Former Mountaineer and hall of fame coach Don Nehlen stopped by the Milan Puskar Center on Tuesday to visit with media after coach
Dana Holgorsen's weekly lunchtime news gathering.
Nehlen and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer have been named ceremonial captains for the revival of the Black Diamond Trophy Game at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, on Sunday, Sept. 3.
The two coaches guided some of the best football teams in their school's history, facing each other annually from 1987-2000.
"I'm anxious to see Frank because when I coached he was always one of my favorite guys," Nehlen said. "He always ran a clean program and whenever we played it was always a good football game."
Sometimes it was good for West Virginia and Nehlen, especially when Beamer was just getting started at Tech in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and sometimes it was good for Virginia Tech and Beamer, particularly when Beamer had that great run of players in the late 1990s.
"There isn't any question when I first came here (in 1980) all I ever heard about was Pitt and Penn State and I think coach (Bill) Dooley was the coach at Virginia Tech, and I don't know how many years we played them, and then Frank came on the scene and had some tough sledding for a couple of years and he got it going," Nehlen said. "In my opinion, Michael Vick was the best college football player that we ever played against.
"They had two No. 1-round draft picks in a row (at the quarterback position). They had that (Jim) Druckenmiller and Michael, and when he ran into those two guys his program took off."
Considering the number of great individual players Nehlen faced during his long and successful coaching career at WVU, that's a pretty tall compliment he paid Vick.
"None of them could run like Michael Vick could," Nehlen explained. "Those quarterbacks that go back to throw and can't find anything and take off … there's just no defense for it.
"If you drop a guy and spy him, well, then you never get to the quarterback because you don't have anybody rushing. There's not many answers for a scrambling quarterback, especially one as good as he was," Nehlen said.
Nehlen said the fans in the southern part of the state always pointed to the Tech game because of their proximity to Blacksburg, Virginia.
"From a fan's standpoint, I'm not too sure some of the fans didn't like that rivalry more than the other ones, especially down south because they didn't have as much of a chance to go to the Pitt and Penn State games," he said. "I'm glad we're playing them again. That's good for us."
Nehlen said he is anxious to see more games against West Virginia's traditional regional rivals.
"Pitt, Penn State and Virginia Tech, when I coached here, they were monumental games," he said. "Everybody looked forward to them. Our kids did. Our fans did. So, the fact that somebody is coming back on the schedule is big. Plus, Virginia Tech is always a very competitive team and I think we're playing them at a good time because they don't have a quarterback.
"I've had teams with quarterbacks and I've had teams without 'em, and I don't mind telling you ones without them are a struggle. It will be an interesting game," he concluded.
And now, some more football notes to take you into the weekend …
* Defensive coordinator
Tony Gibson said Tuesday he's likely going to play four different nose tackles at the season's outset until one assumes control of that spot. The top two candidates for playing time are senior
Xavier Pegues and junior
Jaleel Fields, but junior college transfer
Jalen Harvey and true freshman
Lamonte McDougle will also play.
"Is it going to be 15 snaps apiece? I don't know. We'll wait and see who's doing what come Sunday over in Landover," Gibson said.
McDougle, the son of former Oklahoma standout Stockar McDougle, has drawn praise from coaches and players alike.
* Gibson noted that three corners have really separated themselves from the pack. They are seniors
Mike Daniels Jr. and
Elijah Battle and sophomore
Hakeem Bailey, who has consistently drawn praise since his arrival from Iowa Western Community College last winter.
"They're going to be the three guys we throw out first and see what happens," Gibson said.
* Gibson said he's preparing for ghosts a little bit because the Hokies have two capable quarterbacks in redshirt freshman Josh Jackson and junior Al Bush.
Both are dual-threat guys, which obviously pose problems for the defense.
Eleven days ago, Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente announced that Jackson will be his starter against West Virginia.
Still, Gibson must be prepared for Plan B, and Plan C.
"We'll be prepared for it," Gibson said, noting he's gone back and studied some Memphis tape when Fuente coached there to get a feel for what he did with his quarterbacks in the running game. "That's going to be something a little different for us. Not a lot of people in the Big 12 are running quarterbacks, so we have a lot of work to do and we've been cheating here the last couple of weeks doing walk-throughs and just getting ready for some quarterback run stuff."
Interestingly enough, Gibson and defensive line coach
Bruce Tall have a tie to Jackson. They worked with Josh's dad, Fred Jackson, for three years on Rich Rodriguez's staff at Michigan. Fred was the only Lloyd Carr assistant coach Rodriguez retained.
* Jumping to the other side of the ball, offensive coordinator
Jake Spavital is still seeking answers for some of the deficiencies his unit has.
It doesn't matter where you're at - Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, USC or Clemson - every coach around the country is dealing with it this time of year.
"That's the hardest part, you just don't know where you're at as a team," Spavital admitted. "You're going up against each other and you don't know how good or how bad you are. The first game you're really going to go into it with multiple game plans.
"What if they come out and play man-press the whole game? What if they come out and play zone the whole game? What happens if this person is having protection issues? What happens if there are certain looks we are just not capable of getting open off of? What are our answers?" Spavital said.
"So, there are multiple game plans you have to put together. We're going to go in with the plan that we believe is correct, but we've got to be able to change on the move and make in-game adjustments."
Having a longer preseason has given Spavital enough time to begin to get a feel for some of the things his offense can't do.
"You start having the personnel talks and really you say, 'If I'm going to run this play I need to have this kid in the game rather than this kid because he's not very good at running that type of route or executing that type of run play.' That's the discussions we're having to make sure we are putting our kids in the best possible position for success."
* The way Miami dominated West Virginia in last year's Russell Athletic Bowl when the Hurricanes limited the Mountaineers to just 229 total yards has to be a cause for concern, especially when you consider how easily Virginia Tech handled Miami in Blacksburg when the two teams met earlier in the season.
Last year, WVU simply didn't have adequate answers for some of the things Miami threw at it in the bowl game. Hopefully, the Mountaineers will have more solutions when they face the Hokies.
"That's a lot of what Dana and I did during the offseason," Spavital admitted. "We sat down together; he evaluated himself; I evaluated myself from what I did at Cal and really combined it all to where, 'Alright, if a team does this to us this is our answer. Here are our answers in these certain situations as well.' I thought it was pretty healthy to sit down and evaluate ourselves, both good and bad last year."
In the case of the Miami loss, West Virginia's issues against the Hurricanes were probably more personnel related than inadequate schemes and strategy.
"That's part of it," Spavital said. "I can tell you going into games we're going to have great schemes but it always changes based off of the personnel, where you're at as a team, and how things are going because there are a lot of moving parts out there. Offensively, we have a lot of inexperienced guys out there. (Will) Grier has not played in a year and a half, so who knows how his first-game jitters are going to be.
"We think he's going to be fine, and we're banking on that, but you always have to have that backup plan in certain situations. That's just trying to get a feel for the game and you've got to be on top of it pretty early."
* And finally, Virginia Tech's official football account tweeted some footage earlier this week of the team loosening up for practice with "Country Roads" blaring in the background.
My question is this: What the hell is West Virginia supposed to play before its practices to get jacked up for the Hokies, The Hokey Pokey?
You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out,
You put your right hand in,
And you shake it all about,
You do the hokey pokey
and you turn yourself around
That what it's all about.
Oh boy ... Can somebody help me out with this one?
In the meantime, have a great weekend!
Game week starts on Monday!
