—Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said it wasn’t perfect but he was very pleased with his defense. They didn’t give up any big explosive plays and made Iowa State earn what they got on the field which is the first time that’s reallly happened for four quarters this year. Gibson said a lot of the missed tackles were players trying to go for knock out shots and leading with the shoulder instead of wrapping up and that has been addressed. It’s certainly not something that’s being taught from the top down.
—On the deep ball late in the game that redshirt sophomore Hakeem Bailey was beaten and able to break it up down the field it was actually not his responsibility. There was supposed to be a safety over the top there and Bailey just never quit on the play and trailed in order to break up the pass. They ran a twist off the line and he recognized it and recovered to make the play.
—West Virginia held Iowa State to 101 rushing yards and it was simply an issue of fitting it better and making tackles.
—Gibson said that junior Ezekiel Rose is the fastest defensive lineman on the team and is actually as fast as some of the linebackers. He’s just an impressive specimen.
—Kansas State will create issues because of how they use the RPOs and pop passes. They will run the football and try to make defenses aggressive in stopping it and then work against that by tossing the ball out. They’ll run that traditional tight end pop pass and a variation of a QB draw where they will throw a slant to the wide receiver. They run the ball with the same action which makes it tough to defend.
—Gibson said he is preparing for the system this week not the quarterback because the scheme isn’t going to change much depending on who is under center. They have information on all three, but with redshirt freshman Skylar Thompson isn’t as good of a runner as the first two although he is plenty capable. He throws the ball well and is athletic. He is a good mix for what they do and fits right into their scheme.
—Gibson said that on the play that redshirt freshman Dylan Tonkery tipped the ball he wasn’t going to get an easier than that. The guard pulled and the back leaked out which made it his responsibility. He did everything right except actually catch the ball and the coaches have been giving him a hard time since.
--Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said that they will move junior wide receiver David Sills all over the field so defensives can’t tee off on him but you’re seeing a lot of bracket coverage on him right now. He is still patient and pleased with where he’s at, but he understands he has to take advantage of the opportunities he gets in one-on-one coverage such as in the red zone for his touchdown.
--On the touchdown pass to redshirt senior Ka’Raun White, Spavital said that on the play they ran another post under with Sills which brought the safety down and White was able to take it down the field with a beautiful throw by Grier. They knew it was going to be a rush three drop eight situation and they had three double teams out there including a key block by sophomore Martell Pettaway.
--Kansas State is a four down team and plays well together. It’s similar with how they want you to drive the field and be patient with play calling. Being physical is going to be a key this week as well. They’re always going to have added hats in the run game and take pride in stopping it which is going to open up some plays in the back end but they want to try to force teams to play perfect.
--Spavital said that they would pinch the defensive ends and squeeze the blocks so it allowed them to get on the edge on that diamond formation with sophomore Kennedy McKoy. However, the coaching staff adjusted and when they tried to go back to it later in the game they adjusted and stopped it for a four-yard loss. Still it was a play to get the Mountaineers on the edge.
—Assistant Mark Scott told me right now when or if redshirt senior Mike Molina gets back they will evaluate both of them for the kicking spots. Redshirt freshman Evan Staley has done a good job of handling both and it hasn’t affected him mentally. He still needs to clean up some technique issues but he has handled the situation better than a lot of people expected. The injury for Molina is on his kicking hip so they don’t expect to rush him back but once he’s at 100-percent they will evaluate it.
—When it comes to kickoffs, West Virginia has worked it a lot with a huge emphasis and has been able to find the right body types as well as improved placement from Staley on the kicks which has led to success. That will be challenged this week with their kickoff return team because they are physical with blocks, double team and chip and work up and their returners trust their scheme and will bring it out deep in the end zone with dynamic skill guys.
—Normally when you head out to Kansas wind is a factor but the focus will be how to defeat blocks and execute on directional kicks.
—Wide receivers coach Tyron Carrier said his unit isn’t phased one bit about having three players on the Biletnikoff award watch list. They weren’t highly recruited guys so that helps with recruiting but his players aren’t worried about it at all.
—Junior wide receiver Gary Jennings is the reason that the other two are open a lot. He faces a lot of bracket coverage and it opens things up. The past two weeks has been shutting down Sills but before it was Jennings and it opens up everything.
—Carrier said that on the interception junior David Sills got a little lazy. He could have stacked him up and slowed it down to make it a back shoulder catch but Carrier takes it personal that the ball was intercepted. He doesn’t want to see his wide receivers not win those fights for the ball.
—Carrier is getting more comfortable with rotating his wide receivers and he was impressed with how physical redshirt junior Ricky Rogers was when he was on the field.
—Carrier said that he can’t believe that redshirt senior Ka’Raun White stepped out of bounds but he attributed it to a mental block where he injured his ankle last year and thought he was going to dive at his ankles. He did say for the rest of the game the most important thing was now don’t step out of bounds when you’re wide open instead of the point he made all week.
—Safeties coach Matt Caponi said that redshirt junior Dravon Askew-Henry didn’t worry about making mistakes and played with more confidence which led to him being able to make more tackles which has been the biggest issue for him. He is more comfortable with his role at bandit and understands the looks.
—Same can be said for freshman Kenny Robinson who they are trying not to throw a lot on right now but he is a football player and just makes plays. He is aggressive and athletic.
--Defensive line coach Bruce Tall said that this past week his defensive line had more "two-ffers," taking on two blocks than they had in any other game all season against Iowa State.
—Cornerbacks coach Doug Belk said his unit is now playing with a little more confidence but have to eliminate some of the penalties and play with more technique. They had production at the position and challenged Iowa State. Redshirt sophomore Hakeem Bailey battled back to make one of the biggest plays of the game and never quit playing. Senior Elijah Battle was consistent on the other side.
—Bailey is getting extra work in and with the game experience under his belt is starting to just play football instead of thinking about it. It’s part of the maturation and development.
—The challenge this week will be eye discipline, alignment and assignment. The Cornerbacks have to understand what plays they can can depending on the formation and not get caught looking in the backfield or at the quarterback. That RPO action will challenge them and they have to play with technique and make tackles.
—Offensive line coach Joe Wickline was pleased that his unit made a move against Iowa State but they have to get better at base run fits. He was happy with the pass protection even though they weren’t challenged a lot, but they did pick it up.
—Running backs Tony Dews felt it was good to see senior running back Justin Crawford use his patience and vision to pick up yards. He used his natural vision to bounce around and find holes and while it isn’t ideal it’s part of who he is and Dews doesn’t want to over coach him.
—Decision to put sophomore Kennedy McKoy in the game late was simply a fresh back that was excited to do it.
—Redshirt sophomore linebacker David Long said that the pop pass is tough to defend because it draws in and the quarterback holds it a long time and reads the defense.
—Redshirt freshman linebacker Dylan Tonkery said there isn’t a lot of difference between the SAM and WILL positions outside of a few coverage responsibilities.
—On the draw on third and 17, McKoy knew exactly where he neeeded to go and the action froze the linebackers and the guards were able to get up field and clear a lane for him and he beat an arm tackle for the first down.
—On the play where West Virginia handed the ball off to McKoy on the edge with redshirt senior Elijah Wellman in front of him the Mountaineers lined up in the diamond and the defensive end didn’t run up field and allowed them to get the edge.
—On the deep ball late in the game that redshirt sophomore Hakeem Bailey was beaten and able to break it up down the field it was actually not his responsibility. There was supposed to be a safety over the top there and Bailey just never quit on the play and trailed in order to break up the pass. They ran a twist off the line and he recognized it and recovered to make the play.
—West Virginia held Iowa State to 101 rushing yards and it was simply an issue of fitting it better and making tackles.
—Gibson said that junior Ezekiel Rose is the fastest defensive lineman on the team and is actually as fast as some of the linebackers. He’s just an impressive specimen.
—Kansas State will create issues because of how they use the RPOs and pop passes. They will run the football and try to make defenses aggressive in stopping it and then work against that by tossing the ball out. They’ll run that traditional tight end pop pass and a variation of a QB draw where they will throw a slant to the wide receiver. They run the ball with the same action which makes it tough to defend.
—Gibson said he is preparing for the system this week not the quarterback because the scheme isn’t going to change much depending on who is under center. They have information on all three, but with redshirt freshman Skylar Thompson isn’t as good of a runner as the first two although he is plenty capable. He throws the ball well and is athletic. He is a good mix for what they do and fits right into their scheme.
—Gibson said that on the play that redshirt freshman Dylan Tonkery tipped the ball he wasn’t going to get an easier than that. The guard pulled and the back leaked out which made it his responsibility. He did everything right except actually catch the ball and the coaches have been giving him a hard time since.
--Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said that they will move junior wide receiver David Sills all over the field so defensives can’t tee off on him but you’re seeing a lot of bracket coverage on him right now. He is still patient and pleased with where he’s at, but he understands he has to take advantage of the opportunities he gets in one-on-one coverage such as in the red zone for his touchdown.
--On the touchdown pass to redshirt senior Ka’Raun White, Spavital said that on the play they ran another post under with Sills which brought the safety down and White was able to take it down the field with a beautiful throw by Grier. They knew it was going to be a rush three drop eight situation and they had three double teams out there including a key block by sophomore Martell Pettaway.
--Kansas State is a four down team and plays well together. It’s similar with how they want you to drive the field and be patient with play calling. Being physical is going to be a key this week as well. They’re always going to have added hats in the run game and take pride in stopping it which is going to open up some plays in the back end but they want to try to force teams to play perfect.
--Spavital said that they would pinch the defensive ends and squeeze the blocks so it allowed them to get on the edge on that diamond formation with sophomore Kennedy McKoy. However, the coaching staff adjusted and when they tried to go back to it later in the game they adjusted and stopped it for a four-yard loss. Still it was a play to get the Mountaineers on the edge.
—Assistant Mark Scott told me right now when or if redshirt senior Mike Molina gets back they will evaluate both of them for the kicking spots. Redshirt freshman Evan Staley has done a good job of handling both and it hasn’t affected him mentally. He still needs to clean up some technique issues but he has handled the situation better than a lot of people expected. The injury for Molina is on his kicking hip so they don’t expect to rush him back but once he’s at 100-percent they will evaluate it.
—When it comes to kickoffs, West Virginia has worked it a lot with a huge emphasis and has been able to find the right body types as well as improved placement from Staley on the kicks which has led to success. That will be challenged this week with their kickoff return team because they are physical with blocks, double team and chip and work up and their returners trust their scheme and will bring it out deep in the end zone with dynamic skill guys.
—Normally when you head out to Kansas wind is a factor but the focus will be how to defeat blocks and execute on directional kicks.
—Wide receivers coach Tyron Carrier said his unit isn’t phased one bit about having three players on the Biletnikoff award watch list. They weren’t highly recruited guys so that helps with recruiting but his players aren’t worried about it at all.
—Junior wide receiver Gary Jennings is the reason that the other two are open a lot. He faces a lot of bracket coverage and it opens things up. The past two weeks has been shutting down Sills but before it was Jennings and it opens up everything.
—Carrier said that on the interception junior David Sills got a little lazy. He could have stacked him up and slowed it down to make it a back shoulder catch but Carrier takes it personal that the ball was intercepted. He doesn’t want to see his wide receivers not win those fights for the ball.
—Carrier is getting more comfortable with rotating his wide receivers and he was impressed with how physical redshirt junior Ricky Rogers was when he was on the field.
—Carrier said that he can’t believe that redshirt senior Ka’Raun White stepped out of bounds but he attributed it to a mental block where he injured his ankle last year and thought he was going to dive at his ankles. He did say for the rest of the game the most important thing was now don’t step out of bounds when you’re wide open instead of the point he made all week.
—Safeties coach Matt Caponi said that redshirt junior Dravon Askew-Henry didn’t worry about making mistakes and played with more confidence which led to him being able to make more tackles which has been the biggest issue for him. He is more comfortable with his role at bandit and understands the looks.
—Same can be said for freshman Kenny Robinson who they are trying not to throw a lot on right now but he is a football player and just makes plays. He is aggressive and athletic.
--Defensive line coach Bruce Tall said that this past week his defensive line had more "two-ffers," taking on two blocks than they had in any other game all season against Iowa State.
—Cornerbacks coach Doug Belk said his unit is now playing with a little more confidence but have to eliminate some of the penalties and play with more technique. They had production at the position and challenged Iowa State. Redshirt sophomore Hakeem Bailey battled back to make one of the biggest plays of the game and never quit playing. Senior Elijah Battle was consistent on the other side.
—Bailey is getting extra work in and with the game experience under his belt is starting to just play football instead of thinking about it. It’s part of the maturation and development.
—The challenge this week will be eye discipline, alignment and assignment. The Cornerbacks have to understand what plays they can can depending on the formation and not get caught looking in the backfield or at the quarterback. That RPO action will challenge them and they have to play with technique and make tackles.
—Offensive line coach Joe Wickline was pleased that his unit made a move against Iowa State but they have to get better at base run fits. He was happy with the pass protection even though they weren’t challenged a lot, but they did pick it up.
—Running backs Tony Dews felt it was good to see senior running back Justin Crawford use his patience and vision to pick up yards. He used his natural vision to bounce around and find holes and while it isn’t ideal it’s part of who he is and Dews doesn’t want to over coach him.
—Decision to put sophomore Kennedy McKoy in the game late was simply a fresh back that was excited to do it.
—Redshirt sophomore linebacker David Long said that the pop pass is tough to defend because it draws in and the quarterback holds it a long time and reads the defense.
—Redshirt freshman linebacker Dylan Tonkery said there isn’t a lot of difference between the SAM and WILL positions outside of a few coverage responsibilities.
—On the draw on third and 17, McKoy knew exactly where he neeeded to go and the action froze the linebackers and the guards were able to get up field and clear a lane for him and he beat an arm tackle for the first down.
—On the play where West Virginia handed the ball off to McKoy on the edge with redshirt senior Elijah Wellman in front of him the Mountaineers lined up in the diamond and the defensive end didn’t run up field and allowed them to get the edge.
