by By Brian Gawthrop, The Daily Athenaeum; SOURCE: West Virginia U. , University Wire

You have to know what you're doing or you're going to get crushed."The 6-foot-2, 192-pound true freshman is finally fitting in however. After entering weighing 179 pounds, he has already gained over 20 pounds of muscle from offseason training and hopes the extra weight will pay off when the final depth chart is released before the Mountaineers' season opener against Liberty.The freshman already can't wait to go up against his teammates in the ring drill - a drill for wide receivers and defensive backs in which they attempt to push each other out of the oversized Hula-hoop. It was a drill in which Heastie knew he was at a disadvantage."They always used to pick on me and say that they could just throw me out of the ring," he said. "Now I can defend myself. Instead of getting thrown around, I'll get to throw other people around."It was strength that the critics said was his weakest point entering spring football . His excuse is reasonable however."I didn't lift a lot in high school," he said. "I just ran past everybody and juked everybody."It's serious here. I thought I'd just come in here and lift a little, but I'm lifting every day, sometimes twice a day and working out things I didn't know you could work out. But I like the results."He's liking the results on the field as well. Heastie estimated he confidently knows about 90 percent of the Mountaineers' playbook, and it's showing during the player-organized 7-on-7 drills.Taking a one-position-at-a-time mentality, wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway has said he wants Heastie to focus on one wide receiver position now."If you don't know what you're doing, you're not going to be good at all," Heastie said. "Just being with the guys, I'm getting more familiar with the plays. I was rough when I first came in, but I'm smoother now."That confidence only adds to the satisfaction that Heastie made the right decision in January when he graduated high school early to join the team."I don't regret my decision at all," he said. "If you want to play, you need to come here early. The more time you put into it, the better the chance you have of playing and the bigger your advantage over everyone else."

(C) 2008 The Daily Athenaeum via UWIRE

Copyright 2009 The Daily Athenaeum via U-Wire
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