67 Quinton Spain

Hometown: Petersburg, VA

Career: 2011-Present

Record: 10-3, Bowl Record: 1-0 including a BCS win

Big Quinton Spain came to WVU as a recruit with a ton of potential. Quinton was vying for a starting job along Coach Dana Holgorsen’s offensive line going into this past Spring. Spain had a difficult time maintaining his weight and learning the blocking scheme, ultimately serving as a back-up at guard and tackle. Coach Holgorsen has tabbed Spain as the starter at left tackle in the early depth chart. Spain has all the tools to be a great left tackle for the Mountaineers, and he’ll be given the opportunity to prove that this season.

Memorable Game: Spain isn’t quite a star yet, but he did see a decent bit of playing time in the game at Rutgers this past season. The game had major significance for both squads. West Virginia was needing a rebound performance after being ambushed by Syracuse the week prior. Rutgers was in search of a big win in honor of Eric Legrand (player paralyzed in game against Army).

While the Mountaineers were touched by Rutgers entrance featuring Legrand, they were there for the victory. Conventional wisdom would dictate that games played in heavy snow like this game would be low scoring. That’s why no one was surprised by the halftime score Rutgers 31 – WVU 21! Both offenses were executing well in the first half and the defense could not seem to finish a tackle. So when the field crew cleared the snow off the field, fans were expecting to see an even higher scoring half. Lo and behold, WVU’s defense would force multiple turnovers and the offense would only put up 10 points. The Mountaineers would pull out a narrow victory on an emotional Saturday, defeating Rutgers 41-31.

Competition: Now you must be asking yourself, “was there really no one better than Spain?” Well the player that is probably most deserving for this spot is Eric de Groh. He played in the mid 90s and was a driving force in the success of the Bulger and Zeroue teams. I would have gone with de Groh had it not been for a total lack of pictures online.

Teaser: Hopefully today’s selection doesn’t get too many of you howling at me. I promise that tomorrow’s WVU Sports Hall of Fame selection will have you talking about one of the greatest players of kind. I just hope it’s not a full moon tomorrow, otherwise things might get a little hairy.