MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Early last fall, they might as well have worn short leashes.

So deep in Rich Rodriguez's doghouse was Quinton Andrews, he was suspended from the Gold-Blue game for no other stated reason than he made the then-coach angry. Next, he was stripped in fall camp of his free safety starting job and moved to the safety position known as bandit. Then he was removed from the depth chart and prohibited from playing the season opener against Western Michigan due to his June arrest for obstruction while apparently trying to aid ex-teammate Jason Gwaltney.

"But in the season, everything was OK," Andrews said of a year when, playing only 10 of 13 games, he finished fifth on the team in tackles.

And Ellis Lankster, once heralded as an answer to the Mountaineers' cornerback quandary, was suspended for the opening three games last fall, pending the outcome of his felony arrest along with linebacker J.T. Thomas for stealing a laptop.

"Yeah, it was hard," Lankster recalled.

Without that yoke, without that collar, he feels free nowadays.

"Coach [Bill Stewart is] a good man. It's like coach Stew lets the position coach teach you up like you're supposed to. Coach Rod used to come teach us and wouldn't let coach [Tony] Gibson do his job. Coach Stew sits back and lets coach [David] Lockwood do his job."

Perhaps the one Mountaineers area with the most doubt surrounding it is a secondary that lost every regular starter but one -- Andrews -- and returned but one defensive back with a minimum of one interception, one pass breakup and one forced fumble -- Lankster.

It is a secondary that could use as much talent, and experience and veteran leadership as it can muster. Andrews is back at first-team bandit, where he started eight games last season and finished with 51 tackles. Working for more in these spring drills, Lankster is down the depth chart further than he hoped, with converted tailback-receiver Eddie Davis on the first team ahead of him.

To Lockwood, that depth chart can change day-to-day, hour-to-hour, yet the goal remains the same. He aims to tutor and tune up his cornerbacks to the point where he applied a white stripe down the middle of their helmets so he can detect if their eyes are on the appropriate prize while defending against the pass.

Just as the top safety spots aren't merely populated by Andrews, Charles Pugh, Boogie Allen and Sidney Glover, Lockwood's cornerbacks aren't solely derived from a group that includes only Davis and Lankster, but Kent Richardson, Guesly Dervil and junior-college transfer Brantwon Bowser as well.

"It's a deal where I told them from Day One I'm not afraid to stir it up. You might be a one one day, you might be a two. I told them, 'If you don't like where you are, change it,' " said Lockwood, a former Mountaineers defensive back who came this past winter from Kentucky and worked as Minnesota's defensive coordinator before that.

"I don't know who can do what. The whole group is undisciplined right now, especially with our eyes. The little things -- our guys have to get better at doing the little things."

Of Lankster in particular, Lockwood added, "We've got to get him back on track."

Lankster was celebrated as a secondary savior a year ago, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound, junior-college All-American from Jones County (Miss.) Junior College and Whistler, Ala. He had 16 tackles, an interception, a breakup and a forced fumble in nine games last season, but didn't play in a Fiesta Bowl when 28 fellow Mountaineers defenders did. He started spring at first-team cornerback, but wasn't there long.

"I thought I was starting. But they had me on the second team. Since I saw that, I've been working hard to get my spot back," said this senior-to-be. "This is my last year, and I got some experience last year, so I feel I can help out this year."

Andrews, a rising junior from Opa Locka, Fla., has crammed 20 starts in his first two seasons and big hits aplenty in his 6-foot, 210-pound frame. He wasn't a hit with Rodriguez, now at Michigan, for his off-field incidents -- Andrews declined to say anything more than the obstruction matter was over, but he avoided trial by, similar to Lankster and Thomas, entering a pretrial diversion agreement with the Monongalia County prosecuting attorney's office.

Andrews was part of the inexperienced group thrust into action in 2006, when a young secondary was abused by pass-happy foes in the season's final half. They start anew in 2008, with just one starter back.

NOTES -- In the first scrimmage Saturday, sophomores-to-be slot receivers Brandon Hogan (six catches for 67 yards) and Jock Sanders (59 all-purpose yards) each scored two touchdowns and showed success catching and running. ... Quarterback Patrick White completed barely one-third of his pass attempts and got sacked by Pugh for a safety, but backup Jarrett Brown missed only three of his dozen attempts, one being a drop.