Owen Schmitt: A Profile of West Virginia's Starting Fullback

The phrase "Schmitt Happens" has been circulating around Morgantown West Virginia, the home of the mountaineers, all season long. If you spend any time on the West Virginia University campus you will know that it is the bone jarring blocks delivered by Owen Schmitt that have been happening every time their football team takes the field. Sure, Steve Slayton and Pat White have been chewing up defensive units all season long. But many of these yards have come at the heels of Owen Schmitt, who is the Mountaineers starting fullback, and Schmitt has been the lead blocker for many of Slayton and White's dashing runs.

Schmitt is listed at 6' 2" and weighs in at 260 pounds and possesses awesome power. Rumor has it on several WVU football discussion boards that he would shatter world weightlifting records in his weight class if he were to choose to compete in the sport of weightlifting. Whether the rumors are true or not does not matter to NFL scouts, who have been witnessing first hand Schmitt's punishing running and blocking style all season long.

In addition, Schmitt has busted 10 face-masks so far in his collegiate career, a testament in and of itself that he has superhuman like power. If he continues this trend in the NFL, then he will surely be a perennial favorite to make the All-Madden Team for a long time to come.

Besides strength, Schmitt has uncanny speed for his size. He has clocked a better than 4.6 second 40 yard dash according to nfldraftscout.com.
He has been utilized mainly as a blocker, but when called upon, shows the ability to break open field runs, and he runs good pass routes. When thrown to, he has shown excellent ball handling skills, rarely dropping the ball.

This season Schmitt has seen an expanded role with the Mountaineers. He lined up as a punter, "pooch" kicking to pin the opponent deep in their own territory. In addition, he has lined up at tight end and slot positions, providing run block support and has caught a few passes from these positions. He has the size, speed, and ball handling skills to make the move to tight end for any NFL team.