Saturday Practice Report
March 28, 2009 03:14 PM | General
March 28, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - There are some quarterbacks that look good throwing the football and there are some quarterbacks that sound good throwing the ball. Today, Jarrett Brown sounded good throwing the football.
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| Senior Wes Lyons had an outstanding practice Saturday playing slot receiver.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
At one point Brown completed 11 straight passes during skeleton drills, including a couple of whistlers to Wes Lyons in the end zone that you could hear as well as you could see.
Once on a deep out to Carmen Connolly, Brown put a perfect strike between three defenders right into the belly of Connolly along the sideline. The velocity of the ball nearly knocked Connolly over.
Twice, Brown bought time in the pocket during goal line drills to fire perfect strikes to Lyons. Another time Brown eluded pressure, found Lyons working back toward the far pylon and lobbed a pretty arching pass that only the 6-foot-8 Lyons could go up and get.
That's how well Brown threw the football today.
"The first three days he has been really sharp and that's a tribute to Jarrett," said offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen. "He now understands that this is his time. We talk a lot about off-season and in the last two or three months he's put in a lot of time. He's about done with his school work so he has the extra time."
Mullen was also pleased with the progress Lyons is making at wide receiver. In an effort to get Lyons on the field, Mullen decided to put him in the slot next to either Alric Arnett or Bradley Starks. It may look a little awkward seeing a 6-8 player lineup in the slot but Coach Bill Stewart believes the move may turn out to be a stroke of genius.
Judging from the way Lyons got open today and caught the football, he won't be moving out of the slot any time soon.
"Yesterday Wes caught a big drag," Stewart said. "He's 6-foot-8 coming across the middle. I thought it was a brilliant move by the offensive coaches. Now will he step up and make some plays? We'll see this spring."
"We have got to find a way to get Wes on the field," added Mullen. "We've played him at two or three positions this spring. The last couple of days inside at slot he's really excelled."
Lyons is simply happy to be healthy and out on the field.
"I think I get a bad rap because of the injuries," Lyons said. "I don't think everyone knows that I have been injured."
He looked pretty healthy on Saturday.
Briefly:
"The offensive line did a little bit better today. There were some good things today but we have a long row to hoe," he admitted. "I was pleased to see some physical play on both sides today. Yesterday I saw total defensive domination, but the offense came back and responded a little bit today. But we're so far off and it's such a long way to go."
Stewart used both Bitancurt and punter Scott Kozlowski on kickoffs with both struggling to reach the 10 yard line. Kozlowski was much better punting the football, consistently kicking the football 55 yards in the air with decent hang time.
"We finally had an opportunity to look at that kid and, boy, did he do good things blocking and running and that's exciting for us," Mullen said.
Mullen said the defense normally has an advantage during inside drills because the numbers favor them.
"Inside drill is such an uphill battle because they've got nine in there and we've only got seven and a lot of times there is a guy making a hit at the line of scrimmage unblocked," Mullen said. "That's where I thought we made a little hay today. There were a lot of four and five-yard football plays and that was a place where I was most concerned with our youth along the offensive line."
"Bradley Starks would clearly be that guy but he's been told that he cannot throw a pass in the spring. He can run and do some of those things but he cannot throw," Mullen said. "That's disappointing for me that we can't develop him as a backup but it's good for Coley because he gets a lot of extra work."
"I tell him to throw it up. If you're scrambling and you need somebody to throw it to, just throw it high and I'll go up and get it," Lyons said.
"It felt like a high school game today. The game has slowed down. College is starting to slow down for me like high school did my senior year," Lyons admitted. "I recognize coverages and I recognize defenses more."
"Najae Goode's interception would have been a touchdown. He was reading the quarterback's eyes and he broke on the ball. That was good to see for Najee," Stewart said.
"Recruiting is going very well," Stewart noted. "The Will Clarke addition yesterday was a big lift for us. There were some guys here today who were very impressed."
