--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said it was a fun day and he appreciated everybody coming out. He said he was excited about the recent contract extension and one of the two big draws to West Virginia was the opportunity to impact a state through the game they’re passionate about. That has been true, and they feel strongly connected the people here and the second was alignment with everybody in the administration. Brown is excited and really believes that the program is on the upward trajectory and the extension is about those in the program as much as it is him. They want to build a championship program that everybody can be proud of.
--Brown thought that it was a great opportunity to give out those awards publicly instead of privately as they usually do it to showcase those that have worked hard.
--Brown wanted his team to have fun and enjoy the opportunity to compete in front of fans. They wanted everybody that was watching to enjoy it and wanted to play clean football. He wants a defining characteristic of his teams to not beat themselves. Doing all the little things and taking care of the ball.
--Jarret Doege was solid and was excited that he pulled the ball on the zone read in the red zone. He has to continue to improve in the pocket. They didn’t run it as much with that group, but he threw some solid deep balls and they focused on his ability to throw the ball deep. Garrett Greene was anxious at the start but settled down and made a great throw to Kaden Prather.
--Spring games become stale really quick but one thing that makes this one special is the connection with the children’s hospital. They raise money for them and try to honor them, but the fans coming they want to try to make it as entertaining as possible. Brown is a basketball fan and had an event with Bob Huggins last week and Deuce McBride said as long as he has a jersey he wanted to play. Brown said every game he’s watched it’s mentioned he played basketball, so he wanted to see how it was going.
--Akheem Mesidor playing more interior will stick and he’s handled the extra weight. DeVell Washington at WILL linebacker will continue to stick and he’s coming along. James Gmiter can play some center and they rotated a lot of linemen like Doug Nester playing guard and tackle. Parker Moorer, the same.
--Brown isn’t satisfied with anything. One of the things going into the spring he wanted to challenge some of their best players to get better and improve such as Leddie Brown. He wanted him to get better and thought he did that by becoming a better pass receiver. He was one of the leading point getters in special teams competition. That is from a leadership perspective some of those guys really bought into it. Brown said they’re a work in progress, they have to punt the ball better. They have to continue to improve up front. They have to develop some depth in the secondary.
--Brown said they have six offensive linemen that have separated themselves. Maybe two or three more that will compete, and they have a freshman in Wyatt Milum that they have high expectations for to compete.
--Noah Drummond may be the most popular player on the team, and he has a bunch of buddies reaching out to get him reps. Dante Bonamico was his roommate, and they did that drill earlier in the spring and he let it go off his fingertips, so they gave him another chance. If they have a tie that’s how they were breaking it with the big man challenge.
--Brown said that coaches will talk about the new rules for fall camp he doesn’t know if it will be that much different than most programs are already doing. You have 25 practices and can go full pads in 21 but he didn’t know anybody that was doing that anyways. The nine helmet practices are more concerning to him because when you’re practicing you have big athletes that are strong and fast and when you’re on the ground you have nothing to protector yourself. You can wear spider pads in those helmet practices now to protect against injuries.
--The scrimmage opportunities are game like and they only go into the stadium for special opportunities and if you shine in those stadium opportunities those do count more than just the regular practice. Daryl Porter had a good fall camp last year but when they went and got together, he wasn’t performing as well and then he got tired because he didn’t have a normal lead in. They need him to come on. The pick he had over Sam Brown in the end zone was a special play and had two pass breakups.
--Brown thought that it was a great opportunity to give out those awards publicly instead of privately as they usually do it to showcase those that have worked hard.
--Brown wanted his team to have fun and enjoy the opportunity to compete in front of fans. They wanted everybody that was watching to enjoy it and wanted to play clean football. He wants a defining characteristic of his teams to not beat themselves. Doing all the little things and taking care of the ball.
--Jarret Doege was solid and was excited that he pulled the ball on the zone read in the red zone. He has to continue to improve in the pocket. They didn’t run it as much with that group, but he threw some solid deep balls and they focused on his ability to throw the ball deep. Garrett Greene was anxious at the start but settled down and made a great throw to Kaden Prather.
--Spring games become stale really quick but one thing that makes this one special is the connection with the children’s hospital. They raise money for them and try to honor them, but the fans coming they want to try to make it as entertaining as possible. Brown is a basketball fan and had an event with Bob Huggins last week and Deuce McBride said as long as he has a jersey he wanted to play. Brown said every game he’s watched it’s mentioned he played basketball, so he wanted to see how it was going.
--Akheem Mesidor playing more interior will stick and he’s handled the extra weight. DeVell Washington at WILL linebacker will continue to stick and he’s coming along. James Gmiter can play some center and they rotated a lot of linemen like Doug Nester playing guard and tackle. Parker Moorer, the same.
--Brown isn’t satisfied with anything. One of the things going into the spring he wanted to challenge some of their best players to get better and improve such as Leddie Brown. He wanted him to get better and thought he did that by becoming a better pass receiver. He was one of the leading point getters in special teams competition. That is from a leadership perspective some of those guys really bought into it. Brown said they’re a work in progress, they have to punt the ball better. They have to continue to improve up front. They have to develop some depth in the secondary.
--Brown said they have six offensive linemen that have separated themselves. Maybe two or three more that will compete, and they have a freshman in Wyatt Milum that they have high expectations for to compete.
--Noah Drummond may be the most popular player on the team, and he has a bunch of buddies reaching out to get him reps. Dante Bonamico was his roommate, and they did that drill earlier in the spring and he let it go off his fingertips, so they gave him another chance. If they have a tie that’s how they were breaking it with the big man challenge.
--Brown said that coaches will talk about the new rules for fall camp he doesn’t know if it will be that much different than most programs are already doing. You have 25 practices and can go full pads in 21 but he didn’t know anybody that was doing that anyways. The nine helmet practices are more concerning to him because when you’re practicing you have big athletes that are strong and fast and when you’re on the ground you have nothing to protector yourself. You can wear spider pads in those helmet practices now to protect against injuries.
--The scrimmage opportunities are game like and they only go into the stadium for special opportunities and if you shine in those stadium opportunities those do count more than just the regular practice. Daryl Porter had a good fall camp last year but when they went and got together, he wasn’t performing as well and then he got tired because he didn’t have a normal lead in. They need him to come on. The pick he had over Sam Brown in the end zone was a special play and had two pass breakups.
