Published: May 17, 2008 02:03 am      

Stewart: WVU linemen OK

MORGANTOWN — As summer camp draws closer, West Virginia football coach Bill Stewart takes comfort in knowing several key players are close to ready for the beginning of practice in August.

Stewart said junior left guard Greg Isdaner and senior Mike Dent are “ahead of schedule” and should be full speed by the end of the month. Both missed spring practice following shoulder surgeries. Senior left tackle Ryan Stanchek, who was limited with a foot problem, is recovered.

“It’s good news,” Stewart said. “We weren’t worried about them for the fall, but it’s good they’re all back so soon.”

Frank Carduff is not so fortunate. The redshirt junior from Shenandoah, Pa., who backed up Stanchek in 2006 before tearing an ACL, was forced to retire after a third surgery. Stewart said Carduff will stay on as a student assistant.

Injury news on the defensive side is also mixed. Stewart said cornerback Brantwon Browser, a junior college transfer from Phoenix College, is out for the season with a torn ACL. He’ll sit out with a redshirt and have two years of eligibility left.

Junior defensive end Zac Cooper, who missed the latter part of spring with an unspecified ailment related to his heartbeat, was cleared to return to football and will have a standard check-up next month.

“We need him,” Stewart said of the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Cooper who was moved from linebacker in the spring. “That’s a heat-seeking missile coming off the corner. He may give up some weight in the run game, but I’d like to see those big old tackles try to keep him in front of them.”

Stewart said the status of senior linebacker Reed Williams “looks better,” but is not certain.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Stewart said, “but it’s not because I don’t want to answer that.”

Williams had torn labrum cartilage in both shoulders. His right was operated on in January and his left was fixed in March.

He missed all of spring practice and while he and Stewart expect the former Moorefield High star will be healthy for the season, Stewart wants to make sure Williams is both healed and strong enough to play.

“He’s going to be fine from all indications, but I’m a guy who wants to cross his T’s and dot his I’s,” Stewart said. “I will never, ever let a hurt — h-u-r-t — player play.

“If he’s hurting, as long as the doctor clears him, he can play. I will not play someone who is hurt. Right now, Reed is hurting. We’ll see how much he can do and how much he can tolerate before we make any decision.”

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Former Florida State receiver Damon McDaniel is expected to join the team in the fall. McDaniel, who played for WVU running backs/slot receivers coach Chris Beatty at Landstown (Va.) High, left the Seminoles after the first semester last season.

He enrolled in a local junior college and is seeking a NCAA hardship waiver that would allow him to be immediately eligible at WVU. McDaniel wants to be closer to home and his infant daughter and sick mother.

McDaniel is 6-2 and 200 pounds and as a high school senior was considered among the country’s best at his position. He still has three years to play two seasons. If he does not get the waiver and follows through on his transfer to WVU, he’d be a walk-on sitting out next season and then contend for an open scholarship the following season.

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Stewart said former running back Jason Gwaltney will attempt to enroll at WVU again and the team is prepared to welcome him back after the two sides reached an understanding on his return.

“If he goes to class with his headset on and his hood over his head like a boxer like he did before, I’m going to fire him,” Stewart said. “He’s already been told that. If he’s a good student-athlete and follows through on his responsibilities, he should be allowed back.”

Stewart said Gwaltney wouldn’t be academically eligible to play next season and that he’d be restricted to scout team duty.

“This is what this great world is all about,” Stewart said. “I say this all the time and I mean it, or else wouldn’t say it: If you can save one life for a lifetime, you’re pretty special. What we’re doing here has meaning.

“If we can turn him and get him going again, that’s great. This can be a good situation for him if he’s a team guy and does everything right. If he comes back and strays, he’s gone. Gone.”