--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown offered his condolences to the family of Dale Wolfley. Discusses the impact he's had on him and getting back players to Morgantown and connecting them with the current team. Said that there is no bigger fan of West Virginia football and he'll be missed.
--Asani Redwood and Russell Hammond showed out during the bye week and played well with their reps. Asani Redwood had a major knee injury and has played every game since Pitt which is remarkable. DJ Oliver had a three nice days, Johnny Williams continues to mature and grow. He has all the makings to be a really good one. Corey McIntyre is another and he continues to make plays in scrimmages as he continues to change his body. Jordan and Josiah Jackson also looked good.
--The Houston game is a great opportunity on a mid-week platform. They used the open week differently than the past because of the physical nature. Only practiced guys Wednesday and got into Houston prep Friday. A lot will be made of West Virginia playing Dana but he did a good job here. He did a really good job but the storyline is Malachi Ruffin is the only player that played under the previous staff and three guys were recruited. They have four of their former players. Mike O'Laughlin and Tony Mathis did everything they asked them to do. Noah Guzman wanted a different role and Sam Brown is playing at an extremely high level. They knew when they recruited him he was going to be talented and they didn't do a good job handling him. The game will have some emotions to it and they know that and preparing the players for it. Special teams is playing really hard and the Willis kid is playing lights out. Their kicker they know really well and their punter is really good. Biggest threat on special teams is kickoff return. Golden is electric and it's going to be a huge challenge for them to get down and cover. They are balanced on offense and it starts with Donovan Smith who was from Texas Tech. He started a multitude of games and played well. He is a coach's son and played well and he is really big. He has a big arm and they use him to run some. He can run and pass and they are very talented at the skill positions. They go deep and they have guys that can run and will take shots deep. They mix up the fronts on defense and their defensive line is big and are active with their hands and do a good job of playing their gaps. They have two guys that do a good job of rushing the passer. A team they have a lot of respect for and they are dangerous. Their back is against the wall and they are looking forward to it.
--Wyatt Milum will be a gametime decision, Tomas Rimac won't play this week and Aubrey Burks is still questionable.
--Jairo Faverus will come in and play more on defense and Caden Biser will be the next. They have some flexibility back there at safety and they have used Jacolby Spells in nickel packages, while Malachi Ruffin has played there as well. Josiah Jackson has gotten a lot of reps and have showed some signs.
--Nicco Marchiol's ankle is good and Garrett Greene is as well as the bye was good for the quarterbacks.
--When Dana comes back here for the first time it will be a bigger deal. It's been five years and it might be perceived differently if there were still a lot of guys that were still here. The fan base needs to understand I pull in and see the picture of the Orange Bowl. There is no ill will for anybody in this building to them. The theme is for them to continue to get better. This will be the first time depending on who plays on the offensive line, this is as healthy as they've been from a skill perspective. They are on the verge of playing some good offensive football. Every game is survive and advance and this happens to be the Big 12 game this week so it's about getting to 3-0.
--Emphasis program wide, they have to do a better job of starting the game. They need to get started faster.
--Brown said the offense is quite a bit different than what they had with Will Grier they're calling some quarterback run plays and read game but a lot of the pass concepts are the same.
--There is some familiarity there from an offensive standpoint just because coming from similar trees. When you get into a situation where you play everybody annually you go back and look at a lot of different previous games, but this is more like a non-conference game.
--The thing in this league that sticks out is the week to week. This has turned into a really physical conference and the week-to-week of it is tough. You have a chance to win every game but the opponent is good enough to beat you every week and a lot of the other leagues aren't like that especially at the group of five level. If you don't play somewhere close to your best then you have the opportunity to get beat.
--Coverage units have been really good minus one big return and they have covered punts well. They've been good at reducing TFLs and number of sacks given up. When they went back and said what are some things they have to do better those are some of the things they talked about is reducing those negative yardage plays and penalties.
--Brown hasn't talked to Dana but has some on his staff about coaching here.
--Brown was able to sign Sam Brown and he came in during the COVID-19 deal and that class didn't get to experience a summer and they weren't around them as much and they had a lot of transition in that room so there was a lot of different personalities and it was a young group without veteran leadership. When you look back at it you try to think what could they have done different but if he was in that room now it's a different story because they have some veterans in there. They would have done a better job mentoring him and having him come along. It was the best decision for him and us for him to leave, but when he left he had special talent if he matured. He is playing at a really high level.
--James Heard had a death in the family so he missed two practices. He made a really nice play on Wednesday, but missed Friday and Saturday. Bryce Biggs is a kid that walked on here and has gotten steadily better. Landen Livingston is much improved. And TJ Johnson and Noah Braham are coming along at tight end.
--With Houston the wide receivers can really run and are explosive. The quarterback is big and strong and breaks tackles. He can make all throws and can run to the right and throw it a long distance back to the left. On defense, it's the defensive line.
--West Virginia hasn't hit as many play action plays as they would like. The hope is you keep calling them with the intention that law of averages are going to work out. If they can hit 40-percent of those shot plays then they feel good about it. Only way he knows to get better is to work at them.
--The most important thing as the head coach is to win football games and sometimes you have to put some of your own ego away. He loves throwing the ball as much as anybody and they've had a lot of success over his career doing it and West Virginia has to get better in that. The strength of the team is on the offensive line and the job is to win games. They are playing to their strengths.
--Asani Redwood and Russell Hammond showed out during the bye week and played well with their reps. Asani Redwood had a major knee injury and has played every game since Pitt which is remarkable. DJ Oliver had a three nice days, Johnny Williams continues to mature and grow. He has all the makings to be a really good one. Corey McIntyre is another and he continues to make plays in scrimmages as he continues to change his body. Jordan and Josiah Jackson also looked good.
--The Houston game is a great opportunity on a mid-week platform. They used the open week differently than the past because of the physical nature. Only practiced guys Wednesday and got into Houston prep Friday. A lot will be made of West Virginia playing Dana but he did a good job here. He did a really good job but the storyline is Malachi Ruffin is the only player that played under the previous staff and three guys were recruited. They have four of their former players. Mike O'Laughlin and Tony Mathis did everything they asked them to do. Noah Guzman wanted a different role and Sam Brown is playing at an extremely high level. They knew when they recruited him he was going to be talented and they didn't do a good job handling him. The game will have some emotions to it and they know that and preparing the players for it. Special teams is playing really hard and the Willis kid is playing lights out. Their kicker they know really well and their punter is really good. Biggest threat on special teams is kickoff return. Golden is electric and it's going to be a huge challenge for them to get down and cover. They are balanced on offense and it starts with Donovan Smith who was from Texas Tech. He started a multitude of games and played well. He is a coach's son and played well and he is really big. He has a big arm and they use him to run some. He can run and pass and they are very talented at the skill positions. They go deep and they have guys that can run and will take shots deep. They mix up the fronts on defense and their defensive line is big and are active with their hands and do a good job of playing their gaps. They have two guys that do a good job of rushing the passer. A team they have a lot of respect for and they are dangerous. Their back is against the wall and they are looking forward to it.
--Wyatt Milum will be a gametime decision, Tomas Rimac won't play this week and Aubrey Burks is still questionable.
--Jairo Faverus will come in and play more on defense and Caden Biser will be the next. They have some flexibility back there at safety and they have used Jacolby Spells in nickel packages, while Malachi Ruffin has played there as well. Josiah Jackson has gotten a lot of reps and have showed some signs.
--Nicco Marchiol's ankle is good and Garrett Greene is as well as the bye was good for the quarterbacks.
--When Dana comes back here for the first time it will be a bigger deal. It's been five years and it might be perceived differently if there were still a lot of guys that were still here. The fan base needs to understand I pull in and see the picture of the Orange Bowl. There is no ill will for anybody in this building to them. The theme is for them to continue to get better. This will be the first time depending on who plays on the offensive line, this is as healthy as they've been from a skill perspective. They are on the verge of playing some good offensive football. Every game is survive and advance and this happens to be the Big 12 game this week so it's about getting to 3-0.
--Emphasis program wide, they have to do a better job of starting the game. They need to get started faster.
--Brown said the offense is quite a bit different than what they had with Will Grier they're calling some quarterback run plays and read game but a lot of the pass concepts are the same.
--There is some familiarity there from an offensive standpoint just because coming from similar trees. When you get into a situation where you play everybody annually you go back and look at a lot of different previous games, but this is more like a non-conference game.
--The thing in this league that sticks out is the week to week. This has turned into a really physical conference and the week-to-week of it is tough. You have a chance to win every game but the opponent is good enough to beat you every week and a lot of the other leagues aren't like that especially at the group of five level. If you don't play somewhere close to your best then you have the opportunity to get beat.
--Coverage units have been really good minus one big return and they have covered punts well. They've been good at reducing TFLs and number of sacks given up. When they went back and said what are some things they have to do better those are some of the things they talked about is reducing those negative yardage plays and penalties.
--Brown hasn't talked to Dana but has some on his staff about coaching here.
--Brown was able to sign Sam Brown and he came in during the COVID-19 deal and that class didn't get to experience a summer and they weren't around them as much and they had a lot of transition in that room so there was a lot of different personalities and it was a young group without veteran leadership. When you look back at it you try to think what could they have done different but if he was in that room now it's a different story because they have some veterans in there. They would have done a better job mentoring him and having him come along. It was the best decision for him and us for him to leave, but when he left he had special talent if he matured. He is playing at a really high level.
--James Heard had a death in the family so he missed two practices. He made a really nice play on Wednesday, but missed Friday and Saturday. Bryce Biggs is a kid that walked on here and has gotten steadily better. Landen Livingston is much improved. And TJ Johnson and Noah Braham are coming along at tight end.
--With Houston the wide receivers can really run and are explosive. The quarterback is big and strong and breaks tackles. He can make all throws and can run to the right and throw it a long distance back to the left. On defense, it's the defensive line.
--West Virginia hasn't hit as many play action plays as they would like. The hope is you keep calling them with the intention that law of averages are going to work out. If they can hit 40-percent of those shot plays then they feel good about it. Only way he knows to get better is to work at them.
--The most important thing as the head coach is to win football games and sometimes you have to put some of your own ego away. He loves throwing the ball as much as anybody and they've had a lot of success over his career doing it and West Virginia has to get better in that. The strength of the team is on the offensive line and the job is to win games. They are playing to their strengths.
