Oct 24, 2002 4 min read

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia’s Jahmile Addae plans to be less wide-eyed and better prepared for his second attempt at stopping top-ranked Miami. As a 17-year-old freshman a year ago, Addae was taken off the scout team and given his first career start at free safety against the Hurricanes after an injury to Rick Sherrod, the Big East’s leading tackler.

When the Mountaineers (5-2, 2-0 Big East) play at home against Miami (6-0, 2-0) on Saturday, Addae’s nerves will be more settled, the game plan more studied.

The Valrico, Fla., native has shown he’s a fast learner and a rising star on a defense that in recent weeks nearly earned its first back-to-back shutouts in 40 years.

“Coming into two-a-days, we didn’t have an outright number one free safety. He’s really stepped up. He’s just been playing great,” said cornerback Brian King.

“We’ve been around a little bit longer than him, but you would never know it in the meeting rooms and Friday night at the hotel. He’s telling us a little bit and we’re giving him some advice. We feed off each other as a unit.”

In a 34-7 victory over Syracuse last week, Addae snared a tipped pass for his team-leading third interception of the season, resulting in a field goal. Later in the first half, he recovered a fumble that led to a touchdown.

Addae leads the Mountaineers with 10 pass breakups and ranks fifth on the team with 54 tackles.

Not bad for a player who suffers from asthma.

“Even though he’s from Florida, when the weather get cooler, I think he gets better as far as being able to handle a large number of plays,” coach Rich Rodriguez said. “He’s got good instincts. He gets around the ball. He’s tackled pretty well. I still think his best football is way ahead of him. He’s done a good job so far.”

He’s part of the reason that the Mountaineer defense, using a 3-3-5 alignment this season, has given up four fewer points than a year ago and already has forced 19 turnovers, compared with 24 for all of last year.

While the Syracuse and Rutgers games of the past two weeks were the Mountaineers’ best defensive efforts of the season, Addae, whose first name is pronounced “Jamal,” said he’s still searching for that breakout performance.

“I don’t think I’ve had my best game yet,” he said. “I have a lot to learn and am still growing and maturing. I’ll just keep on getting better, hopefully. One of these days, I’ll put it together and have a full and complete game.”

Addae will have his biggest challenge this week trying to stop Miami from slicing through the Mountaineer defense like it did in a 45-3 victory last year. West Virginia hurt itself with six turnovers that gave Miami great field position for easy scores.

This year, Ken Dorsey is throwing for 234 yards and more than two TD passes per game, while six different Miami receivers are averaging at least 20 yards, led by Andre Johnson’s 65-yard average.

Addae wants to make sure Miami’s 5-yard catches don’t result in 30-yard gains.

“Their whole team is extremely fast,” Addae said. “We just have to play smart, use a lot of technique and trust our coaches. Hopefully we can match up.”

He admits his nerves were raw before last year’s game, blaming it on getting caught up in playing the nation’s top-ranked team.

“Free safety is like the quarterback of the defense, so therefore you have to know what you’re doing as well as everybody else’s whereabouts,” Addae said. “Last year I did a decent job, but I wasn’t as comfortable as I am now.

“I’m just ready to get out there and show the world we can play football, too.”