Published: June 21, 2008 01:52 am      

COLUMN: WVU’s Ford having trouble gaining weight

MORGANTOWN — I went to bed last night and dreamed I was Larry Ford.

Honest. (Psst, it’s really hard to type with my fingers crossed like this).

He’s my new idol.

See, I drive by a McDonald’s and gain 3 pounds. Forget it if it’s a Pizza Hut. Might as well go buy a new belt.

But this Ford guy, who came to Morgantown in January from Georgetown, S.C., by way of Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, to play defensive end, he has the exact opposite problem.

The man can’t gain weight.

He’ll go to Burger King and order a Whopper late at night, then say, “Hold on, better make it a double Whopper. Add cheese, too.”

When he came here and began spring ball he was at 240, which sounds like a big man but really isn’t when you are facing 300-pound tackles and when you stretch it over 6-feet, 3-inches.

They wanted him to gain weight, so he spent the spring practice gouging himself on burgers and pizzas.

He went from 240 to 230, then to 220.

If he kept this up he’d be a wide receiver.

“Everyone is clowning me about that, but I can’t catch, so... “

In reality, it was worrying Ford.

“A lot,” he admitted. “It was stressful.”

He wanted to be on a path to the NFL but seemed to be on the path to becoming another fast food Jared Fogle, the lad with the large jeans who became Subway’s spokesperson after losing weight on a steady diet of Subway subs.

Ford presently is weighing in at about 235 as summer workouts continue and his goal is to be at 245 or 250.

They have brought in a nutritionist to help the players.

“And she’s saying ‘Just eat.’ I’m still eating pizza and McDonalds. She is supposed to be taking a couple of players shopping and telling us what to eat,” he said.

What might he expect when she gives him a diet?

“I don’t know, healthy food,” said Ford.

Ford’s problem is that while he has to gain weight, he can’t gain too much weight for his greatest asset is his speed.

He claims he has run a 4.5 40, which is quick, but that he’s now at about 4.6 or 4.7, still pretty quick for a D-lineman.

Forty-yard times, in reality, mean nothing for a defensive end, who beats the tackle normally within his first step or two.

“I feel like me coming off the edge is faster than my 40 times,” he said. “My best bet is to get around them and beat them fastest way I can.”

Even though he’s a junior, he comes to WVU as a raw recruit.

There’s not much sophistication in the pass rushing schemes on the junior college level and whatever sophistication there is doesn’t matter much because the game is so different.

“At my junior college the O-linemen were all about 240. Here they average about 300,” he noted.

That makes it a different game, so he has to learn all new techniques.

Enter veteran defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich.

“He’s a good coach, the best coach that ever coached me,” Ford said.

He also is rather intimidating at times with his loud, raspy voice and a vocabulary that is pure locker room.

“I know when he gets down on the D-line, he’s not doing it to... Well, sometimes he does it just to hurt your feelings, but it’s out of motivation to make the D-line the best,” Ford said.

Did he ever get to the point where he wanted to, maybe, just take a punch at the coach when he was being really pushed?

Ford smiled widely.

“Kirlav is Italian. Can’t mess the Italians,” he said.

Would that be the Kirelawich’s from Rome or from Venice?

Whichever, perhaps, Kirelawich could cook up a big ol’ tray of lasagna for Ford, to give him a night off away from Mickey D’s.

Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.