For Cody Nutter and Matt Lindamood, every day they are in a West Virginia University football uniform is another day of living the dream.
"It's hard to explain," Nutter said following WVU's 35-24 win over Colorado. "It's a feeling like no other when you come out of that tunnel and there are 60,000 fans screaming their heads off for you."
Nutter, who played his high school football at Parkersburg South, earned the starting nod at long snapper during spring drills and has started all four games the Mountaineers have played in 2009.
"I was a little nervous in the first game, but as soon as I made that first snap they all went away and now I'm just working hard at being more consistent with my snaps," added the former Patriot all-stater.
Nutter's accuracy has been on target and helped senior punter Scott Kozlowski earn Big East Special Teams Player of the Week following his 48-yard average on four punts in the win over the Buffaloes.
"I like snapping on punts and field goals, but I'd much rather be snapping on extra points because that means we are scoring touchdowns," Nutter said.
For Lindamood, the dream became a reality following a Gold/Blue spring game in which he impressed the coaching staff-especially head coach Bill Stewart-so much with his intensity he earned a spot on the Mountaineers' kickoff coverage unit.
"I've gotten to play a lot more than I expected," said Lindamood. "But, that's a good thing because it means we are scoring a lot."
The former Parkerbsurg High all-state running back got his first unassisted tackle in WVU's 41-30 loss at Auburn.
"It happened so fast that I don't remember a lot about it," said Lindamood. "You really aren't on the field that long and so many things are happening around you that you have to really focus on just what is in front of you."
Both Nutter and Lindamood will be in uniform on Saturday when WVU plays its Big East season-opener in the Carrier Dome against host Syracuse.
"I'm excited," said Lindamood. "This will be my first time up there. The players have told me how loud it can get, but I really won't know until I see it for myself."
West Virginia has won seven straight between the two schools including the last three in Syracuse-55-14 in 2007, 15-7 in 2005 and 34-23 in 2003.
"We aren't going to take anyone lightly," explained Nutter. "Coach Stew and the rest of the coaches have already warned us about not playing up to our abilities."
WVU comes into the 57th meeting against Syracuse averaging 33.2 points per game, exactly seven points more than it is surrendering.
"We feel like we can score from anywhere on the field at any time," said Lindamood.
"If we take care of the football, then we can play with anyone on our schedule."
Contact Jim Butta at jbutta@newsandsentinel.com
