West Virginia receiver enjoys homecoming
WVU's Jock Sanders is enjoying Christmas with his family in Tallahassee, Fla., for the first time in years.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jock Sanders has a lot to be thankful for this Christmas.
After a year that included an arrest — his second in two years — and a six-month suspension, West Virginia's junior wide receiver says he'll have the best Christmas present he could imagine.
For the first time since his first child was born three years ago, he will spend the holiday with all three of his children and his family in his hometown. He has a three-year old, a two-year old and a newborn child.
“The last couple of years I haven't been there, so I'm really feeling luck to be there this year,” he said.
Because the Mountaineers’ bowl games fell either too close to Christmas Day or were far away, the team has missed spending the holiday with its families.
Sanders drove from Morgantown to Tallahassee, Fla., on Wednesday.
“I'll be home on the 25th to spend Christmas with my family and my kids and then start preparing for the Gator Bowl the next day,” said Sanders, who will play in front of a hometown crowd in Jacksonville, Fla., on New Year's Day against Florida State.
“A lot of people are coming up to the game. You're playing back at home, so you've got to put on a show. I'll be ready.”
Sanders said he has heard “a whole bunch of stuff on Facebook” from his high school friends who go to Florida State.
Sanders said he didn’t have a favorite Florida team growing up, rooting for all of the big three schools. However, he patterned his game after FSU receiver Peter Warrick.
“You always follow Florida, Miami and Florida State when you grow up down there,” Sanders said. “Now you’re playing one of those teams, so it's like a dream come true.”
He was recruited by Florida but not by Florida State coming out of high school. Neither offered him a scholarship, though.
Instead, he signed with West Virginia, and on Tuesday he was named the team’s offensive co-Player of the Year alongside running back Noel Devine.
Sanders leads the Mountaineers in every receiving category this season. He has 70 catches for 674 yards and three touchdowns. He needs eight catches in the Gator Bowl to break the school’s single-season reception mark of 77.
He is second in the Big East behind Cincinnati’s Mardy Gilyard in receptions per game and seventh in receiving yards per game. He is also third in punt returns.
Now he wants a victory that he figures will be remembered for a long time.
“It will be one of those trivia questions that come on during halftime of games in the future,” Sanders said about playing in legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden’s final game. “What team beat Florida State in Bowden’s last game? It’d be us.”
