Offensive Progress
April 22, 2008 10:43 AM | General
April 22, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jeff Mullen’s offensive staff accomplished what they set out to do this spring. West Virginia’s first-year offensive coordinator was able to get his base system in, develop some depth along the offensive line and not add to the injury list.
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| Key players Patrick White and Noel Devine were held out of a lot of the action during spring drills.
WVU Photography Services/Brian Persinger photo |
“In terms of a new offensive group picking up the terms and the schemes I’m very happy with what we’ve done this spring,” Mullen said after the spring game.
What Mullen is doing is not dramatically different than what was done here in the past. In fact most of the changes will be difficult to detect with the naked eye. There will be some more motioning and movement and perhaps some additional formations, but the basic approach to attacking defenses will remain the same with quarterback Patrick White returning for senior season.
Coach Bill Stewart has stated many times this spring that it is important for the Mountaineers to have the ability to attack all parts of the field including the deep middle to keep defenses from loading up to stop the run. It is also important to utilize other players in the offense beyond just the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Mullen plans on doing that.
Yet at the same time, a five-yard pass to the tight end in the flat is not the same as White tucking the football under his arm and running 60 yards for a touchdown. White has done that many times during the past three years.
And some of the perceived difficulties the offense had this spring were due in part to the fact that the quarterbacks had on no-contact jerseys. Many of those touch-taps on White for three yard gains during the two scrimmages were probably 25 and 30-yard runs. Jarrett Brown has the ability to do that as well.
Now during the developmental season Mullen and his staff will contemplate some of the areas that they need to improve before the start of fall camp, specifically red zone and short yardage situations.
“We didn’t use the three or four different personnel groupings where you put two or three big guys on the field for those situations because we’re just trying to understand how to line up and call plays because we’re a new offensive staff,” Mullen said. “That was the most important thing for us this spring.
“That will be a day-one deal in the fall,” Mullen added.
With the graduation of Owen Schmitt, the coaching staff had to look to within this spring to come up with a replacement at fullback. The two regular fullbacks in the program, Maxwell Anderson and Sam Morrone, were both shelved with knee injuries forcing Mullen to take Thor Merrow from the defensive line and Will Johnson from the wide receiver corps for help. Both performed well.
“We moved Will and we moved Thor Merrow who used to be a defensive lineman. Maybe we can dot the I with Will a little bit and put Thor at fullback and have a bigger backfield set,” Mullen said. “There are a number of things personnel wise we can do. We can get two big guys in the backfield. We’ve got to look at our own football players and we’ve got to recruit.”
Mullen was pleased with the growth displayed on the offensive line. The No. 1 group for the spring game included Gino Gradkowski at center, Jake Figner and John Bradshaw at guards, and Ryan Stanchek and Selvish Capers at tackle. Two key parts of that equation - center Mike Dent and left guard Greg Isdaner - were out recovering from off-season surgeries.
“It was a blessing that we didn’t have to go through with them because I think next fall we’ll be a little bit better from a personnel standpoint,” Mullen explained.
Having Dent, Isdaner - and a times Stanchek - out wasn’t that big of a deal according to Mullen.
“I don’t think it hurts a guy like Ryan, Isdaner and our Dent kid the center. Those are three all-league players and they’re veterans. They’re sharp kids, they’ve been through it and we know that they can do it,” Mullen said. “What it did was it really helped our guys up front because we got some young kids get a lot of reps. Gino Gradkowski, Donny Barclay and some of these younger people got a lot more reps than they normally would have and they had great springs because of it.”
Mullen also limited the things White and running back Noel Devine did this spring. He has seen enough of what they can do on film not to risk doing anything foolish with them during the spring.
“We purposely held Noel out of some things and we pulled Pat early in situations. Mentally they know what to do,” Mullen said. “The system we have in place is not that difficult and they are very sharp kids so we feel very confident about that.”
In the final analysis, Mullen says the offensive staff was able to achieve what it set out to do at the beginning of spring practice.
“I was happy that we didn’t get anybody hurt. That was a key. I am happy we learned the system. I feel very confident that our No. 1 unit and a handful of twos know exactly what to do on every given play,” Mullen said.
