--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said what he has been pleased with is they wanted to practice on defense with more physicality. They did an opening half drive and the defense was dominant than they did an end of game scenario and the defense won too. Aubrey Burks had several open field tackles, Jacolby Spells had some nice plays. Montre Miller had his best day and Keyshawn Cobb has shown up. The secondary has shown some growth although it hasn't all been positive. You put them in challenging situations. The offense didn't start well but you have to work those situations and the quarterbacks didn't make great decisions in the two-minute which they have to coach those. The offense was really good during a red zone period. It was some ups and downs which is what you want in a spring practice. Lee Kpogba has made some strides and has been sharp. Year two for a junior college player is when they make a jump and you're seeing that. Sean Martin, Mike Lockhart and Hammond Russell have played well. Offensively Wyatt Milum was out nothing serious but Doug Nester got a lot of reps. Brandon Yates has stepped in and he's had a really good few days and it speaks to his football intelligence with how he has moved around. Devin Carter had a really big day and Ja'Shaun Poke had his best day and looked fast. He did some natural things in the return game. Tight end Kole Taylor they got him the ball some and he understands route running. Will Dixon is coming along. Michael Hayes really kicked the ball well in some live situations today.
--They're doing a lot of controlled 11-on-11 and it gives them more experience. Pleased with where they're at and they will come back Monday after a break.
--It's early on the young guys at quarterback. Sean Boyle has been surprising with his athleticism. The offense is a drastic change for him with the scheme, size and speed so it's a big jump. As far as Nicco Marchiol and Garrett Greene there are some really high points because they're both really talented but overall they are different. They're both inexperienced and their good looks really good. Nicco Marchiol had a great read on an RPO and had a great go-ball where he hit him in stride, but he made a huge error in the two minute. Garrett Greene had a great throw to CJ Donaldson and some great reads but he also took some sacks and had a grounding penalty. There are ups and downs but he is excited about what they can do because their really good stuff is what they can do.
--When they watched Ja'Shaun Poke they did a nice job getting him the ball in space. He's a guy that had confirmed fast times he was a 10.6 in high school and had straight line speed and was good with the ball in his hands and had good return film. He practiced the whole time and today was some glimpses in what he can be. He's here for a short time so we have to get something out of him.
--Feel really good about the direction they need to go with the quarterbacks and while they are up and down it's a long approach. They're going to carry it into the summer and the first couple weeks of fall camp. Too early to tell if they will use both quarterbacks this fall.
--Brown has been impressed with Blaine Stewart's teaching. And the energy that he and Bilal Marshall have brought to the table. Bilal Marshall fundamentally is as good as any wide receiver coach he's been around at this stage of his career. They have caught the ball better and a lot of that is credit to him for what he's done in the off-season and challenged his guys to catch balls. Chad Scott called three or four of their team periods and had a nice feel.
--They didn't blow up everything they've done on offense, they looked at the two quarterbacks competing and they thought what are their strengths and how to best utilize their talents. They've tried to build a package around what they do well and taking their strengths and with that around the talents that the quarterbacks have and make it. The base packages and the tempo they play with could be different.
--Defensively they slid a little bit last year but the league was really trending toward running the ball on defense. There are certain elements of the Big 12 that are always going to be slanted toward offense. But you go back and look at the teams that have won the past four years it's scoring defense, red zone defense and running the football.
--You rank recruits and take to your needs. They need to lean a little more interior this year on the offensive line instead of tackles like last year. They're trying to recruit the best they can.
--You pick and choose where you invest your money but West Virginia has tried to invest their resources in things that go right to player development such as recovery and the technology piece. In college football you need to be at your best Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. You have to perform and in order to do that with the recovery piece they're highly invested in that. And also injury prevention and skill development. They wear heart rate monitors and GPS units are all about injury prevention. TrackMan, the Seeker and goggles for hand-eye coordination those are all for skill development and they use those in their non-mandatory time.
--Brown said they had a fumble on Tuesday on an exchange and it's really the only one in live periods on the mesh on RPO stuff. They've had some bad snaps but it's their first live action. They've been pretty secure with the ball on the exchange stuff. It's all repetition. They work exchanges the first five minutes of practice and the players do it a lot in the off-season.
--Doug Nester is getting married on Saturday. Brandon Yates and Zach Frazier also are getting married this year.
--Brown said they wanted to come out of the spring with some versatility on the offensive line. They want to get their best five out there and trial and error a little bit in the spring to find that out. They're locked in at left tackle with Wyatt Milum and Tomas Rimac at left guard but want to see the other options at different spots. So they are putting players in tough spots to see how they perform. Nick Malone has been one of the most positive up there and is playing the best football of his career.
--Situational reps, getting the offensive linemen to perform in certain situations and getting them match ups against their top defensive players to prove they're ready or not ready.
--Brown said they plan to call more things for the tight ends in the passing game but they also are better in pass protection so they don't have to use them. They can do some things vertical or in the flats based off the run game, too.
--They're doing a lot of controlled 11-on-11 and it gives them more experience. Pleased with where they're at and they will come back Monday after a break.
--It's early on the young guys at quarterback. Sean Boyle has been surprising with his athleticism. The offense is a drastic change for him with the scheme, size and speed so it's a big jump. As far as Nicco Marchiol and Garrett Greene there are some really high points because they're both really talented but overall they are different. They're both inexperienced and their good looks really good. Nicco Marchiol had a great read on an RPO and had a great go-ball where he hit him in stride, but he made a huge error in the two minute. Garrett Greene had a great throw to CJ Donaldson and some great reads but he also took some sacks and had a grounding penalty. There are ups and downs but he is excited about what they can do because their really good stuff is what they can do.
--When they watched Ja'Shaun Poke they did a nice job getting him the ball in space. He's a guy that had confirmed fast times he was a 10.6 in high school and had straight line speed and was good with the ball in his hands and had good return film. He practiced the whole time and today was some glimpses in what he can be. He's here for a short time so we have to get something out of him.
--Feel really good about the direction they need to go with the quarterbacks and while they are up and down it's a long approach. They're going to carry it into the summer and the first couple weeks of fall camp. Too early to tell if they will use both quarterbacks this fall.
--Brown has been impressed with Blaine Stewart's teaching. And the energy that he and Bilal Marshall have brought to the table. Bilal Marshall fundamentally is as good as any wide receiver coach he's been around at this stage of his career. They have caught the ball better and a lot of that is credit to him for what he's done in the off-season and challenged his guys to catch balls. Chad Scott called three or four of their team periods and had a nice feel.
--They didn't blow up everything they've done on offense, they looked at the two quarterbacks competing and they thought what are their strengths and how to best utilize their talents. They've tried to build a package around what they do well and taking their strengths and with that around the talents that the quarterbacks have and make it. The base packages and the tempo they play with could be different.
--Defensively they slid a little bit last year but the league was really trending toward running the ball on defense. There are certain elements of the Big 12 that are always going to be slanted toward offense. But you go back and look at the teams that have won the past four years it's scoring defense, red zone defense and running the football.
--You rank recruits and take to your needs. They need to lean a little more interior this year on the offensive line instead of tackles like last year. They're trying to recruit the best they can.
--You pick and choose where you invest your money but West Virginia has tried to invest their resources in things that go right to player development such as recovery and the technology piece. In college football you need to be at your best Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. You have to perform and in order to do that with the recovery piece they're highly invested in that. And also injury prevention and skill development. They wear heart rate monitors and GPS units are all about injury prevention. TrackMan, the Seeker and goggles for hand-eye coordination those are all for skill development and they use those in their non-mandatory time.
--Brown said they had a fumble on Tuesday on an exchange and it's really the only one in live periods on the mesh on RPO stuff. They've had some bad snaps but it's their first live action. They've been pretty secure with the ball on the exchange stuff. It's all repetition. They work exchanges the first five minutes of practice and the players do it a lot in the off-season.
--Doug Nester is getting married on Saturday. Brandon Yates and Zach Frazier also are getting married this year.
--Brown said they wanted to come out of the spring with some versatility on the offensive line. They want to get their best five out there and trial and error a little bit in the spring to find that out. They're locked in at left tackle with Wyatt Milum and Tomas Rimac at left guard but want to see the other options at different spots. So they are putting players in tough spots to see how they perform. Nick Malone has been one of the most positive up there and is playing the best football of his career.
--Situational reps, getting the offensive linemen to perform in certain situations and getting them match ups against their top defensive players to prove they're ready or not ready.
--Brown said they plan to call more things for the tight ends in the passing game but they also are better in pass protection so they don't have to use them. They can do some things vertical or in the flats based off the run game, too.
