and a
role model to youth in the community, Rawlins is just as concerned about how he
carries himself off the field as he is on it.
"He's one of those special people that you come across about
every 10, 12, 15 years," says Sacak. "He's a complete package. He isn't just a
great athlete, he's a great person. He takes advanced classes, he never has
detention in school, he's never been late to school, he's never been in trouble
inside or outside of school."
At WVU, Rawlins hopes to study either sports management or
engineering in addition to his playbook.
He says he is excited about the future of West Virginia
football as it transitions into the Big 12 Conference this fall and he has a
quite simple assessment of what he believes that future holds in Morgantown.
"Nothing but greatness," says Rawlins. "Nothing at all but greatness."
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WVILL. All Rights Reserved.
