MORGANTOWN - All things considered, Jock Sanders probably needs West Virginia's football team more than it needs him. And if one accepts that premise, the fact that Bill Stewart is allowing the suspended receiver/running back a glimpse of daylight is more a humanitarian gesture than a selfish one.

Oh, there's no question Sanders will help the Mountaineers this fall, assuming he continues on the straight and narrow and is eventually fully reinstated to the team. That's actually not a given, but it seems quite likely. Stewart has lifted Sanders' ban on being anywhere around the Puskar Center and is allowing him to go through summer conditioning drills.

But let's be brutally honest here, too, and admit that the 5-foot-8, 185-pound junior is still a work in progress.

This isn't a case of a coach in desperate need of talents only Sanders possesses. It's not as if he were Pat White or Steve Slaton or even someone like Reed Williams - guys whose mere presence elevates a team. Sanders is an undersized running back and a receiver who occasionally has trouble catching passes.

But he's also a terrific tool to have in the box, given that right now he's the only guy ready to back up Noel Devine, he's a slot receiver who is well-versed in the offense and led the team with 53 catches in 2008 and he can return kicks if needed. No team in the history of football has ever had too many guys like that.

Here's the tip-off, though, that Sanders needs WVU's football team more than it needs him: He never quit, even for a moment. Even in the face of evidence that his was going to be a grueling climb back into Stewart's good graces, he gutted it out, often times literally.

"I keep hearing stories about how he's working out [on his own] so hard that he's puking his guts out,'' Stewart told me a few months ago. "Well, that's great, but you know how much that means as far as him [having his suspension lifted]? Not one thing. He can work out all he wants and if he does come back it would be great if he were in shape like that. But that's not what's going to get him back here. He has to prove to ol' Bill Stewart that he's matured and he deserves a chance as a person first, not as a player.''

Now, you can mock Stewart's style all you want. And plenty have. It's like the guy was lifted from a Damon Runyon story. Or, more precisely, at times he seems like Runyon himself, littering even the most basic thoughts with equal parts color and corn.

Oh, there's no question Sanders will help the Mountaineers this fall, assuming he continues on the straight and narrow and is eventually fully reinstated to the team. That's actually not a given, but it seems quite likely. Stewart has lifted Sanders' ban on being anywhere around the Puskar Center and is allowing him to go through summer conditioning drills.

But let's be brutally honest here, too, and admit that the 5-foot-8, 185-pound junior is still a work in progress.

This isn't a case of a coach in desperate need of talents only Sanders possesses. It's not as if he were Pat White or Steve Slaton or even someone like Reed Williams - guys whose mere presence elevates a team. Sanders is an undersized running back and a receiver who occasionally has trouble catching passes.

But he's also a terrific tool to have in the box, given that right now he's the only guy ready to back up Noel Devine, he's a slot receiver who is well-versed in the offense and led the team with 53 catches in 2008 and he can return kicks if needed. No team in the history of football has ever had too many guys like that.

Here's the tip-off, though, that Sanders needs WVU's football team more than it needs him: He never quit, even for a moment. Even in the face of evidence that his was going to be a grueling climb back into Stewart's good graces, he gutted it out, often times literally.

"I keep hearing stories about how he's working out [on his own] so hard that he's puking his guts out,'' Stewart told me a few months ago. "Well, that's great, but you know how much that means as far as him [having his suspension lifted]? Not one thing. He can work out all he wants and if he does come back it would be great if he were in shape like that. But that's not what's going to get him back here. He has to prove to ol' Bill Stewart that he's matured and he deserves a chance as a person first, not as a player.''

Now, you can mock Stewart's style all you want. And plenty have. It's like the guy was lifted from a Damon Runyon story. Or, more precisely, at times he seems like Runyon himself, littering even the most basic thoughts with equal parts color and corn.

Give him this, however. He is principled and, to date, he has not allowed much, if anything, in the way of transgressions by his players. Every action along those lines - be it trouble with the law or in school or whatever - has been met with an equal reaction. In a year and a half as West Virginia's football coach, there has yet to be a real head-shaker - you know, when a kid steps out of bounds and there are little or no repercussions. That's not always been the case over the years where WVU football was concerned.

Anyway, back to Sanders. Here's a guy who knew what he was up against as soon as he first met with Stewart after his arrest for drunk driving in February. That followed another arrest a year earlier following a fight outside a Morgantown bar. Stewart made it abundantly clear to Sanders that his path back to active status on the football team could dead end in any of a number of places. He was booted from the Puskar Center, his locker cleaned out and he wasn't even allowed to watch spring practice. He would have to deal with the legal system, with state-ordered driving classes, with the school's own judicial system.

And then, only if he completed all of that satisfactorily, Stewart would listen to his plea for reinstatement. Just listen, mind you.

The mere fact that Sanders elected to go through all of that instead of just bagging it and transferring - he didn't redshirt so he would simply have to sit out a year and have two remaining elsewhere - or giving it up altogether speaks volumes about the price he was willing to pay.

Granted, there are others who have gone through similar ordeals. Sanders shouldn't be pointed to as any sort of shining example of dedication because, you have to remember, it was of his own free will he got into this situation. Guys work themselves back all the time, all around the country.

It's good to know, though, that if Stewart gives guys second chances they won't come as relative freebies. It's even better to know that Sanders is willing to pay the kind of price he's paying.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.