Jovon Durante may not play for Mountaineers
One of the WVU football team’s most talented receivers, Jovon Durante, may not be playing for the Mountaineers this season. The junior from Miramar High School is one of West Virginia’s more experienced wide outs, so if he doesn’t suit up this season, it will be a big loss.
Durante is already seen as a big loss because fall camp has been underway for two weeks and he has yet to report to Morgantown, or Milan Puskar Stadium for practice.
He has been out of town in recent weeks, that much has been reported, but the reason for his absence from camp still remains a mystery.
It’s not as if Durante is holding out for contract matters, like Le’Veon Bell is doing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Durante has been dealing with “personal matters” in his native Florida, but he should be with his teammates preparing for an important upcoming season.
Holgorsen says WR Jovon Durante is dealing with personal issues. "Don't know if he will, don't know when he will [report to camp]."
— Geoff Coyle (@GFCoyle) August 6, 2017
Just a few days later, WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen couldn’t provide much more of an update regarding Durante’s status. He is still not on campus and has yet to show up for camp.
#WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen asked about Jovon Durante. "No update. No comment."
— Keenan Cummings (@rivalskeenan) August 9, 2017
Holgorsen’s tight-lipped response actually speaks volumes. It appears as if Holgorsen is perturbed at Durante’s inability to make camp, two weeks into the start of fall practice. Maybe, Holgorsen did grant him time away from the team, but Durante seems to have worn out his welcome when he should be focusing on beating Virginia Tech, as that game is less than a month away.
It’s unclear if Durante is doing anything to get himself into playing shape. This much time away from the game and his teammates would hurt himself physically and cause a lack of chemistry, for sure.
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The worst thing any player could do is lose the trust of the head coach. Holgorsen’s recent responses show that Durante is out of sight and out of mind. If and when he does come back, he may not be granted his old starting position back.
Durante has appeared in 25 career games, starting 17 for the Mountaineers. He made a splash right away in his WVU football career by not only playing in his first possible game as a true freshman, but also catching the first touchdown of that 2015 season for the Mountaineers.
His 41-yard touchdown reception against Georgia Southern also happened to be his first collegiate reception.
Related Story: Offense takes shape for WVU football team
Durante turned more heads and opened more eyes over the past two seasons. He has 59 catches after his freshman and sophomore seasons, with 709 total yards. After hauling in five touchdowns in 2015, he only had two as a sophomore in 2016.
That’s another reason why it’s more imperative for him to show up and prove his worth. At last glance, Durante appeared to be motivated coming into this season, as shown by a Twitter post in May.
2017 🤐💯😈 pic.twitter.com/AzpgbEEJfH
— jovon durante (@low_life_cinco) May 6, 2017
He has not been really active on social media since then and he hasn’t posted anything within the past two weeks regarding his absence from camp.
If Durante does show up, he will likely be disciplined in some form or another by Holgorsen and the coaching staff. That means he may not appear in the first game on Sept. 3, which would be a huge blow against an arch-rival like the Hokies.
Related Story: Spring practice begins for WVU football team
If Durante doesn’t show up at all this month, his college career is likely over. It would be a shame because Durante showed such promise early in his time with the Mountaineers and he still had two more years ahead of him at the college level to build towards a tenure in the professional ranks.
Aside from Holgorsen’s newfound love of Gatorade, Jovon Durante has been the biggest story of camp. If he is no longer a Mountaineer, that would be an even bigger story that could determine the trajectory of the WVU football team this season.