West Virginia ties strong among members of Wolfpack
Thayer Thomas isn't a big John Denver fan. More specifically, he's not a big fan of Denver's song "Take Me Home Country Roads."
It's because he knows what it means for visiting teams like his NC State Wolfpack on Saturday, when they play at West Virginia's Milan Puskar Stadium.
“Hopefully, we don’t hear it after the game," the sophomore wide receiver said, "because they usually play it when they win. They just play it after they win.”
Thomas and his young brother, freshman linebacker Drake Thomas, know all about the traditions surrounding Mountaineers football. They learned them from going to games while growing up only a few miles South of Morgantown.
Their mother is a WVU graduate, their father went to rival Marshall. So even though the family eventually moved to North Carolina and the brothers graduated from Heritage High School in Wake Forest, Saturday's game is something of a homecoming for them.
"We were West Virginia fans for the most part when they weren’t playing Marshall,” Drake said. “When we didn’t have football and could get up there to watch a game, we would...
“Growing up watching West Virginia, everybody in West Virginia is a WVU fan. That’s what things revolve around -- WVU football. Playing against them in that stadium is pretty exciting.”
Drake, who has seen action both from scrimmage and on special teams in both games this season, said he expects a large contingent of family members and friends to support them at the game. But as electric as the atmosphere promises to be, the brothers know that it will be anything but friendly to anyone wearing red and white.
Even those players with West Virginia ties.
It's a situation they've tried to warn their teammates about this week in preparation for Saturday's game.
"A lot of the guys on this team had never been to West Virginia, so they really didn’t know what to expect," said Thayer, the Wolfpack's second leading receiver with eight catches in the first two games. "I tell them all the time, and I think they know how tough it’s going to be. I’m not trying to compare it to (Clemson's) Death Valley, but it’s definitely going to be up there with the ruthless fans and how loud it’s going to be. It should be fun and a great test for us.”
The Wolfpack is trying to improve to 3-0 on the season and score its first nonconference win against a Power Five opponent since an overtime victory at Texas Tech in 2002.
It's a game that means as much, if not more, to new co-defensive coordinator Tony Gibson than it does the Thomas brothers.
Gibson has spent 13 years as an assistant coach at West Virginia, including the last six as the Mountaineers' defensive coordinator and associate head coach.
The former college defensive back, who has a daughter that currently attends WVU, interviewed for the head coaching job there last winter after former coach Dana Holgorsen decided to leave for Houston. He is also still being paid by his former school thanks to a $950,000 buyout upon his departure.
Despite all those connections, Gibson insists that Saturday's return to Morgantown is "just another game at this point.
"I can’t get caught up in the emotion of going home and a place that I spent a lot of years at," he said. "I helped recruit a bunch of the guys, but what we have to do and what I have to do a great job of is keep preparing our guys and making sure that they’re ready to go.
"Obviously, I’ve got some good insight of what the crowd is going to be like and all that to pass on to them, but right now my focus is getting our guys ready and it’s just another game. It’s the next game. That’s kind of where my focus has been."
