Troy Swittenburg sat at a table Tuesday facing members of the media. He had no problems offering praise when asked to speak about West Virginia’s best player.

‘Quincy Morgan?’ said Swittenburg, cornerback for the Syracuse football team. ‘He never quits no matter what the score is. There’s just some guys who got it, a knack for hard-nosed football.’

Problem is, West Virginia doesn’t even have a Quincy Morgan on its roster. It’s Quincy Wilson, WVU’s star running back, who Swittenburg so highly complemented. It’s Wilson who ranks No. 10 in the country with 122.6 rushing yards per game, two spots ahead of SU’s Walter Reyes.

It’s Wilson who, come noon Saturday in the Carrier Dome, will make sure the Orangemen know his name. Just in case SU needs a reminder, it’ll be etched on the back of his No. 3 jersey.

Turns out the ‘College Gameday’ crew on ESPN made the same mistake and have been calling Wilson ‘Quincy Morgan’ on their broadcasts. Maybe Wilson’s performance in WVU’s 52-31 win over Pittsburgh, in which he had 208 yards and four touchdowns, will set the record straight.

‘Morgan? Who is that guy?’ Wilson said to reporters after Saturday’s game. ‘I’m not sure why my name is so hard to pronounce, but maybe when you carry the ball so many times, you start to fumble the names up.’

Quincy Morgan is a third-year wide receiver on the Cleveland Browns.

But outside of Morgantown, W.Va., most people couldn’t pick Wilson out from Quincy Jones. Now that the Mountaineers (6-4, 4-1 Big East) are contending for the Big East championship, the task may become a little easier.

He’ll face a Syracuse team intent on stopping the run. The Orangemen (5-4, 2-3) rank No. 45 in run defense in the country, allowing 137 yards per game. They’ve had mixed results this season against the top backs in the Big East. SU held Boston College’s Derrick Knight to 51 yards but gave up 131 yards and two touchdowns to Virginia Tech’s Kevin Jones.

Wilson may be one of the strongest backs SU will face this season. He levels tacklers in his path.

He made newscasts all over the country with a play against Miami. He caught a screen pass, sprinted down the sideline, bowled over a defensive back, jumped over the defender as he lay on the ground and ran in for the touchdown.

SU tight end Joe Donnelly remembers seeing the highlights.

‘I said two things,’ Donnelly said. ‘One, that poor kid who was the backup safety is probably not going to be playing for a while. He’s either hurt or his pride was hurt.

‘Two, I think (starting Miami safety) Mo Sikes was sitting on the sidelines thinking, ‘Thank God that wasn’t me.’ He hit him at the 10, and I think he landed at the five. You don’t see anything like that ever.’

Wilson, though, is quick to credit the hogs in front of him for his success.

‘We just found our O-line together,’ Wilson said. ‘We started pounding the ball more.’

Coupled with Rasheed Marshall, Wilson and the rest of the Mountaineers have won five straight games since a heartbreaking 22-20 loss to Miami on Oct. 2. The Mountaineers have beaten top conference teams Boston College, Virginia Tech and Pitt in that span.

The Orangemen, meanwhile, have lost three of their last five games. But those loses were to Pitt, Tech and Miami. Last Saturday in Miami, Syracuse running back Walter Reyes surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight year. His 15 touchdowns lead the Orangemen.

Wilson has rushed for 1,226 yards and 12 scores this year. While he has similar numbers to Reyes, the running styles of the two premier Big East running backs vary slightly. Wilson is more of the bullish runner, while Reyes slices through the holes.

‘Quincy Wilson’s been doing his thing lately,’ SU defensive end Julian Pollard said. ‘He’s a stout guy, a hard runner. You’ve got to wrap up a guy like that. But we’ll find out what he’s about this weekend.’

Published on November 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm