MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - It seems like every year, Bradley Starks enters the football season with raised expectations. Each season, however, his lack of significant experience has given Starks a bit of a free pass when the expectations are not met. Now, in his junior campaign, the excuses disappear. It is time to produce.

Starks finally comes into a training camp knowing his sole responsibilities will be at the receiver position. There will not be any dabbling in the quarterback huddle, other than to occasionally tell some of the younger guys not to miss him the next time he is wide open, or else. It is time for Starks’s sparks these past two seasons to become solid, every down performance. And he knows this.

No longer can he make the 48- and 58-yard grabs early in a game and then hide away with his sole contribution the rest of the day be a few flags for holding or blocks on the back. This sort of stat line was typical in Starks’s sophomore season, when there were still two seniors ahead of him to carry the load if his focus began to slip.

Now he is the veteran, with plenty of young talent waiting in the wings for him to guide them. He watching film from last year and recognizes his flaws. He does not search for excuses, because he knows the old adage about excuses, and he knows they all stink.

“I think more so for me it was my route running,” says Starks. “When I got a little tired, my technique started to go downhill a little bit, so I think I wanted to focus more on that this year and being more physical within my route.”

Whatever Starks was doing in the first half of last season, he needs to focus on getting back to that caliber of player and better. He got out to a good start for West Virginia, with 296 yards on 14 receptions in five games – a pretty good stat line for a No. 2 receiver in recent Mountaineer history. But for the rest of the way, injuries and plenty of other factors that were within his control kept Starks from making an impact as he accumulated just a 7.3 yards per reception average through the final seven games he played in. In four of those games, he did not reach 20 yards. In three, he didn’t get to 10.

This summer is a chance to lose the habits that led to the diminished statistics and build upon what made him successful. While he studies his own game and works to improve as an individual, Starks knows the more important goal to accomplish this summer is team chemistry. He has no chance of becoming the all-BIG EAST performer he strives to be if the offense as a whole is not finding success.
 

The most significant bit of chemistry he can develop, of course, is that with Geno Smith.

“I think they’re really important just to get on the same thing as the quarterback is thinking,” he says. “More so getting the chemistry down with him than anything. Getting a feel for him and what he likes and what he doesn’t like and I think we’re doing a good job of that this summer.”

A former quarterback himself, Starks can appreciate the skill set he sees from Smith. His ability to chuck the ball from sideline to sideline and everywhere in between has never been in doubt, but Starks goes a step further in his praise for the young signal caller.

“He’s a smart quarterback, a really smart quarterback and he’s going to take what the defense gives him and he’s going to read the field good, he’s going to make the right decision and he’s going to put us in the best situation to win,” says Starks.

Starks is already seeing a glimpse at the future every day in 7-on-7 drills, as the offense has frequently been getting the better of the defense. On a team with so many weapons in the backfield and out wide, the defensive secondary has their work cut out for them. The level of competition is high, and it can only help improve the quality of the product that takes the field Sept. 4.

“It’s been really competitive this summer,” he says. “We’ve been going at it with one another. Just yesterday, we had a collision in the end zone, so people are really going after it and trying to get the ball. Defense got us yesterday, so it goes back and forth and any given day – any side of the ball can have a good day.”

The back-and-forth of summer drills is a good thing, showing that each side can get the job done on a given day. Once the season starts, however, Starks and the rest of the offense intend to only have good days. It begins with the leadership, and in turn the performance on the field – two things that Starks is ready to deliver for the Mountaineers in 2010.