WVU's Where Are They Now? The 6/25/2011 Boys Of Summer Edition

Welcome back to another edition of "WVU's Where Are They Now?" - the weekly column that is your one-spot-stop to catch up on news that your former Mountaineers have made during the previous week. I scour the Internet for news, blurbs, and other tidbits about what former Mountaineers are up in life outside of Morgantown.

Since the first day of summer fell this past week, I thought we'd make this a top-heavy baseball edition. Jedd Gyorko continues his hot-hitting with yet another award. The newest Mountaineer to play professional baseball makes a splash in his first at-bat. While not a 'summer sport' here in the States, pro-football is a 'summer sport' in Canada. The CFL is in it's pre-season, and Mountaineer All-Time leading rusher, Avon Cobourne, faced his old team.

In other former Mountaineer related news, FoxSports reported that Pat White signed with the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL. Then Chip Fontanazza of WVMetroNews clarified that White hadn't signed, but could soon. In memory of Chris Henry, Quincy Wilson and Grant Wiley team up for a worthy cause, and Owen Schmitt holds his 2nd annual youth football camp. We have the latest entry in the Marc Bulger It May Or Not Be News Item of the Week. Lastly, Indianapolis Colts K, Pat McAfee earns our Former Player Tweet of the Week with a particularly smelly entry.

Boys of Summer

Jedd Gyorko- The former Mountaineer infielder, and current San Diego Padres hot minor-league prospect, was named the California League's All-Star Game MVP this past Tuesday. Gyorko went 2-for-4, with 2 RBI's and a run scored. Gyorko is bucking for a promotion with the Padres. Padres current 2nd baseman, Orlando Hudson, recently spent a rehabilitation assignment with Gyorko's ballclub, Lake Elsinore Storm. He came away impressed with Gyorko's hot-hitting:

"He's got to get up. They've got to get him out of there. He's tearing this league up," Hudson said. "He knows what he's doing at the plate, which is a very good thing at this level. You very rarely see that."

Grant Buckner- Buckner was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the recent MLB Draft in the 26th Round. He wasted no time in making his Mountaineer presence felt. In his debut for the Bristol White Sox of the Appalachian League, Buckner hit a two-run homer in his first career at bat. 

Avon Cobourne- Cobourne spent 5 years and was a 2-time Grey Cup winner with the Montreal Alouettes. His contract expired after last season, and the Alouettes chose no to re-sign Cobourne. They opted instead to sign former Green Bay Packers RB, Ahman Green, instead. (Green has already been cut by Montreal.) The Hamilton Tiger-Cats didn't take long to snatch up Cobourne. The Ticats faced the Alouettes in their second pre-season game. Cobourne carried 6 times for 40 yards and caught 2 passes for 14. Although Cobourne's stats weren't huge, Cobourne's new team blew out Cobourne's old team 57-20.

Non-Boys of Summer

Quincy Wilson and Grant Wiley- Wilson and Wiley have teamed up to form the WV Legends Organization, a non-profit organization that raises funds for former teammates, their families, and other West Virginians who face a tragedy such as the likes that Chris Henry's family went through following his death. Funding for the Organization will be supported through a series of fundraisers and donations. For more info on the organization and planned fundrasiers, go to CampsnEersLegends.com.

Owen Schmitt- The Eagle FB hosted his second-annual youth football camp at Laidley Field in Charleston on June 20th. Schmitt's camp covers the fundamentals of football and drills they can use at home to help themselves get better. 

"We cover basic fundamentals and maybe a life lesson or two here or there," Schmitt said. "When you're a kid, you don't pay too much attention to things like that. We are having fun and getting out there... what is nice about this is we come out here for a few hours and try to teach some fundamentals, nothing too fancy but just solid building blocks in the basic game of football and hopefully it grow from there."

Casey Mitchell- The mercurial former Mountaineer was hopeful of getting drafted in Thursday's NBA Draft. He went undrafted. Now he'll join former teammate, Joe Mazzulla, as they hope to find employment. Mazulla has already said that he is hopeful of playing overseas. I'll let you know where Mitchell and Mazzulla land. 

Marc Bulger It-May-Or-Not-Be-News Item of the Week

ProFootballWeekly wrote this past week that Bulger, rumored to be a candidate to sign with at least 5 different NFL teams when business in the NFL resumes, could wind up where he spent last season: on the Baltimore Ravens sideline. Bulger, according to some, wishes to find a starting gig next season. Bulger, according to others, is fine with a backup role. The ProFootballWeekly piece reports (sort of) that should Bulger not find a starting role on another team, he'd be fine returning to Baltimore to backup Joe Flacco. 

Former Player Tweet of the Week

This beauty comes from Pat McAfee (@ThePatMcAfeeShow)

This is the interactive part of the column. I don't see every Tweet from every former Mountaineer, so if you see a Tweet from a former Mountaineer that you think is worthy of the Tweet of the Week, send it to me @WVUPros. It can be anything funny, inspirational, or newsworthy. If I use your suggestion, I'll be sure to mention you in that column!