Jazz's Roomie Teggart Kicks Back

STORRS

Roomies, like brothers, come in all shapes, sizes and colors. In Jasper Howard's case, one of them was the 6-foot, 212-pound son of a kickin' Irishman.

Dave Teggart turned 21 Friday. And don't think for a second he didn't want anything more in the world than to celebrate his official date with manhood by drilling those two field goals in Jazz's honor the following afternoon in Morgantown.

"There's nobody more sick about that game than me," Teggart said Tuesday at the same time across campus from where police were announcing a 21-year-old Bloomfield man had been charged with Howard's murder. "There's really nothing else I can say other than it was nobody else's fault but mine on those kicks.

"Everybody played their heart out for Jazz and we played well enough to win. Those were two kicks I should have made, definitely."

Teggart missed a 27-yard chip shot wide left early in the third quarter before bouncing a 44-yard attempt off the left upright with 12:48 remaining in the game. Those were six points off the Milan Puskar scoreboard, and when you lose 28-24 and most everybody outside West Virginia's pulling for the Huskies ... well, let's put it this way. Those who enjoy playing the blame game had to stand in line to take a drop kick at Teggart.

He made no excuses. He asked for no emotional free pass. On the play before his second miss, Teggart nailed a 39-yarder, but Zach Hurd was flagged for a false start. Still, Teggart blamed nobody but himself. Even as coach Randy Edsall talked about creating more practice competition for the sophomore, Teggart responded: "I can't wait to get back out there. Every day is a competition."

Defensive tackle Kendall Reyes is also Teggart's roommate, as is tailback Kelmetrus Wylie.

"It was definitely hard on Dave," Reyes said. "If you mess up at your job, you never feel good about it. But, honestly, I don't think the game came down to those field goals. There are plenty of other areas where we could have capitalized and finished the game out."

From Jerome Junior failing to push Noel Devine out of bounds to Ryan Griffin's drop deep in WVU territory, Edsall counted 47 ways. Ordinarily, I'd throw my hands up in exasperation at such math, yet in this situation it was entirely the right answer. The pain of Howard's death already was enough. Teggart doesn't need another crossbar to bear. What he needs to do is make more field goals. He is 7-for-12 this season.

Howard, Wylie and Reyes became eligible for the Hilltop Apartments this school year, and all of Teggart's roommates from last year were seniors.

"We had never really hung out before," said Teggart, the one white player in the crew. "But being in the room together, we got closer. There was never a dull moment. It was always fun."

"I'm always going, 'Teggart, come in here,'" Reyes said. "We're all good guys. We all get along. Teggart is actually really funny. He has little inside jokes that keep you going."

The inside joke, of course, is the gentle conspiracy of brotherhood. And when that bond is penetrated forever by a knife blade, the grief can be immeasurable.

"Seeing his body there [at the funeral in Miami] ..." Reyes said softly.

"It was tough," Teggart said.

Tuesday brought a vital step toward closure. Urged by Howard's uncle, a Miami police detective, the Huskies had demonstrated commendable restraint. Let the authorities do their job was the cry. Fittingly, the warrant for the arrest of John W. Lomax III was signed Monday, the day of Howard's funeral.

"I just hope this is the person who committed this terrible crime, they get convicted and go down for what they did," Reyes said.

"They made an arrest?" asked Teggart, who had just left class. "Good."

Let the renewal begin.

After Tony Ciaravino missed two field goals in the 12-10 loss at Rutgers late year, Edsall turned to Teggart. In his first game, he went 4-for-4 in the upset of Cincinnati. Teggart talked about how much he loved the Red Sox that day and was so stoked when he found out Kevin Youkilis, a Bearcat, had been in the Rentschler stands. Along the way, we found out Teggart went to the same high school (Algonquin Regional in Northborough, Mass.) as Mark Fidrych and that Teggart's dad, Dave, who had come to the United States from Ireland, had set a University of New Hampshire record with a 53-yard field goal.