Isdaner saw that and played the embarrassed son.
"Stevie, just get on the bus," Isdaner called to Slaton.
A 315-pound redshirt sophomore from Gladwyne, Isdaner is an accomplished second-year starter, blocking for Heisman candidates Slaton and Pat White. Last season, the Sporting News named Isdaner a freshman all-American.
But his road to West Virginia had some real twists. Right around the time Isdaner graduated from Episcopal Academy, he moved out of his house because his parents would not sign on to his college choice, declining to put their signatures on the national letter of intent offered by West Virginia. For the summer, he moved into a place owned by Episcopal's former equipment manager.
"It happened more as an emotional occurrence than a plan," said Isdaner's mother, Eileen.
"Things started to get a little heated, more heated than I wished," Isdaner said. "I moved out of the house just to try to cool things down."
When it came to Isdaner, West Virginia's recruiting competition wasn't Penn State or Maryland. The Mountaineers had to beat out Penn and Harvard and Georgetown.
"It wasn't that we didn't want to support him," said Isdaner's father, Bart, who owns and operates a bookkeeping and consulting firm in Radnor. "We wanted him to consider all these academic options. It certainly never hurts to go to Wharton."
Nobody in his family was against big-time football. His mother's uncle, Francis Gaul, played tight end at Notre Dame and caught a big pass in the first game between Notre Dame and Ohio State in 1935.
Isdaner's parents attended Georgetown. In fact, six of his mother's seven brothers and sisters also graduated from Georgetown.
"That changed our lives," said Eileen Isdaner, an accountant. "We sent him to Episcopal because we value education."
