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CORTLAND — It doesn’t look as if Jets coach Rex Ryan will be invited to West Virginia University anytime soon.
Ryan took a shot at the school after being asked about a report that quoted current Mountaineers football players and coaches saying the leadership was not good last year, when Jets rookie Geno Smith, who was not named in the article, was the quarterback.
“It tells me I’m glad my kid never went there,” Ryan said yesterday. “I don’t get that. Geno was a tremendous player for West Virginia. Sometimes I don’t know. … You’d have to ask them.”
Several West Virginia players had harsh things to say about last year’s team. Even though they never mentioned Smith by name, as the quarterback it would be expected he was viewed as one of the leaders.
“Last year we didn’t have, you know, a lot of leadership,” running back Dustin Garrison told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
West Virginia finished 7-6 after a 5-0 start last year.
“What’s different this year is we’re more a team,” offensive lineman Quinton Spain said. “There ain’t no I’s; we don’t depend on nobody. We just depend on all of us at once as a team. So I think this year will be better than last year. There wasn’t no team. I could say there was a team early, but once we started losing we saw the I’s come up, so it just hurt the team worse.”
Smith was not available for comment. Ryan’s son, Seth, is a freshman at Clemson.
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RB Chris Ivory participated fully in practice for the first time in training camp. Ivory looked good during the team period, hitting holes hard and showing some quickness.
“He looked excellent,” Ryan said. “I mean, that’s a big, powerful man, that’s the guy we’ve been waiting [for]. I think every Jet fan has been looking forward to seeing this guy run and today we got to see it some. I was encouraged by it to say the least.”
Ryan said he hopes Ivory can play Saturday night against the Jaguars.
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Ryan did not say who his starting quarterback will be Saturday.
“We’re just going to let this thing play out and see where we are at the end of the week and then we’ll make that decision,” Ryan said.
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The Jets had a scare in practice when CB Antonio Cromartie clutched his left elbow and screamed in pain. It looked like a potentially serious injury for the team’s best player, but Cromartie did not miss a play and later tweeted he is OK.
“I want to let Jets nation know that I’m fine,” he tweeted.
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The Jets did not have their usual walk-through last night. Instead, they went to the movies for a team-bonding night. … K Nick Folk had a busy week. He left Cortland last Wednesday and returned home to New Jersey, where his wife gave birth to twin boys that night. He flew to Detroit on Thursday night and played in Friday’s game. “I can’t wait to get home,” Folk said yesterday. … QB Greg McElroy rolled his ankle and did not finish practice yesterday. Ryan said he originally hurt the ankle on Friday night.