-Lonnie Galloway said he is feeling everybody out right now but doesn’t know how anything will shake out yet because he hasn’t spent any time doing football drills. Galloway did tell me that Jovon Durante is lining up outside right now but he isn’t sure where he will play when the fall gets here. Durante has impressed Galloway with his ability to run and he described him as a twitchy kid and has been eager to learn and has even won some of the events that the team has been doing with Mike Joseph.
-Galloway said that he continues to move people around but it’s basically going to come down to if you don’t start or step up this fall, the freshmen kids will get their snaps. I asked Galloway in a perfect world if somebody establishes himself on the outside would he moved Daikiel Shorts back inside, he told me he really didn’t know that would depend on a lot of factors.
-Gary Jennings is a big physical kid that is working hard and doesn’t even look like a freshman body wise. He is getting down what he needs to do it’s just a matter of acclimating himself to how they want to do things. Galloway simply said he has a chance this fall.
-Galloway said he doesn’t put Ka’Raun White in the situation of comparing him to his brother, but he believes he will be able to hold his own. He said he looks like him, runs like him and from what he’s been told he catches the ball as well. The wide receiver coach said if he’s as good as Kevin’s junior season then that would be great.
-There is a lot of yardage to replace and all the receivers are working hard with Skyler Howard which Galloway believes will pay off this fall. He hopes to come out of fall camp with six or seven wide receivers and right now he does with Daikiel Shorts, Jordan Thompson and Shelton Gibson leaving four of those spots up for grabs.
-Joe DeForest told me the thought process behind scholarshipping special teams players has been you have to make sure you have very skilled players in those positions instead of just hoping some of them show up on campus and excel. He wants to try to find one punter, one kicker and one snapper at all times because it’s important not to wear them down. Obviously identifying kickers is more challenging because there aren’t a lot of opportunities to work with them but DeForest credited Chris Sailer and Chris Rubio for their camps and putting all of these players in one place.
-Quarterback Skyler Howard gave me his own personal breakdown of the new wide receivers as well. They’ve been working out every Tuesday and Thursday with 7-on-7 and he told me that he’s seen a lot of positives out of all three of them. Ka’Raun White: He’s just like Kevin. He can make plays, he’s got a big body, he runs well, he’s a hard worker in the weight room and nothing but upside for him. Jovon Durante: He’s quick, he can get off the line quick and he’s really smooth. He’s picking up the signals real quick. Him and Gary Jennings are on the same level their heads are spinning a little bit but they’re both stepping up and making plays.
-Howard also told me that his connection with Shelton Gibson has only gotten stronger and they’ve worked a lot on that during the summer.
-Tony Gibson told me that he’s been watching film on Georgia Southern already to help prepare for the unique run-based attack. The triple-option offense that the Eagles run is something that West Virginia hasn’t really seen since Wofford in 2005 and Gibson said he’s very glad that they will be playing them the first game of the season instead of the second. He simply said, “that’s not fun to watch,” and he’s spent a lot of time watching teams that play odd fronts on their schedule a season ago. The Eagles do shotgun, split-zone, lead-option and even throw the ball making preparation a difficult challenge.
-Gibson backed up his comments that he believes this will be a special defense and he told me he can’t wait to get out there and coach them this fall.
-Special Teams and Defensive Assistant Mark Scott said after watching back spring film cutups, he was really surprised with the amount of capable quality athletes on the roster. He as far as special teams athletes go, he thinks West Virginia is three-deep on most of the special team units.
-As far as personnel goes, Scott believes Daejuan Funderburk, Nana Kyeremeh, Jeremy Tyler and Jacky Marcellus are four players that really stood out to him on the special teams units. Scott is really excited about Marcellus in the return game. Scott says Marcellus is one of the hardest working guys on his team and is always working on catching kicks or punts.
-Speaking of the punt return game, the coaching staff has talked at length at different ways to improve that aspect of it. They have even watched punt return schemes from other Big 12 teams and even some teams nationally on film to see if they can add to theirs.
-Scott says he believes both Jovon Durante and Gary Jennings are two capable guys that can eventually returns punts for West Virginia. Scott says he likes what he saw on their school film, but they'll have to adjust to catching the punts off the foot of a college kicker. Scott added that Durante and Jennings will get every opportunity during fall camp to show that they do so.
-Tight end Cody Clay says it's really nice to have an actual position coach in GA Dan Gerberry. Over the past few years Clay has either sat in on meeting with JaJuan Seider and the running backs or Ron Crook and the offensive line. Clay said that it's not that those two guys didn't coach him, it's that they just had more important responsibilities. Clay said it's really good to have Gerberry even though he's nit-picky with how he coaches Clay up.
-Clay acknowledged the fact that Dana Holgorsen has put in some more passing plays for him. Without giving to much away, Clay told me that there is some more of the air raid offense that Holgorsen has started to install this summer, some of that involves Clay catching the ball more.
-Running back Rushel Shell says he thinks he will be back to being as dominant as he was in high school. Shell says he has worked harder than he ever has this summer as a college athlete. He credits Mike Joseph for getting him in shape. He says he worked even more harder than he did when he first transferred to West Virginia and had to get back into football shape.
-Galloway said that he continues to move people around but it’s basically going to come down to if you don’t start or step up this fall, the freshmen kids will get their snaps. I asked Galloway in a perfect world if somebody establishes himself on the outside would he moved Daikiel Shorts back inside, he told me he really didn’t know that would depend on a lot of factors.
-Gary Jennings is a big physical kid that is working hard and doesn’t even look like a freshman body wise. He is getting down what he needs to do it’s just a matter of acclimating himself to how they want to do things. Galloway simply said he has a chance this fall.
-Galloway said he doesn’t put Ka’Raun White in the situation of comparing him to his brother, but he believes he will be able to hold his own. He said he looks like him, runs like him and from what he’s been told he catches the ball as well. The wide receiver coach said if he’s as good as Kevin’s junior season then that would be great.
-There is a lot of yardage to replace and all the receivers are working hard with Skyler Howard which Galloway believes will pay off this fall. He hopes to come out of fall camp with six or seven wide receivers and right now he does with Daikiel Shorts, Jordan Thompson and Shelton Gibson leaving four of those spots up for grabs.
-Joe DeForest told me the thought process behind scholarshipping special teams players has been you have to make sure you have very skilled players in those positions instead of just hoping some of them show up on campus and excel. He wants to try to find one punter, one kicker and one snapper at all times because it’s important not to wear them down. Obviously identifying kickers is more challenging because there aren’t a lot of opportunities to work with them but DeForest credited Chris Sailer and Chris Rubio for their camps and putting all of these players in one place.
-Quarterback Skyler Howard gave me his own personal breakdown of the new wide receivers as well. They’ve been working out every Tuesday and Thursday with 7-on-7 and he told me that he’s seen a lot of positives out of all three of them. Ka’Raun White: He’s just like Kevin. He can make plays, he’s got a big body, he runs well, he’s a hard worker in the weight room and nothing but upside for him. Jovon Durante: He’s quick, he can get off the line quick and he’s really smooth. He’s picking up the signals real quick. Him and Gary Jennings are on the same level their heads are spinning a little bit but they’re both stepping up and making plays.
-Howard also told me that his connection with Shelton Gibson has only gotten stronger and they’ve worked a lot on that during the summer.
-Tony Gibson told me that he’s been watching film on Georgia Southern already to help prepare for the unique run-based attack. The triple-option offense that the Eagles run is something that West Virginia hasn’t really seen since Wofford in 2005 and Gibson said he’s very glad that they will be playing them the first game of the season instead of the second. He simply said, “that’s not fun to watch,” and he’s spent a lot of time watching teams that play odd fronts on their schedule a season ago. The Eagles do shotgun, split-zone, lead-option and even throw the ball making preparation a difficult challenge.
-Gibson backed up his comments that he believes this will be a special defense and he told me he can’t wait to get out there and coach them this fall.
-Special Teams and Defensive Assistant Mark Scott said after watching back spring film cutups, he was really surprised with the amount of capable quality athletes on the roster. He as far as special teams athletes go, he thinks West Virginia is three-deep on most of the special team units.
-As far as personnel goes, Scott believes Daejuan Funderburk, Nana Kyeremeh, Jeremy Tyler and Jacky Marcellus are four players that really stood out to him on the special teams units. Scott is really excited about Marcellus in the return game. Scott says Marcellus is one of the hardest working guys on his team and is always working on catching kicks or punts.
-Speaking of the punt return game, the coaching staff has talked at length at different ways to improve that aspect of it. They have even watched punt return schemes from other Big 12 teams and even some teams nationally on film to see if they can add to theirs.
-Scott says he believes both Jovon Durante and Gary Jennings are two capable guys that can eventually returns punts for West Virginia. Scott says he likes what he saw on their school film, but they'll have to adjust to catching the punts off the foot of a college kicker. Scott added that Durante and Jennings will get every opportunity during fall camp to show that they do so.
-Tight end Cody Clay says it's really nice to have an actual position coach in GA Dan Gerberry. Over the past few years Clay has either sat in on meeting with JaJuan Seider and the running backs or Ron Crook and the offensive line. Clay said that it's not that those two guys didn't coach him, it's that they just had more important responsibilities. Clay said it's really good to have Gerberry even though he's nit-picky with how he coaches Clay up.
-Clay acknowledged the fact that Dana Holgorsen has put in some more passing plays for him. Without giving to much away, Clay told me that there is some more of the air raid offense that Holgorsen has started to install this summer, some of that involves Clay catching the ball more.
-Running back Rushel Shell says he thinks he will be back to being as dominant as he was in high school. Shell says he has worked harder than he ever has this summer as a college athlete. He credits Mike Joseph for getting him in shape. He says he worked even more harder than he did when he first transferred to West Virginia and had to get back into football shape.
