MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
 
Opening Statement
We're excited about moving forward to our Big 12 schedule. We know we have nine opponents ahead of us, so it doesn't matter at what point you play who. It doesn't really matter. This one happens to be in Lawrence against Kansas, so we're excited about that. We have a lot of familiarity with not only Kansas, but all of the Big 12 going into the sixth year. There aren't a whole lot of secrets out there when it comes to us playing them and there's not a whole lot of secrets out there when it comes to them playing us. We know each other pretty well. I think all of our goals are to line up and play a good football game and put our guys in position to be successful and hopefully come out victorious.
 
They're 1-2; I know the last two games that they've lost have been really competitive, been close games that they just didn't happen to win. I see a Kansas team that has improved over the last couple of years. I think Coach (David) Beaty is an outstanding football coach and has done a great job of building some excitement around their program with recruiting. He's doing a really good job in getting some really good recruits in there and they do a great job with their staff. They have a lot of great coaches on their staff as well, so this will be a big challenge for us.
 
I think our guys will be excited about that, I really do. You can say what you want to, we've done what we've supposed to these last couple of weeks. We came up short in that first game, we know, but we've done what we've supposed to as a football team, as a football program, these last two weeks and we're ready to move on to Big 12 play. That's going to be our motivation. Don't care who, don't care where, it's just Big 12 football and we need to go out and we need to play our best, which is what we're expected to do and what we're expecting to do.
 
The same goes for them; they're going to say the same thing. They're going to tell their guys that this has been one that we've been looking forward to for a long time. So, we'll get their absolute best this weekend, we know that. The thing about them, too, is they have so many new guys. They have some new schemes and have some new coaches, but they have a lot of new players playing for them. They're going to get it together at some point; I hope it isn't this weekend. But we have to count on them doing that.
 
Offensively, Doug Meacham, I'm extremely familiar with him. He had been at TCU, he's doing the same stuff that he did at TCU. Shoot, he's doing the same stuff that we did at Oklahoma State when he was my inside receivers coach there. They have a quarterback who can sling it around, Washington State transfer, played at Itawamba Community College there in Mississippi. He's a gunslinger; he can throw it all over the place. They have a lot of receivers that they throw to and you have to defend the run as well. (Meacham) has always done a good job in making sure he mixes in the run. So, they're going to continue to get better on offense based on a new offense, they have a plan and just the timing aspect of a new quarterback throwing with new receivers. The quarterback has only been there for a few months, so they're going to continue to get better and better.
 
Defensively, it looks the same as it has always looked. Clint Bowen has been there for a long time – 1990, I think, is when he played there. So, he's been there forever. He has a plan with what he wants to do on defense and they do a really good job of it. I've sat here in front of you for the last five years and talked about my respect for Clint Bowen and how good that they are defensively. They've played well defensively in the years that we've played against them. This group of defenders is no different than the ones that we've seen. They have really good players, especially up front. The (Dorance) Armstrong kid and the (Daniel) Wise kid are two as good as what we'll see all year. They have very active safeties, they have linebackers that are solid and they have a couple of new corners that they got out of the junior college ranks, which we know something about. We know who every junior college corner in the country is and these were two guys that we had our eye on. They can play. So, defensively, they're going to continue to get better and better.
 
Special teams, obviously we know a lot about it based on coach (Joe) DeForest being here and being there. We have a lot of familiarity with what he's doing. Their kicker is new – he's been there but he's new. He looks as good as anybody I've seen. Their punter is the same guy that they had last year, he does a great job. Their return game is dangerous and they're very solid with what they do as well.
 
So, we can't face an opponent that we know more about. But Coach Beaty is saying the same thing in his press conference right now. They can't face an opponent that they know more about. So, it'll be interesting to see how this goes down. Like I said, we're excited about our week of preparation, flying to Kansas City on Friday and have about a 45-minute drive on Saturday morning where we're used to getting up early and going and playing that game at 11 a.m. It's no different than what we've done here the last two weeks and what we've done there the last couple of times we've been there. We're starting Big 12 ball.
 
On if Meacham's offense is similar to what he ran at TCU
He put his own twist on TCU's offense. You can say what you want with co-coordinators or whatever it was, Sonny Cumbie coming from Texas Tech, (Meacham) coming from Oklahoma State, what's the difference? It looks like TCU to me. I think the bigger question is what TCU is doing right now, which I think is going to be different. But we'll figure that out next week.
 
On a different type of atmosphere at Kansas
I don't think it'll be like that this time. I can't say I ever really worried about it; it's our job to prepare our guys the best way we can and let them know what the situation is going to be. This is the first time we're playing in September, so when you go out there this afternoon it's going to be 82 degrees. Throw a little wind on top of that and that's what the conditions are going to be like, which is a far cry from when we played them in late November, maybe even early December, and it would be more of a wind chill situation, which kind of shoves fans inside to watch basketball. I think it'll be pretty good there, I do. They've been pumping this thing up, so I think there's going to be a lot of people there, which would be good – the more, the better. I don't know how that's going to affect us one way or another.
 
On redshirt senior fullback/tight end Elijah Wellman's performance against Delaware State
His job is to block people. He's like a sixth (offensive) lineman up there. He played well, he thumped some people pretty good. We rely on him a lot for inspiration and lead blocking and chopping people down and helping in pass protection. He's doing a really good job of that. We've taken a few special teams reps off of him to enable us to be able to use him more on offense. He's been heavily involved in a lot of our special team stuff previously, where he's not as much moving forward. He did do a great job on that first kickoff return, he kicked a guy out and (sophomore wide receiver) Marcus (Simms) hit it up in there. So, he was involved in that one. Just blocking people, it's as simple as that. He plays with an attitude, it's important to him, he's great in the huddle. I've talked a lot about the presence of (redshirt junior quarterback) Will (Grier) and (junior receiver) David (Sills V) in the huddle. Well, he's no different; he gets in there and it's why he's our team captain.
 
On how the game of football is changing the roles of the fullback position and how he uses them
That's a good question. We started doing that seven years ago. I never used a fullback ever at (Texas) Tech, no, Houston, no. I went to Oklahoma State and started using it a little bit, because I had one there that I liked. I came here and we had a few of those bodies laying around that we used a little bit. So, this is about year eight for us to do it. (Offensive Coordinator) Jake (Spavital) understands that and he's doing a great job with it. He was with me at Oklahoma State when we started doing that along with (Offensive Line Coach) Joe Wickline. We're all here, so we all understand that. You're right, though, you see everybody doing it. You're adding that sixth gap, that sixth body to add gaps. But it's not just the tight end body, it's more of a move-around guy that you can do different things with and you can get incorporated in the pass game a good bit. The answer is both; it's what I want to do, it's what we've been doing, but I see college football heading in that direction as well. Now, are we going to get to a point where you're going to see that guy in a three-point stance directly behind the quarterback who is under center with the guy dotting the "I"? I don't know if we're headed in that direction.
 
On how redshirt junior quarterback Will Grier has been able to develop trust so quickly
It's that starting quarterback gene, in particular, a coach's kid has. It's not about just being out there on the football field or working hard in the weight room, but understanding the locker room aspect of it as well and the meeting room aspect of it as well. He has a lot of intelligence, a lot of football intelligence, but that starting quarterback gene where people gravitate towards him, he knows when to pick people up, he knows when to yell at a guy, can sit in front of him in a meeting room and discuss what's happening on the screen, then guys say, "Yeah, that guy knows what he's talking about. I probably should listen to him, he has the ball in his hands." He just has that.
 
On how senior running back Justin Crawford has gotten more consistent
We're only three games into it and we've had two of them under control. We have depth at running back – he's carrying it, what, like 14-15 times a game for three games now? That number is going to go up at some point. Maturity, health, offseason, motivation, knowledge, everything. I like where he's at. He was the best cheerleader on the sidelines on Saturday. He was out there yelling at the defense, the second-, third-team defensive guys to get off the field, which I thought was pretty cool. I like where he's at in general; it means a lot to him to play, it means a lot to him to win. He's going to do about anything he has to to get that done.
 
On if he's pleased with the balance on offense
Yeah, I think so. It confuses Coach (Don) Nehlen. We've talked about that quite a bit. He wants that thing to be about 400 to 200, which would be a lot. That would be at 600. He'd probably at least want it reversed, 300 rushing, 200 passing, right? I think it's good, I think it's who we are. We're going to continue to force runs even when they're clearly taking the run away just because that's who we are. It opens up big plays, too. I think the reason why our passing game numbers yardage-wise is as high as it is is because of all of the big plays that we've had. We're calling run quite a bit, even if we're throwing it out there on the perimeter for various reasons, we're calling it to be a run.
 
On how much he talks to Don Nehlen
Not as much as I'd like for a bunch of different reasons, but he pops in a good bit. He gave up on me a long time ago. Initially he did; he didn't talk to me the first two years but then saw the transition a little bit and started talking. Now he's probably not talking anymore.
 
On if there are any Kansas players that could give WVU some trouble
A lot of them. The (Steven) Sims kid, the receiver, is a really good player. He impresses you a good bit. Their one back No. 24 (Taylor Martin) has been hurt but he's a good player and their quarterback is going to get better and better. Those two (defensive) linemen are really good; No. 11 (Mike Lee), the safety, is a really good player. That's not even counting the guy that leads the Big 12 in tackles, the WILL linebacker No. 29 (Joe Dineen), who was hurt last year and couldn't play. I hate singling out a few of them because if I didn't mention them, it's going to give that specific kid motivation to play well. But there are some guys that really stand out.
 
On how many carries senior running back Justin Crawford can handle
I don't know, I've said the days of 28-carry backs are done and then you give it to Crawford 28 times and he goes for 200, 300 yards against Baylor and Oklahoma. He can handle that, the danger in that is what his body is going to be like the next week and the next week. We're fortunate to have (sophomore running back) Kennedy (McKoy) will be back, he'll be ready to roll, (sophomore running back Martell) Pettaway looked good. We have two other guys. What you have to figure out as a coach is if you hand it to your starter 22, 23 times, are you better off handing it to No. 32, No. 7 more times than that? That's just something we gauge. We chart how many times each of these guys have touched the ball, how many snaps they play in a game. Skill guys, offensively, we chart it on the sidelines. I go and talk after every series about who I think needs to touch the ball and who I think needs to play a little bit more just to try to spread things out to keep guys fresh in the fourth quarter, but also to keep them healthy throughout the course of the season. (Director of Player Personnel Ryan) Dorchester does a great job with tracking player participation and our numbers are really even right now, where last year they were really top-heavy. Right now, they are pretty even. That's everything, special teams and the amount of snaps in general.
 
On redshirt senior offensive lineman Grant Lingafelter
All of those will practice today, but that doesn't mean they'll play. We have to wait and see how practice goes. All of those long-term guys will be out there, (redshirt junior safety) Toyous Avery, (redshirt sophomore linebacker) David Long (Jr.), Grant, (redshirt freshman offensive lineman Jacob) Buccigrossi, all of those guys are really close. We'll practice them today and wait and see how they do today and tomorrow. They're for sure going to be on the plane, we just have to wait and see how that looks.
 
On if he's talked to Washington State coach Mike Leach about Kansas quarterback Peyton Bender
Not him, specifically. The Mike Leach classic quarterback is a guy who sits in the pocket and throws it 90 times a game, capable of doing that. This kid is capable of doing that, that's what he wants to do. He wants to stay in the pocket and he wants to throw that thing all over the place. So, that's what we'll prepare for. I've learned my lesson talking to Coach Leach. Washington State is playing well; we want them to keep winning, because the more they win, the weirder he gets. I love him, he's the best. His press conferences are a lot more entertaining than mine. I've seen it all. I've seen it all before you all have seen it. That's the reason why I haven't read his books, I lived it.