MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (March 7, 2019) – West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown addressed members of the media on Thursday, March 7, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Opening Statement
Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. Before we get started, congrats to men’s basketball. I want to wish the men and women luck in the Big 12 tournament coming up. Also, we’re hosting the National Championship for rifle; that’s pretty impressive. I’m looking forward to coming over and checking that out this weekend. So, I want to wish them good luck this weekend, as well. I want to kind of quickly recap the winter and then we will move into some spring stuff.
Finishing up our winter the rest of this week, it’s been a productive eight weeks, really. Depending on how you look at it, for the kids, it’s probably been a long eight weeks, really. For staff, it’s been relatively short, just because there’s so many things going on. But, I want to give (assistant athletic director for football strength and conditioning) Mike Joseph and his staff a lot of credit. I think they’ve done a tremendous job. Really, in the winter, we really focused on developing competitive character, mental toughness, discipline, and team chemistry. Those have been the focus, and I think our guys have made huge strides on that. Buy-in has been really high and that’s a credit to the leadership on our football team so far. Workouts have been high-energy. They’ve really done what we’ve asked them to do. I think everyone, coaches, players, everybody is ready for spring ball. There’s only so much evaluating you can get done during winter conditioning, but credit to our guys. So far, so good.
No depth chart right now, which I know is going to be disappointing to some of you guys, but really there’s nothing to base it off. When I came in here, I told our guys, everybody has a clean slate, so I have watched very little video. I’ve said that before publicly, so I don’t think it’s fair to the guys on the team that have been working for eight weeks for me to release a depth chart on something that I don’t have any, one practice, of evaluation. So, everybody has a clean slate, and 15 practices, the way I’ll present this to our team, the same way I’ll present it to you all is, the guys that are on our roster right now have 15 practices to put themselves in position to play in the fall. When we go into fall camp, all our signees or any roster additions, will be given the same courtesy. They’ll have between 14 and 18 practices to prove that they’re ready to play when we kick it off versus James Madison.
Spring practices, for myself and our coaching staff, these are not in any particular order, but there are five things that are really important. The first thing is to establish expectations on how we want to practice. The second one is we got to ID personnel, make sure we have the right people in the right spots and create a depth chart. The third is to continue to teach base fundamentals. I think spring practice is one of my favorite times as a coach because you don’t have a game that you’re preparing for. It’s really about the basics of football. Fourth thing would be to teach our base schemes in all three phases, offense, defense, special teams. We’re not going to get too extreme as far as what we’re going to install, it’s going to be basic. And last thing is just competition. Competition in several different ways. Offense, defense. Competition within those position rooms. Those are the priorities as we head into spring.
Quickly, I’ll give some thoughts, offensively and defensively; I know you have some questions. Some I’ll have answers to, some I just won’t until I get to watch them with a ball. Starting off with offense, I think offensive line is one of the things this spring that probably is as important as anything. We have to find the right position to put all the guys in. We have some guys up there that played a good bit of football. The center position is something that is really important, and we have to establish a two-deep there, and we have some young guys that it’s time. They really need to make some moves. Guys like (redshirt senior offensive lineman) (Michael) Brown, (redshirt freshmen offensive lineman) Briason Mays, who has had a great winter. Some of those guys really have to come on.
At running back, I think that’s the strength of our offense right now. The competition that we have in that room, quite frankly, needs to come across the board. I think we have four really high-quality guys in that room that are going to compete at a high level all spring. They’re talented, they’ve had really productive offseasons, and really, we’ll need to utilize more than one. I think if those guys – plus we have Tony Mathis in the summer – we have to figure out how to get more than one of those guys on the field.
At receiver, we have a couple guys established. I think it’s big. I think (redshirt junior wide receiver) T.J Simmons and (junior wide receiver) (Tevin) Bush, it’s time for both of those guys to increase their roles. And we have some young guys, some redshirt freshmen and sophomores, that have been in the shadows. Now, in the spring, it’s their time to get out there with the ones and show that they can be productive at this level. Guys like (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Sam James, (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Kwincy Hall, (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Bryce Wheaton, (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Randy Fields (Jr.), those type of guys, this spring is going to be really critical for them.
At tight end, I think very similar to how I was talking about (redshirt junior wide receiver) T.J. Simmons, I think T.J. is ready to take the next step and be a go-to guy. If you look at tight end, (redshirt junior tight end/wide receiver) Jovani Haskins is the same guy. He’s had a great offseason, has all the skills that you’re looking for at that position. And then (redshirt freshman tight end/fullback) T.J. Banks is another guy that’s going to get a lot of reps there this spring.
At quarterback, I know I’m going to get questions on this, so I won’t waste my time of previewing this, but it’s basically a three-way competition. We’ll have it split up of who will be the lead guy each day. But the way we practice, they are all going to get enough reps. Here’s my basic line, I know you can ask this a bunch of different ways, which I respect, but basically, here’s my deal on quarterback competitions: When it is clear, it is clear. I’ve been involved in a bunch of these throughout time as a play-caller, and when it’s clear, it’s clear. There’s a time when you name that guy, but the best answer I can give you is, when it’s clear, it’s clear. I think all three of those guys have really worked hard this winter, and I think they’ve worked hard trying to learn schematically what we’re trying to do, and they’ve established themselves as leaders. I’m excited to see how they’re going to go out and compete once the balls come out. So, that’s offensively.
Defensively, I think at (defensive) line, just starting off there, we have to establish a real two-deep in that interior (defensive) line. I’ll go back to this – offensively, we have a lot of similarities to what they’ve done here in the past. Defensively, it’s really different, so there’s going to be a little bit more of a learning curve, maybe, for some of our defensive guys. But starting with our (defensive) line, we need to establish a two-deep really across the board there interior-wise. At our nose and our three-technique spot, I’ve been impressed. I think (junior defensive lineman) Darius Stills is a guy that’s going to fit what we do schematically really well. I’ve been impressed with how he’s changed his body over the winter. (Senior defensive lineman) Reese Donahue has been one of our top workers all winter, which you all know him, so that’s to be expected. We need guys like (sophomore defensive lineman) Dante Stills, he has to come. And then at five-technique, where we’re going to play (redshirt junior defensive lineman) (Jeffery) Pooler (Jr.), we’re really excited about (redshirt sophomore defensive lineman) Taijh Alston, who is a mid-year signee. So, we feel like we have some bodies there, we just have to develop. We have to develop there.
So you’ll have an idea when we talk about it, and you can get into it with our defensive staff if you want to, when we talk about inside linebackers, we’re talking about our Mike linebacker position and our Bandit linebacker position. (Assistant coach – inside linebackers) Blake Seiler is coaching inside linebackers and those will be the two positions that he’s responsible for. I think we have really good competition at Mike linebacker. Unless something changes, (redshirt junior linebacker) (Dylan) Tonkery is going to be almost full-speed for the spring, so that’s good, and he and (redshirt senior linebacker) Shea Campbell have played a lot of snaps there. At Bandit right now, we have several guys that we’re working there. (Redshirt sophomore linebacker) Exree Loe, (redshirt junior linebacker) (Zach) Sandwisch and (redshirt junior linebacker) (Brendan) Ferns, they’re all working at that Bandit linebacker position. When we talk about outside linebacker, we’re talking about a Will linebacker and a Spear, and a Spear is essentially a nickel position. So, at outside linebacker, at the Will spot, we’re playing (sophomore linebacker) Josh Chandler, who is somebody that has had as good of an offseason as anybody in our program. Then, at our Spear position, (senior safety) JoVanni Stewart is playing that position. (redshirt junior safety) (Dante) Bonamico is going to play there. (Redshirt senior safety) (Deamonte) Lindsay and (redshirt freshman safety) (Kwantel) Raines can play either one of those Spear positions, just to give you some kind of idea. When you hear us talking about outside linebackers, that’s who we’re talking about.
At safety, we have (junior safety) Kenny Robinson (Jr.) and (junior safety) (Derrek) Pitts (Jr.) returning. Then, (redshirt junior safety) Jake Long is a guy that we’ve moved to safety from corner, and he’s shown real promise with some of his movements during conditioning. Then, (redshirt junior safety) (Sean) Mahone, as well, who played some corner a year ago, played a little bit of safety. But those are the guys at safety. (Freshman safety) Kerry Martin (Jr.), an early enrollee, he’s going to play safety, as well.
At corner, we have a lot of veteran competition with the older guys – (redshirt senior cornerback) (Hakeem) Bailey, (redshirt senior cornerback) (Josh) Norwood, (redshirt senior cornerback) (Keith) Washington (Jr.) and (redshirt senior cornerback) Jordan Adams. Those guys, and I’ve been really impressed with (junior cornerback) Dreshun Miller, who has come in and done a really good job so far in the workouts.
Special teams-wise, I think the biggest question on that is punting. Who’s going to handle the punting duties? We have some people that we feel are more than capable, and I look forward to watching them go about competing as we get into that, as well.
I know that’s a long opening, but I wanted to cover that. And with that, I’ll open it up for some questions.
On the biggest issues of the first spring with a new program
From my end, it’s having patience. That’s not necessarily a virtue of mine. Just having patience. For players, and it’s one of those first things that I talked about as far as understanding what our expectations are, this is my belief. For players in general, they want to do what they’re expected to do. They just need to know really clear and have a clear expectation of what that is. So, we have to establish our practice habits and what our expectations for them are on a daily basis inside of practice.
On how he rates the qualities of a quarterback
I think the first things you look at are the non-negotiables. So, let’s talk about that. The non-negotiables are character and leadership, so take those out. I think the next thing you talk about is accuracy. You have to be accurate. The second thing is, and these aren’t in any order, honestly, I’m talking off the top of my head. Accuracy, and then you have to have the ability to keep plays alive now. Those are the two things, especially in this league. This is the way I describe it: You have your old-school point guards in basketball that, basically, all they did was distribute the ball. They came down, called the play and distributed the ball. Now, you have your new-age point guards, the guys that are playing in the NBA now. (James) Harden, he has the ball in his hands. For all intends and purposes, he’s playing point guard, but what’s he doing? He’s creating shots for others, but he’s also creating shots for himself. It’s the same thing for a quarterback. A quarterback being a distributor all the time, that still applies, but he has to create his own, because, sometimes, we’re not going to block them all. He has to be able to create opportunities for himself, so accuracy and being able to keep plays alive.
On how important decision-making is for a quarterback
I should have said that. That’s part of a given, too, honestly. But decision-making really clears itself out. What I’m saying on that front is if you’re making bad decisions, you have pre-snap and post-snap decisions. So, pre-snap decisions, you’re getting yourself in the wrong plays, and post-snap decisions, those are ending up as turnovers if they’re bad.
On if he’s more inclined to recruit dual-threat or pro-style quarterbacks
It’s like Will (Grier). What’d Will vertical (jump)? Thirty-four (inches), that’s pretty athletic. I think if you watched him last year, and this was just me watching as a fan, he did a really good job keeping plays alive. So, would he be labeled as a dual-threat? I don’t know. I don’t know what he came out as in high school. This is how I look at it: Would you call running plays for them, or can they keep plays alive? Does that make sense? So, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to actually be a running quarterback and call plays for them. But they have to have pocket awareness, and they have to be athletic enough to move around. That was a really non-answer for you. To be honest, we’re going to sign the best quarterback we possibly can.
On if any other players have changed positions
Yeah, we have a couple, and I’ll hit a couple here. (Redshirt freshman offensive lineman) (James) Gmiter is going to move from defensive line to (offensive) line. We talked about (senior safety) JoVanni (Stewart). JoVanni played linebacker last year, and he’s going to move to our Spear position. (Redshirt senior defensive lineman) Quondarius Qualls is going to move down and play defensive end. We talked about (freshman safety) Kerry Martin (Jr.) is going to be a safety, (redshirt junior safety) Jake Long is moving to safety. I think that’s everybody, as far as any kind of position movement. The receiver spots are all going to be in limbo as far as who’s playing what position until we get in and watch them.
On players who will not be able to participate in spring practice due to injury
So, you have the guys who were out last year. I’ll touch on those really quick. (Redshirt junior linebacker) Charlie Benton is starting to move around. I think he increases his run protocol today, but he won’t be able to do anything during the spring. (Redshirt freshman tight end/fullback) (Mike) O’Laughlin, who is a guy that I’m excited about his future, I think he’ll be able to do some stuff that’s on air, as far as just running routes and things like that. But he won’t do anything in a competitive scenario. (Senior linebacker) (Adam) Hensley will be out for the spring. We’re hoping (redshirt senior defensive lineman) (Quondarius) Qualls can do some work. It’ll be very limited, but we’re hoping as the spring progresses that he can do more work. Those are all I have off the top of my head. (Redshirt junior offensive lineman) (Jacob) Buccigrossi) is out. He had surgery a week ago on Friday.
On how special teams will be coached
I’m going to hold off on that. I promise, though, I have an answer for that. We actually have a staff meeting later today when we’ll go over some of that stuff.
On if there’s danger in becoming too offensive-minded in the Big 12
I think each game is different, I really do. You can’t deny that this has been an offensive league. I do think, though, if you look at last year – and this is just me coming into the league over the last few weeks and evaluating each team – I think there’s been some really solid defensive improvement across the board in the league. Some of the reasoning behind the offense is just look at the incredible run of quarterbacks this league has had. It’s incredible, honestly. But I think you have to understand that the league, as it is currently, you have to be able to score. Now, I don’t think there’s any reason why you can’t be really good on offense and really good on defense, but you do have to score in this league.
On practicing this time of year with unpredictable weather
I think we are going to be playing in these types of elements, so we need to practice in them. The good thing about spring is you have some flexibility there. If you look at our schedule, most of them have a day in between, so you can always slide the practice. There’s really a mesh there. You want to practice in the elements, but you also want to get some quality work done. Does that make sense? Now, we do have the advantage of having the (Indoor Practice Facility), too. We can basically do everything in there besides punt. I don’t know if that’s a real answer, but we have the ability to move some days around on the schedule, but we are going to practice in the elements as much as we can.
On the team transitioning
I think that’s always a challenge coming in. The credit to our guys is they really bought in on this process. We’ve done several team-bonding things. I think that was, just listening to our players talk, that’s one thing that they really wanted to increase was the chemistry. I think staff to player, player to player, across the board, I don’t think that’s something that changes over night. I think that’s something that takes some time. The short answer is, it’s improving. I don’t think it’s exactly where we need it to be just yet.
On the accountability competition
Yeah, so, the accountability team is basically, there are 10 different teams. Each team has a captain, each team has an assistant captain. They basically drafted their own teams, and then what we do is, everything within the whole semester is scored and evaluated. So, anything from academics, strength and conditioning, nutrition. You’ve seen where we released the Student of the Week, the Weight Room Warriors of the Week; those get points. They get additional points for community service. So, all that goes in. We do team competitions weekly, we’re concluding that, we’re doing a finale of our winter with Mountaineer Olympics today, in the afternoon. So that’s another opportunity for them to gain points. It’s a little mixture of competition and fun, but what it does is, we try to identify some leaders and where they hold their teammates accountable. It’s been good, there’s some growing pains with that, but I’ve been pleased with how it’s gone so far.
On the payoff for the winning team of the accountability competition
So, basically, within the NCAA rules, we give them a gear package they can get. There’s a first, second and third. We carry it all the way through, so we give them when they come back in the summer. We’ll give it to them then, because you have to wait until the final grades are posted, because that’s a big chunk. So, when you’re drafting teams, you have to draft intelligently. You got think about, ‘OK, who are my community service guys, who are my academic guys?’ ‘Alright, who is going to make the biggest gains weight room?,’ because you gain points, but you also lose points.
On how much assistant athletic director for football strength and conditioning Mike Joseph has tweaked the offseason conditioning program
I think, probably, a little. The thing that I was really pleased with coming in and not knowing Mike is his beliefs and my beliefs are really aligned. A lot of the things he’s passionate about, I feel passionate about. I think there’s a lot in the weight room, obviously the strength stuff, where I think you gain confidence, I think you gain mental toughness. He and I share the same belief that discipline, accountability is established there, especially in your summer and winter. So, it’s probably a little bit different. Maybe the accountability teams are different and how we stage some of our winter conditioning were different. So, it was probably a combination. But the workouts and stuff, you can tell by looking at me, I didn’t get any Workout Warriors when I was playing, I promise you. All the strength and conditioning stuff was all his.
On the different skill sets and body types in the tight end group
I’m excited about that group, I really am. I talked about (redshirt junior tight end/fullback) Jovani (Haskins) there. Having his skill set, I think he has a tremendous upside. (Redshirt freshman tight end/fullback) (Mike) O’Laughlin is the other one. I’m hoping he continues to progress back from his knee injury. He’s a guy that came in, put on weight, put on strength. He’s a guy that I think has a great future here. We have that room divided, we basically have tight ends, and we have an S back, which is basically a fullback position. S backs will be like (redshirt junior tight end/fullback) Logan Thimons, that’s what he’s going to play. One of the differences being at a Power Five compared to some Group of Five, there’s really seven-to-12 elite tight end prospects year in and year out. They’re just hard to find. Most of those guys are playing basketball, honestly. So, guys like that, guys like Jovani or O’Laughlin, guys that are big, strong and are versatile enough to play split out and wideout, or hand-down tight end, or back in the tight end position, they are really hard to find. But I believe that we can recruit at least one of those type bodies each year here at West Virginia. With (Trevon) Wesco going in the draft and having a really good combine, really good Senior Bowl, I think that continues to help us, as well.
On running backs
First of all, size and speed are really good. Here’s what you get to evaluate in offseason workouts, you don’t get to see anything with a ball, but you get to see change of direction, you get to see who plays with really good leverage, you get to see burst. A lot of those things tie into a running back, right? So, it’s a little easier to evaluate running backs. The thing I like about those guys is they compete. Those guys are super, super competitive in the right way. They are trying to make each other better, and they are competing with each other. I think they have diverse skills, I really do. Really, all four of them, but definitely two of them (senior running back) (Martell) Pettaway) and (senior running back) (Kennedy) McKoy, they’ve been really productive so far in their careers here.
On if there’s anyone who can step into the center position
I think that the first two guys who are going to get a crack at it are (redshirt junior offensive lineman) Chase (Behrndt) and (redshirt freshman offensive lineman) (Briason) Mays. Those are going to be the first two guys who get a crack at it. I think you’re right on. That’s as important of a spot as we have on either side of the ball. We put a lot on our center. They need to be a leader type of kid. They need to be able to ID some fronts, get us in some calls. That’s something that’s really important for us this spring. Those two guys are going to be the first two who get a crack at it. In my opinion, one of those two guys can get it done.
On avoiding a high snap count on the defensive side of the ball
I think each game is unique. Each game is unique. What I mean by that is there are going to be some games you go into that when you’re playing somebody that, depending on what you are defensively, you may have trouble. You know that going in, so you have to plan accordingly. What I mean by that is maybe you have to take a chance or two on special teams. Maybe you need to play at a little slower pace on offense. Maybe it’s a deal where you have high respect for the other side of the ball – the other team’s offense. So, what you want to do is maybe you go for it on fourth down a little bit more, so you can try to control the clock. Does that make sense? I think that’s what you’re talking about. If you go back and watch when we played against really good people in the past, I think that’s how you handle it. Each game is different. I don’t think you can look at it as a 12-game schedule, how are you going to go play? I think each week is new.
On how many live plays they will run in practice
That’s a good question. Here’s what I’ll tell you, I’ll be able to give you a firm answer after I watch us for about two days in pads. What I mean by that is I think you have to be careful how much full speed work you do until you understand how your guys practice. What I mean by that is if I go through our first two or three days of practice and we have guys on the ground all the time, then we’re going to have to really limit it. We have to really teach them how to play off the ground first. If you go watch a really good football team practice, and they’re thud practices, there’s nobody on the ground. Does that make sense? If you go watch an NFL team and you watch them practice, they are getting full speed work, but nobody is on the ground. We have to evaluate how our guys practice. We’re going to have three scrimmages. We’ll use all three scrimmages. As far as how much full-speed contact work we’re going to do, I have to see where we are first.
On if he’s trying to get to a certain number of live plays by the end of spring practice
No, I don’t. Honestly, I don’t. We’ll have those three scrimmages. The way I talk about those scrimmages is I call them moving days. You’ll hear me say that as we move through spring. Hey, they’re moving days. The lights come on, I get the coaches off the sideline and you have a chance to produce in as close of a game-type atmosphere as we can create in spring ball. We’ll do those three times. As far as how we handle the rest of the time the NCAA allows you to put pads on, we really have to get a feel for what we have.
Opening Statement
Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. Before we get started, congrats to men’s basketball. I want to wish the men and women luck in the Big 12 tournament coming up. Also, we’re hosting the National Championship for rifle; that’s pretty impressive. I’m looking forward to coming over and checking that out this weekend. So, I want to wish them good luck this weekend, as well. I want to kind of quickly recap the winter and then we will move into some spring stuff.
Finishing up our winter the rest of this week, it’s been a productive eight weeks, really. Depending on how you look at it, for the kids, it’s probably been a long eight weeks, really. For staff, it’s been relatively short, just because there’s so many things going on. But, I want to give (assistant athletic director for football strength and conditioning) Mike Joseph and his staff a lot of credit. I think they’ve done a tremendous job. Really, in the winter, we really focused on developing competitive character, mental toughness, discipline, and team chemistry. Those have been the focus, and I think our guys have made huge strides on that. Buy-in has been really high and that’s a credit to the leadership on our football team so far. Workouts have been high-energy. They’ve really done what we’ve asked them to do. I think everyone, coaches, players, everybody is ready for spring ball. There’s only so much evaluating you can get done during winter conditioning, but credit to our guys. So far, so good.
No depth chart right now, which I know is going to be disappointing to some of you guys, but really there’s nothing to base it off. When I came in here, I told our guys, everybody has a clean slate, so I have watched very little video. I’ve said that before publicly, so I don’t think it’s fair to the guys on the team that have been working for eight weeks for me to release a depth chart on something that I don’t have any, one practice, of evaluation. So, everybody has a clean slate, and 15 practices, the way I’ll present this to our team, the same way I’ll present it to you all is, the guys that are on our roster right now have 15 practices to put themselves in position to play in the fall. When we go into fall camp, all our signees or any roster additions, will be given the same courtesy. They’ll have between 14 and 18 practices to prove that they’re ready to play when we kick it off versus James Madison.
Spring practices, for myself and our coaching staff, these are not in any particular order, but there are five things that are really important. The first thing is to establish expectations on how we want to practice. The second one is we got to ID personnel, make sure we have the right people in the right spots and create a depth chart. The third is to continue to teach base fundamentals. I think spring practice is one of my favorite times as a coach because you don’t have a game that you’re preparing for. It’s really about the basics of football. Fourth thing would be to teach our base schemes in all three phases, offense, defense, special teams. We’re not going to get too extreme as far as what we’re going to install, it’s going to be basic. And last thing is just competition. Competition in several different ways. Offense, defense. Competition within those position rooms. Those are the priorities as we head into spring.
Quickly, I’ll give some thoughts, offensively and defensively; I know you have some questions. Some I’ll have answers to, some I just won’t until I get to watch them with a ball. Starting off with offense, I think offensive line is one of the things this spring that probably is as important as anything. We have to find the right position to put all the guys in. We have some guys up there that played a good bit of football. The center position is something that is really important, and we have to establish a two-deep there, and we have some young guys that it’s time. They really need to make some moves. Guys like (redshirt senior offensive lineman) (Michael) Brown, (redshirt freshmen offensive lineman) Briason Mays, who has had a great winter. Some of those guys really have to come on.
At running back, I think that’s the strength of our offense right now. The competition that we have in that room, quite frankly, needs to come across the board. I think we have four really high-quality guys in that room that are going to compete at a high level all spring. They’re talented, they’ve had really productive offseasons, and really, we’ll need to utilize more than one. I think if those guys – plus we have Tony Mathis in the summer – we have to figure out how to get more than one of those guys on the field.
At receiver, we have a couple guys established. I think it’s big. I think (redshirt junior wide receiver) T.J Simmons and (junior wide receiver) (Tevin) Bush, it’s time for both of those guys to increase their roles. And we have some young guys, some redshirt freshmen and sophomores, that have been in the shadows. Now, in the spring, it’s their time to get out there with the ones and show that they can be productive at this level. Guys like (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Sam James, (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Kwincy Hall, (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Bryce Wheaton, (redshirt freshman wide receiver) Randy Fields (Jr.), those type of guys, this spring is going to be really critical for them.
At tight end, I think very similar to how I was talking about (redshirt junior wide receiver) T.J. Simmons, I think T.J. is ready to take the next step and be a go-to guy. If you look at tight end, (redshirt junior tight end/wide receiver) Jovani Haskins is the same guy. He’s had a great offseason, has all the skills that you’re looking for at that position. And then (redshirt freshman tight end/fullback) T.J. Banks is another guy that’s going to get a lot of reps there this spring.
At quarterback, I know I’m going to get questions on this, so I won’t waste my time of previewing this, but it’s basically a three-way competition. We’ll have it split up of who will be the lead guy each day. But the way we practice, they are all going to get enough reps. Here’s my basic line, I know you can ask this a bunch of different ways, which I respect, but basically, here’s my deal on quarterback competitions: When it is clear, it is clear. I’ve been involved in a bunch of these throughout time as a play-caller, and when it’s clear, it’s clear. There’s a time when you name that guy, but the best answer I can give you is, when it’s clear, it’s clear. I think all three of those guys have really worked hard this winter, and I think they’ve worked hard trying to learn schematically what we’re trying to do, and they’ve established themselves as leaders. I’m excited to see how they’re going to go out and compete once the balls come out. So, that’s offensively.
Defensively, I think at (defensive) line, just starting off there, we have to establish a real two-deep in that interior (defensive) line. I’ll go back to this – offensively, we have a lot of similarities to what they’ve done here in the past. Defensively, it’s really different, so there’s going to be a little bit more of a learning curve, maybe, for some of our defensive guys. But starting with our (defensive) line, we need to establish a two-deep really across the board there interior-wise. At our nose and our three-technique spot, I’ve been impressed. I think (junior defensive lineman) Darius Stills is a guy that’s going to fit what we do schematically really well. I’ve been impressed with how he’s changed his body over the winter. (Senior defensive lineman) Reese Donahue has been one of our top workers all winter, which you all know him, so that’s to be expected. We need guys like (sophomore defensive lineman) Dante Stills, he has to come. And then at five-technique, where we’re going to play (redshirt junior defensive lineman) (Jeffery) Pooler (Jr.), we’re really excited about (redshirt sophomore defensive lineman) Taijh Alston, who is a mid-year signee. So, we feel like we have some bodies there, we just have to develop. We have to develop there.
So you’ll have an idea when we talk about it, and you can get into it with our defensive staff if you want to, when we talk about inside linebackers, we’re talking about our Mike linebacker position and our Bandit linebacker position. (Assistant coach – inside linebackers) Blake Seiler is coaching inside linebackers and those will be the two positions that he’s responsible for. I think we have really good competition at Mike linebacker. Unless something changes, (redshirt junior linebacker) (Dylan) Tonkery is going to be almost full-speed for the spring, so that’s good, and he and (redshirt senior linebacker) Shea Campbell have played a lot of snaps there. At Bandit right now, we have several guys that we’re working there. (Redshirt sophomore linebacker) Exree Loe, (redshirt junior linebacker) (Zach) Sandwisch and (redshirt junior linebacker) (Brendan) Ferns, they’re all working at that Bandit linebacker position. When we talk about outside linebacker, we’re talking about a Will linebacker and a Spear, and a Spear is essentially a nickel position. So, at outside linebacker, at the Will spot, we’re playing (sophomore linebacker) Josh Chandler, who is somebody that has had as good of an offseason as anybody in our program. Then, at our Spear position, (senior safety) JoVanni Stewart is playing that position. (redshirt junior safety) (Dante) Bonamico is going to play there. (Redshirt senior safety) (Deamonte) Lindsay and (redshirt freshman safety) (Kwantel) Raines can play either one of those Spear positions, just to give you some kind of idea. When you hear us talking about outside linebackers, that’s who we’re talking about.
At safety, we have (junior safety) Kenny Robinson (Jr.) and (junior safety) (Derrek) Pitts (Jr.) returning. Then, (redshirt junior safety) Jake Long is a guy that we’ve moved to safety from corner, and he’s shown real promise with some of his movements during conditioning. Then, (redshirt junior safety) (Sean) Mahone, as well, who played some corner a year ago, played a little bit of safety. But those are the guys at safety. (Freshman safety) Kerry Martin (Jr.), an early enrollee, he’s going to play safety, as well.
At corner, we have a lot of veteran competition with the older guys – (redshirt senior cornerback) (Hakeem) Bailey, (redshirt senior cornerback) (Josh) Norwood, (redshirt senior cornerback) (Keith) Washington (Jr.) and (redshirt senior cornerback) Jordan Adams. Those guys, and I’ve been really impressed with (junior cornerback) Dreshun Miller, who has come in and done a really good job so far in the workouts.
Special teams-wise, I think the biggest question on that is punting. Who’s going to handle the punting duties? We have some people that we feel are more than capable, and I look forward to watching them go about competing as we get into that, as well.
I know that’s a long opening, but I wanted to cover that. And with that, I’ll open it up for some questions.
On the biggest issues of the first spring with a new program
From my end, it’s having patience. That’s not necessarily a virtue of mine. Just having patience. For players, and it’s one of those first things that I talked about as far as understanding what our expectations are, this is my belief. For players in general, they want to do what they’re expected to do. They just need to know really clear and have a clear expectation of what that is. So, we have to establish our practice habits and what our expectations for them are on a daily basis inside of practice.
On how he rates the qualities of a quarterback
I think the first things you look at are the non-negotiables. So, let’s talk about that. The non-negotiables are character and leadership, so take those out. I think the next thing you talk about is accuracy. You have to be accurate. The second thing is, and these aren’t in any order, honestly, I’m talking off the top of my head. Accuracy, and then you have to have the ability to keep plays alive now. Those are the two things, especially in this league. This is the way I describe it: You have your old-school point guards in basketball that, basically, all they did was distribute the ball. They came down, called the play and distributed the ball. Now, you have your new-age point guards, the guys that are playing in the NBA now. (James) Harden, he has the ball in his hands. For all intends and purposes, he’s playing point guard, but what’s he doing? He’s creating shots for others, but he’s also creating shots for himself. It’s the same thing for a quarterback. A quarterback being a distributor all the time, that still applies, but he has to create his own, because, sometimes, we’re not going to block them all. He has to be able to create opportunities for himself, so accuracy and being able to keep plays alive.
On how important decision-making is for a quarterback
I should have said that. That’s part of a given, too, honestly. But decision-making really clears itself out. What I’m saying on that front is if you’re making bad decisions, you have pre-snap and post-snap decisions. So, pre-snap decisions, you’re getting yourself in the wrong plays, and post-snap decisions, those are ending up as turnovers if they’re bad.
On if he’s more inclined to recruit dual-threat or pro-style quarterbacks
It’s like Will (Grier). What’d Will vertical (jump)? Thirty-four (inches), that’s pretty athletic. I think if you watched him last year, and this was just me watching as a fan, he did a really good job keeping plays alive. So, would he be labeled as a dual-threat? I don’t know. I don’t know what he came out as in high school. This is how I look at it: Would you call running plays for them, or can they keep plays alive? Does that make sense? So, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to actually be a running quarterback and call plays for them. But they have to have pocket awareness, and they have to be athletic enough to move around. That was a really non-answer for you. To be honest, we’re going to sign the best quarterback we possibly can.
On if any other players have changed positions
Yeah, we have a couple, and I’ll hit a couple here. (Redshirt freshman offensive lineman) (James) Gmiter is going to move from defensive line to (offensive) line. We talked about (senior safety) JoVanni (Stewart). JoVanni played linebacker last year, and he’s going to move to our Spear position. (Redshirt senior defensive lineman) Quondarius Qualls is going to move down and play defensive end. We talked about (freshman safety) Kerry Martin (Jr.) is going to be a safety, (redshirt junior safety) Jake Long is moving to safety. I think that’s everybody, as far as any kind of position movement. The receiver spots are all going to be in limbo as far as who’s playing what position until we get in and watch them.
On players who will not be able to participate in spring practice due to injury
So, you have the guys who were out last year. I’ll touch on those really quick. (Redshirt junior linebacker) Charlie Benton is starting to move around. I think he increases his run protocol today, but he won’t be able to do anything during the spring. (Redshirt freshman tight end/fullback) (Mike) O’Laughlin, who is a guy that I’m excited about his future, I think he’ll be able to do some stuff that’s on air, as far as just running routes and things like that. But he won’t do anything in a competitive scenario. (Senior linebacker) (Adam) Hensley will be out for the spring. We’re hoping (redshirt senior defensive lineman) (Quondarius) Qualls can do some work. It’ll be very limited, but we’re hoping as the spring progresses that he can do more work. Those are all I have off the top of my head. (Redshirt junior offensive lineman) (Jacob) Buccigrossi) is out. He had surgery a week ago on Friday.
On how special teams will be coached
I’m going to hold off on that. I promise, though, I have an answer for that. We actually have a staff meeting later today when we’ll go over some of that stuff.
On if there’s danger in becoming too offensive-minded in the Big 12
I think each game is different, I really do. You can’t deny that this has been an offensive league. I do think, though, if you look at last year – and this is just me coming into the league over the last few weeks and evaluating each team – I think there’s been some really solid defensive improvement across the board in the league. Some of the reasoning behind the offense is just look at the incredible run of quarterbacks this league has had. It’s incredible, honestly. But I think you have to understand that the league, as it is currently, you have to be able to score. Now, I don’t think there’s any reason why you can’t be really good on offense and really good on defense, but you do have to score in this league.
On practicing this time of year with unpredictable weather
I think we are going to be playing in these types of elements, so we need to practice in them. The good thing about spring is you have some flexibility there. If you look at our schedule, most of them have a day in between, so you can always slide the practice. There’s really a mesh there. You want to practice in the elements, but you also want to get some quality work done. Does that make sense? Now, we do have the advantage of having the (Indoor Practice Facility), too. We can basically do everything in there besides punt. I don’t know if that’s a real answer, but we have the ability to move some days around on the schedule, but we are going to practice in the elements as much as we can.
On the team transitioning
I think that’s always a challenge coming in. The credit to our guys is they really bought in on this process. We’ve done several team-bonding things. I think that was, just listening to our players talk, that’s one thing that they really wanted to increase was the chemistry. I think staff to player, player to player, across the board, I don’t think that’s something that changes over night. I think that’s something that takes some time. The short answer is, it’s improving. I don’t think it’s exactly where we need it to be just yet.
On the accountability competition
Yeah, so, the accountability team is basically, there are 10 different teams. Each team has a captain, each team has an assistant captain. They basically drafted their own teams, and then what we do is, everything within the whole semester is scored and evaluated. So, anything from academics, strength and conditioning, nutrition. You’ve seen where we released the Student of the Week, the Weight Room Warriors of the Week; those get points. They get additional points for community service. So, all that goes in. We do team competitions weekly, we’re concluding that, we’re doing a finale of our winter with Mountaineer Olympics today, in the afternoon. So that’s another opportunity for them to gain points. It’s a little mixture of competition and fun, but what it does is, we try to identify some leaders and where they hold their teammates accountable. It’s been good, there’s some growing pains with that, but I’ve been pleased with how it’s gone so far.
On the payoff for the winning team of the accountability competition
So, basically, within the NCAA rules, we give them a gear package they can get. There’s a first, second and third. We carry it all the way through, so we give them when they come back in the summer. We’ll give it to them then, because you have to wait until the final grades are posted, because that’s a big chunk. So, when you’re drafting teams, you have to draft intelligently. You got think about, ‘OK, who are my community service guys, who are my academic guys?’ ‘Alright, who is going to make the biggest gains weight room?,’ because you gain points, but you also lose points.
On how much assistant athletic director for football strength and conditioning Mike Joseph has tweaked the offseason conditioning program
I think, probably, a little. The thing that I was really pleased with coming in and not knowing Mike is his beliefs and my beliefs are really aligned. A lot of the things he’s passionate about, I feel passionate about. I think there’s a lot in the weight room, obviously the strength stuff, where I think you gain confidence, I think you gain mental toughness. He and I share the same belief that discipline, accountability is established there, especially in your summer and winter. So, it’s probably a little bit different. Maybe the accountability teams are different and how we stage some of our winter conditioning were different. So, it was probably a combination. But the workouts and stuff, you can tell by looking at me, I didn’t get any Workout Warriors when I was playing, I promise you. All the strength and conditioning stuff was all his.
On the different skill sets and body types in the tight end group
I’m excited about that group, I really am. I talked about (redshirt junior tight end/fullback) Jovani (Haskins) there. Having his skill set, I think he has a tremendous upside. (Redshirt freshman tight end/fullback) (Mike) O’Laughlin is the other one. I’m hoping he continues to progress back from his knee injury. He’s a guy that came in, put on weight, put on strength. He’s a guy that I think has a great future here. We have that room divided, we basically have tight ends, and we have an S back, which is basically a fullback position. S backs will be like (redshirt junior tight end/fullback) Logan Thimons, that’s what he’s going to play. One of the differences being at a Power Five compared to some Group of Five, there’s really seven-to-12 elite tight end prospects year in and year out. They’re just hard to find. Most of those guys are playing basketball, honestly. So, guys like that, guys like Jovani or O’Laughlin, guys that are big, strong and are versatile enough to play split out and wideout, or hand-down tight end, or back in the tight end position, they are really hard to find. But I believe that we can recruit at least one of those type bodies each year here at West Virginia. With (Trevon) Wesco going in the draft and having a really good combine, really good Senior Bowl, I think that continues to help us, as well.
On running backs
First of all, size and speed are really good. Here’s what you get to evaluate in offseason workouts, you don’t get to see anything with a ball, but you get to see change of direction, you get to see who plays with really good leverage, you get to see burst. A lot of those things tie into a running back, right? So, it’s a little easier to evaluate running backs. The thing I like about those guys is they compete. Those guys are super, super competitive in the right way. They are trying to make each other better, and they are competing with each other. I think they have diverse skills, I really do. Really, all four of them, but definitely two of them (senior running back) (Martell) Pettaway) and (senior running back) (Kennedy) McKoy, they’ve been really productive so far in their careers here.
On if there’s anyone who can step into the center position
I think that the first two guys who are going to get a crack at it are (redshirt junior offensive lineman) Chase (Behrndt) and (redshirt freshman offensive lineman) (Briason) Mays. Those are going to be the first two guys who get a crack at it. I think you’re right on. That’s as important of a spot as we have on either side of the ball. We put a lot on our center. They need to be a leader type of kid. They need to be able to ID some fronts, get us in some calls. That’s something that’s really important for us this spring. Those two guys are going to be the first two who get a crack at it. In my opinion, one of those two guys can get it done.
On avoiding a high snap count on the defensive side of the ball
I think each game is unique. Each game is unique. What I mean by that is there are going to be some games you go into that when you’re playing somebody that, depending on what you are defensively, you may have trouble. You know that going in, so you have to plan accordingly. What I mean by that is maybe you have to take a chance or two on special teams. Maybe you need to play at a little slower pace on offense. Maybe it’s a deal where you have high respect for the other side of the ball – the other team’s offense. So, what you want to do is maybe you go for it on fourth down a little bit more, so you can try to control the clock. Does that make sense? I think that’s what you’re talking about. If you go back and watch when we played against really good people in the past, I think that’s how you handle it. Each game is different. I don’t think you can look at it as a 12-game schedule, how are you going to go play? I think each week is new.
On how many live plays they will run in practice
That’s a good question. Here’s what I’ll tell you, I’ll be able to give you a firm answer after I watch us for about two days in pads. What I mean by that is I think you have to be careful how much full speed work you do until you understand how your guys practice. What I mean by that is if I go through our first two or three days of practice and we have guys on the ground all the time, then we’re going to have to really limit it. We have to really teach them how to play off the ground first. If you go watch a really good football team practice, and they’re thud practices, there’s nobody on the ground. Does that make sense? If you go watch an NFL team and you watch them practice, they are getting full speed work, but nobody is on the ground. We have to evaluate how our guys practice. We’re going to have three scrimmages. We’ll use all three scrimmages. As far as how much full-speed contact work we’re going to do, I have to see where we are first.
On if he’s trying to get to a certain number of live plays by the end of spring practice
No, I don’t. Honestly, I don’t. We’ll have those three scrimmages. The way I talk about those scrimmages is I call them moving days. You’ll hear me say that as we move through spring. Hey, they’re moving days. The lights come on, I get the coaches off the sideline and you have a chance to produce in as close of a game-type atmosphere as we can create in spring ball. We’ll do those three times. As far as how we handle the rest of the time the NCAA allows you to put pads on, we really have to get a feel for what we have.
