Published: November 20, 2008 12:08 pm            

Pain in the neck doesn't worry Mountaineers' Dent

MORGANTOWN — In official team terms, Mike Dent is "week to week" with a pinched nerve in his neck.

West Virginia's senior center from Jeanette, Pa., missed the team's last game after starting the previous 21, and while he's being reevaluated later this week and preparing to start in Saturday's noon game, it seems unlikely he'll return for Louisville.

"Am I starting to worry?" he said. "No. I never worry."

The neck is a delicate thing attached to other delicate things and 19 days after injuring himself in WVU's victory at Connecticut, swelling remains that must subside before he can play again.

Dent is doing traction treatments and taking anti-inflammatory medicine to help reduce the swelling, but his prognosis remains unclear.

He said there is no pain or numbness and he has full range of motion, but he can't control the last obstacle to getting back on the field.

"It's frustrating, especially in my senior year, but I think I can't let it bother me," he said. "I'll continue to stay positive and prepare as if I'm going to play."

Early in the second quarter of the Nov. 1 game at UConn, Dent went out to block a linebacker on a 2-yard gain by Jock Sanders.

"I went to shoot my hands and happened to hit my head first," Dent said. "When I hit my head first I jammed it. I felt numbness going down both my arms."

Dent tried to shake it, but he couldn't feel anything. When lined up over the ball on the next play, he actually picked it up and was penalized for an illegal snap. Quarterback Pat White scored three plays later and Dent managed the final 47 snaps without incident.

"I didn't really feel any pain," he said. "I sort of blocked it out."

Dent practiced with the team the following week, but was sent for an MRI on Nov. 5. News of the swelling and the affected vertebrae was alarming.

"A little bit," he said. "You definitely think about the big picture once you hear that information at first, but if you start to look ahead like that, it can only cause more problems."

Dent, who was an All-Big East second teamer last season, hasn't practiced since and is limited to "mental reps." He was replaced in the starting lineup by Eric Jobe, a 6-foot-5, 295-pound redshirt sophomore from La Plata, Md.

Like Dent, who was a very good high school basketball player and owned the Jeannette High all-time scoring record until Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor broke it last year, Jobe was an accomplished high school athlete in another sport.

He took up wrestling to help him with football. As a senior, he won the Maryland 4A/3A heavyweight tournament and finished 40-1 as La Plata High's first state champion.

He's a physical player who still draws upon wrestling for leverage and the use of his hands.

"It's pretty far in my past, but a lot of people say I look like a wrestler when I get my hands on people," he said. "I guess it's just ingrained."

If Dent can't start Saturday at Louisville (noon, ESPN), Jobe will go again.

"He did a great job stepping in there and not missing a beat," Dent said. "He was able to go out and communicate and get people where they needed to be. I think he'll be able to do an even better job this week."

Center is an intricate position. He makes the calls on the line and relies heavily upon his teammates to tell him what's going on after he lowers his head. It requires a trust and familiarity with the other offensive linemen.

Jobe was told he'd start against Cincinnati just two days and one full-scale practice before the game. He'd never played and hardly ever practiced with the first team before Dent's injury.

"I've had going on two weeks to think about it now," Jobe said. "I'm going to be a lot more ready mentally and physically and be more comfortable now that I've played with the other linemen.

"I'll be a little more comfortable with them and they'll be a little more comfortable with me."

        

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