Glover ready to put injuries aside, break out in ’10

Sidney Glover still has nasty nightmares.

While West Virginia fans will forever remember the Mountaineers' 19-16 win over Pittsburgh by the game-winning field goal by Tyler Bitancurt, Glover remembers another play in that game.

The ball came flying out of Pitt quarterback Bill Stull's hands to an open Jon Baldwin, who flew into the end zone to tie the game at 16 with less than three minutes to play.

All Glover – a junior defensive back at the time – could do was try to grab the receiver with his outstretched arms before Baldwin reached the end zone. It didn't work.

"I wasn't ever the one where the pressure was on and I gave up the big play. Usually, I was the one, when the pressure was on, my teammates looked to me," Glover said of his high school days at Warren G. Harding High School. "I felt like last year, I was the guy that they couldn't look to, and I was letting my team down in certain situations. That usually was never me, so I was really unhappy with myself."

Glover's lasting memory of the 2009 season is what motivated him for this season.

"I had a terrible year last year. I didn't live up to my potential," Glover said. "But now I'm just hoping for the best this year and to let that play out."

Glover would like to go back to his successful ways, like a 2008 game against South Florida, where he had four tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and a recovered fumble.

A healthy year could be the key to help him do that each game in 2010.

That's easier said than done, though. Glover has had some bad luck over his career.

He's worn a little bit more green and red than he has blue and gold over the last year and a half, too. That's something his head coach doesn't like too much.

But, it's something the senior starting safety is trying to change.

The senior from Warren, Ohio, has been through a lengthy list of injuries in just a year and a half. He's had problems with his shoulder, knee and hamstring.

"I think about it all the time … when I'm done here what will (the fans) think of me?" Glover said. "At my high school, they think I'm great. Here, if I stopped playing today, I feel people haven't seen the best of me. A lot of that is probably because I wasn't healthy."

Glover spent much of the offseason trying to focus on his areas of weakness – like those hamstrings and shoulders that bothered him in the past.

"If they're hard on themselves, that means they care," said head coach Bill Stewart. "Sidney has gone beyond the call of duty as far as lifting because he has had some nicks and bangs, and he wants to have a great senior season and go on and further his career."

Other than that, Glover said he has to go out on the field and not think about the previous injuries.

"I just have to go out there and hope for the best," he said. "It may be my last play. You may never know. You just have to go out there and give it your best."

Despite all of his efforts, Glover was unable to participate in some of the team's fall practices because of a minor hamstring. Glover had a minor hamstring injury that kept him out of some of the second half of fall camp. He was at full strength in the team's final scrimmage Aug. 21.

It was nothing serious – or serious enough to hurt Glover's chances for a strong senior season.

"With football, if you work as hard as you can, everything that you're in control of will work out for itself," Glover said. "If I have a healthy year this year, I'll hopefully have that breakout year. So far, my career to me has been up and down.

Glover is part of four returning starters in the secondary, which is expected to be one of the best in the country led by fellow safety Robert Sands, who had a breakout sophomore season in 2009.

Glover admitted he was the weak link of the secondary last year.

"If I would have had a breakout type of year like Rob did (last year), our secondary would be looked at as one of the best," Glover said. "I think if I do my part, we'll be a lot better."

If he stays healthy in 2010, those nightmares of Baldwin scoring a touchdown over him from last year will turn to a dream of him winning that battle in 2010.

"I'm looking for a big year this year," Glover said. "Who knows, it could be my last year. I want to end it the right way."