Big East Preview: Fresh Faces

As usual, a new season means new players and coaches.that you'll want to keep an eye on. For most of the Big East, the impact of these new faces could be the difference in going to a BCS bowl or playing in Birmingham, Alabama in the PapaJohns.com Bowl. Well, except for Syracuse which is looking at trying to win more than one game.

1.) Bill Stewart, Head Coach -- West Virginia Mountaineers: Everyone will be watching 'Coach Stew' this season. He brought the Mountaineers together following the extremely insane departure of Rich Rodriguez last December and got them ready to play and dominate the Fiesta Bowl over Oklahoma. The next day, Stewart had the interim tag removed. Most viewed it as an emotional and questionable move by the West Virginia powers. That puts him under a surprising national microscope in a less than scrutinized locale.

His every decision will be watched to see if he can maintain what has been built in Morgantown, and every mistake will be second-guessed and at least debated as evidence that he was the wrong man for the job.

2.) Jonathan Baldwin, WR -- Pitt: Baldwin has been wowing everyone in training camp with some incredible leaping and catching (watch for #82). He is inevitably drawing comparisons to recent Pitt players and Biletnikoff Award winners Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald. At 6-5, 220, he looks every bit the prototypical elite WR. He may not begin the season as a starter, but he will by the end. When he's on the field, his presence should also be able to open things up more for tailback LeSean McCoy, as defenses will have to consider putting a safety in at least his vicinity to help the corner.

3.) The Syracuse Orange Wide Receivers: Between academic ineligibility and injuries, the Syracuse wide receivers are mainly freshmen without experience. Lavar Lobdell is the only WR to have caught any passes last season (8). The Orange have moved starting senior safety Bruce Williams over to WR -- where he played as a freshman. After that, there are five freshmen wide outs. Basically, when Syracuse is in a throwing down the entire pressbox will be looking at the game notes trying to figure out who these guys are.

4.) James Bryant, LB -- Louisville: Proving there are no guarantees in life. Bryant was once a 5-star recruit. He signed with Miami in 2004. A recruiting class that was supposed to be one of the best in the country. Bryant found himself being moved to fullback by Larry Coker because of the depth at LB, but they needed people to run the ball and block on offense. Bryant fought the move and his attitude soured. After several suspensions related to that attitude, he transferred. After sitting out last year, he's a senior out to prove he never should have been moved from linebacker and that it is all the fault of the Miami coaches that he has been forgotten and considered a bust.

5.) Isaiah Pead, RB -- Cincinnati: No, Cinci doesn't run the ball too much. Then again, they weren't exactly loaded at tailback. Their top two rushers combined for less than 1000 yards, and both graduated. In comes freshman Isaiah Pead. Already penciled in as the likely starter at tailback. Pead chose Cinci over Maryland, Pitt and WVU. He isn't going to put up LeSean McCoy numbers, but expect him to be the all-Big East freshman running back.