Football

WVU added Luke to pave the way for Cam Cook

WVU added Luke to pave the way for Cam Cook

MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football was one of the only teams in the country to add a fullback this offseason. The fullback is all but extinct in college football, with a lot of teams going to the air raid offense.

But Rich Rodriguez wanted to add some more size in the backfield and another blocker, so WVU picked up Arizona transfer Kayden Luke. He hopes to fix the Arizona State game issue, where the Mountaineers failed to pick up a yard, losing the game.

Luke isn’t called Luke at practice.

"We got Cowboy, too," Rodriguez said. "Cowboy Kayden. We call him Cowboy. He’s back here as kind of a lone fullback. He might be one of like the 10 fullbacks in college football or something. There are no fullbacks anymore. We still have a fullback in Cowboy Luke"

Luke is hard to miss on the practice field, and the Mountaineers held their first open practice of the fall. Luke wears No. 33 and has a mohawk for a hairstyle, which really sticks out when he has his helmet off. He wasn't handed off the ball and instead filled holes, picking up a linebacker.

Being the only fullback, Luke doesn't have a position room like the rest. This spring, Luke spent most of his time with the tight ends, working on blocking. But during the open practice, Luke was working with the running backs in individual drills. He was doing agility drills and working on keeping the ball high and tight.

The number of times Luke is going to carry the ball is going to be slim. He wasn't really brought in to be a ball carrier, and only carried the ball five times over two years at Arizona. Luke is supposed to be a lead blocker for a talented running back room, including last year's nation-leading rusher, Cam Cook.

"I haven't played with a fullback since high school," Cook said.

Cook's played a lot of football, too. He started his career at TCU, where he spent two seasons, and then played a year at Jacksonville State, where he led the FBS in rushing.

Having a fullback on the team is weird in recent times, but not too weird for Cook, who played fullback when he was a freshman in high school on the varsity team. He was a blocker in pass protection. Cook was used in the slot that year too, but he was mainly a blocker.

That's helped him learn to pass block in college, which is becoming more important with the number of teams that are pass-heavy. Cook will be used a lot, and since it's a tempo offense, meaning you can't substitute or it'll slow down, he'll be out there for passing plays and will need to block.

"It definitely helped me understand like how hard that block is for the fullback, and as a running back, you can do stuff, or you can run the ball a certain way to make his block easier," Cook said. "Just being able to help each other out means a lot."

Being a fullback is a selfless position. Luke probably won't get handed off the ball much, or score touchdowns, and instead, he'll be throwing his body at defensive players. As a former fullback, Cook can only show him respect and is excited about what running behind another blocker means for his potential this season.

"I mean, having somebody that’s gonna put their head in the face of the fan means a lot," Cook said. "He’s gonna go out there and try his hardest to make sure the team wins. So having someone like that in your room means a lot."