-Offensive line coach Ron Crook said he absolutely feels comfortable putting Yodny Cajuste starting at left tackle right now. The thing he has really done has put the work in when it comes to the weight room and has changed his body and really focused on that aspect. Crook said he still is not as strong as he needs to be but the importance he has put on himself physically is going to pay off down the road.
-Crook reiterated that he is hoping to have eight guys on the line and nine would be a bonus on the offensive front. He said he wants to see where they’re at as a unit and is excited for the season in order to finally go against some other teams. Blitz pickup is something they have been working on because that’s when you’re going to win or lose football games.
-Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said that he hasn’t installed many new things outside of a couple new blitzes and tweaked some things but overall it’s the same defense from a season ago.
-Gibson said that not a lot of newcomers are getting reps on the defensive side of the ball due to the depth and experience. He expects that will happen in the scrimmage today but it doesn’t appear that many, if any, of the freshmen will see time on the defensive side right now.
-The biggest concern for the defense will be to finish, something that didn’t happen a year ago.
-Spoke with graduate assistant Michael Burchett and he told me that he’s seen a lot of improvement out of back-up quarterback William Crest especially in the last few practices. Burchett said that has come from not only the experience he has in the system but in the way he has approached practicing. Crest has been doing a much better job getting the team into the right plays and making calls. There is a comfort level there with him and the coaches and Burchett said that he has put in the time to improve.
-Burchett said that Skyler Howard has taken the next step in his development and he has really taken care of the football in camp as well as showing command of the team. Howard understands all the weaknesses of the plays and he has done a great job leading the team so far in camp.
-Burchett said that both Chris Chugunov and David Sills have both shown a high football IQ and they are really starting to take advantage of the mental reps they get, something they didn’t do in the spring.
-Safeties coach Joe DeForest has a better idea of the guys that will play behind starters KJ Dillon, Karl Joseph and Dravon Henry. DeForest says Jeremy Tyler has had some really great days of camp. Going into the season Tyler is both the backup spur and free safety. DeForest says that Tyler is the next guy at both spots. Jarrod Harper is the backup bandit safety. If DeForest had to have a sixth guy, he says he feels comfortable putting Shane Commodore into the game.
-DeForest says true freshman Kevin Williams has had a good camp but just isn't ready to play in a game yet. The same can be said for redshirt freshman Daejuan Funderburk. He says unless the develop, odds are they'll remain behind Dillon and Tyler on the depth chart.
-Defensive line coach Bruce Tall says he really has been impressed by the growth of Noble Nwachukwu. He says he thinks Nwachukwu compares well to some of the best players that he's coached in the past. He says the skillset Nwachukwu has compares most to Brandon Graham, who Tall coached when he was at Michigan. Graham currently plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.
-Defensive line coach Damon Cogdell, who coached projected starting left tackle Yodny Cajuste in high school at Miramar, saw Cajuste could be this good this fast. Cogdell said, "That's exactly why I brought him here." Cogdell said it wasn't the easiest to get Cajuste to play football. Cajuste's first love was basketball and actually didn't play for Cogdell until his senior year. Cogdell said he tried to get Cajuste to play football in high school nearly ten different times and he didn't budge until his final year. Cajuste is still raw and Cogdell understands that. During Cogdell and Cajuste's last season at Miramar, he had to bench Cajuste during the state championship game because Cajuste wasn't playing well. Anyway, Cajuste's recruitment came down to Florida and West Virginia and Cogdell's happy the current left tackle came to play in Morgantown.
-Cornerback coach Brian Mitchell says if it was two or three years ago, there's no doubt that Tyrek Cole and Jordan Adams would actually play as true freshman. But since, West Virginia has developed talent and depth has improved at the position, Cole and Adams may not be needed this year. Mitchell says the talent level of Cole and Adams is much greater than the talent the program had when he got to West Virginia. Mitchell says the biggest attribute he sees with Cole and Adams is that they're both confident and they both are very intelligent players for being so young.
-WR coach Lonnie Galloway said there has been no updates on determining a rotation for the wide receivers right now because some of them take a step forward then two steps back. The biggest area of emphasis for him has been getting his group that is relatively unknown ready for the season both physically and mentally that entails getting them on the same page with Howard and understanding the routes that they will be required to run.
-Galloway did say that he is much more comfortable with the group but the question every day is which player will step up at the wide receiver positions? He isn’t anywhere close to solidifying a first group yet but he plans to start narrow those down after the next couple scrimmages.
-CB coach Brian Mitchell said that Jordan Adam is exactly what they want at the cornerback position with his size and work ethic. Mitchell said he still wants five to six cornerbacks to help in the sub packages and on special teams as well as at the cornerback spot.
-Mitchell said the two freshmen have shown a lot of improvement but right now the hope is to develop them and redshirt them but he isn’t anywhere close to make a decision on if that will happen due to the possibility of injuries or the two emerging.
-Mitchell said that the consistency of his group is what has stuck out the most in this fall but his biggest concern is that you can never have too much depth.
-DL coach Damon Codgell said that he has been most pleased with the depth of his unit but there is not any major pressing concerns with his group as camp looks to wrap up.
-Codgell said that with the depth they have he isn’t expecting to have to play any of the newcomers but he did tell me that Adam Shuler has really stood out and he is primed to be a very good player in the future if he continues on the same path he’s currently on.
-RB coach JaJuan Seider said that Wendell Smallwood has grown up the most in the area of understanding the blocking schemes and slowing himself down in order to bust big plays. The question you had was his vision because he didn’t see things as well and let things develop but now he is doing that and has seen some big-time results in fall camp.
-Seider said that he’s most pleased with his players taking to his coaching but on the other hand he wants to see more out of the guys behind Shell and Smallwood. He said that each of them have shown some flashes but they have to practice harder and understand that you have to do the little things to get to the next step. The running backs coach said he is getting comfortable with them when it comes to putting them in the game, but each of them have to take more strides. Seider said that Donte Thomas-Williams is behind where Seider wants him to be because he will let one mistake get him down and affect his entire practice. He has to take that next leap as a player.
-Crook reiterated that he is hoping to have eight guys on the line and nine would be a bonus on the offensive front. He said he wants to see where they’re at as a unit and is excited for the season in order to finally go against some other teams. Blitz pickup is something they have been working on because that’s when you’re going to win or lose football games.
-Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said that he hasn’t installed many new things outside of a couple new blitzes and tweaked some things but overall it’s the same defense from a season ago.
-Gibson said that not a lot of newcomers are getting reps on the defensive side of the ball due to the depth and experience. He expects that will happen in the scrimmage today but it doesn’t appear that many, if any, of the freshmen will see time on the defensive side right now.
-The biggest concern for the defense will be to finish, something that didn’t happen a year ago.
-Spoke with graduate assistant Michael Burchett and he told me that he’s seen a lot of improvement out of back-up quarterback William Crest especially in the last few practices. Burchett said that has come from not only the experience he has in the system but in the way he has approached practicing. Crest has been doing a much better job getting the team into the right plays and making calls. There is a comfort level there with him and the coaches and Burchett said that he has put in the time to improve.
-Burchett said that Skyler Howard has taken the next step in his development and he has really taken care of the football in camp as well as showing command of the team. Howard understands all the weaknesses of the plays and he has done a great job leading the team so far in camp.
-Burchett said that both Chris Chugunov and David Sills have both shown a high football IQ and they are really starting to take advantage of the mental reps they get, something they didn’t do in the spring.
-Safeties coach Joe DeForest has a better idea of the guys that will play behind starters KJ Dillon, Karl Joseph and Dravon Henry. DeForest says Jeremy Tyler has had some really great days of camp. Going into the season Tyler is both the backup spur and free safety. DeForest says that Tyler is the next guy at both spots. Jarrod Harper is the backup bandit safety. If DeForest had to have a sixth guy, he says he feels comfortable putting Shane Commodore into the game.
-DeForest says true freshman Kevin Williams has had a good camp but just isn't ready to play in a game yet. The same can be said for redshirt freshman Daejuan Funderburk. He says unless the develop, odds are they'll remain behind Dillon and Tyler on the depth chart.
-Defensive line coach Bruce Tall says he really has been impressed by the growth of Noble Nwachukwu. He says he thinks Nwachukwu compares well to some of the best players that he's coached in the past. He says the skillset Nwachukwu has compares most to Brandon Graham, who Tall coached when he was at Michigan. Graham currently plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.
-Defensive line coach Damon Cogdell, who coached projected starting left tackle Yodny Cajuste in high school at Miramar, saw Cajuste could be this good this fast. Cogdell said, "That's exactly why I brought him here." Cogdell said it wasn't the easiest to get Cajuste to play football. Cajuste's first love was basketball and actually didn't play for Cogdell until his senior year. Cogdell said he tried to get Cajuste to play football in high school nearly ten different times and he didn't budge until his final year. Cajuste is still raw and Cogdell understands that. During Cogdell and Cajuste's last season at Miramar, he had to bench Cajuste during the state championship game because Cajuste wasn't playing well. Anyway, Cajuste's recruitment came down to Florida and West Virginia and Cogdell's happy the current left tackle came to play in Morgantown.
-Cornerback coach Brian Mitchell says if it was two or three years ago, there's no doubt that Tyrek Cole and Jordan Adams would actually play as true freshman. But since, West Virginia has developed talent and depth has improved at the position, Cole and Adams may not be needed this year. Mitchell says the talent level of Cole and Adams is much greater than the talent the program had when he got to West Virginia. Mitchell says the biggest attribute he sees with Cole and Adams is that they're both confident and they both are very intelligent players for being so young.
-WR coach Lonnie Galloway said there has been no updates on determining a rotation for the wide receivers right now because some of them take a step forward then two steps back. The biggest area of emphasis for him has been getting his group that is relatively unknown ready for the season both physically and mentally that entails getting them on the same page with Howard and understanding the routes that they will be required to run.
-Galloway did say that he is much more comfortable with the group but the question every day is which player will step up at the wide receiver positions? He isn’t anywhere close to solidifying a first group yet but he plans to start narrow those down after the next couple scrimmages.
-CB coach Brian Mitchell said that Jordan Adam is exactly what they want at the cornerback position with his size and work ethic. Mitchell said he still wants five to six cornerbacks to help in the sub packages and on special teams as well as at the cornerback spot.
-Mitchell said the two freshmen have shown a lot of improvement but right now the hope is to develop them and redshirt them but he isn’t anywhere close to make a decision on if that will happen due to the possibility of injuries or the two emerging.
-Mitchell said that the consistency of his group is what has stuck out the most in this fall but his biggest concern is that you can never have too much depth.
-DL coach Damon Codgell said that he has been most pleased with the depth of his unit but there is not any major pressing concerns with his group as camp looks to wrap up.
-Codgell said that with the depth they have he isn’t expecting to have to play any of the newcomers but he did tell me that Adam Shuler has really stood out and he is primed to be a very good player in the future if he continues on the same path he’s currently on.
-RB coach JaJuan Seider said that Wendell Smallwood has grown up the most in the area of understanding the blocking schemes and slowing himself down in order to bust big plays. The question you had was his vision because he didn’t see things as well and let things develop but now he is doing that and has seen some big-time results in fall camp.
-Seider said that he’s most pleased with his players taking to his coaching but on the other hand he wants to see more out of the guys behind Shell and Smallwood. He said that each of them have shown some flashes but they have to practice harder and understand that you have to do the little things to get to the next step. The running backs coach said he is getting comfortable with them when it comes to putting them in the game, but each of them have to take more strides. Seider said that Donte Thomas-Williams is behind where Seider wants him to be because he will let one mistake get him down and affect his entire practice. He has to take that next leap as a player.
