Football Notebook
September 22, 2009 07:18 PM | General
September 22, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said Tuesday afternoon that his football team is taking advantage of the extra time to prepare for Colorado's return trip to Morgantown next Thursday night in a game to be played on ESPN.
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| Noel devine has run for 335 yards and scored four touchdowns in two games against Auburn.
AP photo |
Seven coaches were out on the road recruiting, and players banged up in the Auburn loss are getting treatments, including quarterback Jarrett Brown, who left the game late in the fourth quarter.
"Jarrett has a contusion underneath the shoulder," Stewart said. "I guess it would be determined as a bruise/sprain from what I have been told by the medical people. He has been getting treatment pretty much non-stop.
"Scooter (Berry) has shown some good signs of mobility. I was in the training room with those guys on Sunday and his range of motion is getting better. Reed (Williams) is making great headway. I think he would have been ready this week, and now that we have that extra time, I don’t foresee any problems with him."
Stewart said West Virginia's 11-point loss at Auburn was a mixed bag. The Mountaineers took a 30-27 lead into the fourth quarter but they could not seal the deal.
"We were aggressive offensively, defensively and on special teams," Stewart said. "I thought we had some very fine performances by several people and we had a heck of a game plan. I was really proud of the coaches and the way we attacked. But in football, the ball doesn't always bounce your way and we got bit at the end with turnovers and not taking control of the game when we thought we had a chance to."
Stewart said the team will spend the early portion of this week correcting mistakes from the Auburn game before turning to Colorado by the end of the week.
"What we have to do is try to be as constructive and as truthful as we can be, and figure out what happened good, bad and indifferent," Stewart said. "There are 11 guys on offense, 11 on defense and 11 guys on special teams that could have all played better at some time during the course of the game. That is just the fact, but no one guy lost this game for us.
"You have to look at the total picture. What did you do well? I really don’t care who we are playing this week. All I care about is, ‘What can we do to become as good as we can possibly be?’ We look at the positives, the negatives and the things that are 50-50," Stewart said.
Costly turnovers were West Virginia's undoing against Auburn, the Mountaineers committing six of them including interceptions on four consecutive fourth-quarter drives when the outcome was still in doubt. Despite that, Stewart said the offense will continue to put pressure on the defense.
"We are throwing deep. We are throwing the ball down the middle and we are going to make them defend the field," he said. "We are not backing off in our play calling. I thought it was exciting.
"I don’t want ever to have a quarterback be reckless, but I hope they have the same attitude that Jarrett Brown has and the John Elway kind of guys have," he said. "Those guys I can put in there and they make the throw. Jarrett is aggressive. He likes to pitch it and catch it and he attacks defenses, and he has done a pretty good job. It was his fifth start and his first road start and I thought he did really well."
Briefly:
"It was better than it’s been. It wasn’t like it was three or four years ago when I put this in," Stewart said. "It looks like we are headed back in that direction."
Stewart said having Trippe Hale back out there on the kickoff team was a big bonus.
"He was an explosion. He was in on three big hits," Stewart said. "He is a homeboy down there and when I put him in that lineup, it was the best thing I did. It was fun to see him get back in the swing of things."
"When Geno went in, he came open, had a beautiful read, then he stepped on a lineman’s foot and the sack got him. That tells you that it is coming," Stewart said. "They know where to go with the ball and when to get in there."
Stewart sees nothing but continued growth and development from Smith.
"His reads were right on. He got hit one time and stepped on a foot when he was stepping up to make a throw," Stewart said. "It is good to see a youngster who came from high school last year step up. It was very impressive."
"Jarrett would be starting if the soreness was out. It is just a sore bruise, kind of like Syracuse last year, but it is his non-throwing arm," Stewart said. "As tough as Jarrett Brown is, he would play if we had a game this weekend. That is just how he is and that is why I love him."
"I thought they made some nice catches. I don’t know if they threw the ball well, but the completions turned out well for them," Stewart said.
Next Thursday night against Colorado, West Virginia is facing another capable passing attack. Last year against West Virginia, Cody Hawkins fired two first-half touchdown passes in a 17-14 overtime win in Boulder. This year, Hawkins has completed 71 of 135 passes for 753 yards and five touchdowns.
"I see a lot of talent from this Colorado team. A lot of misfiring, but a lot of talent and it was shown this week against a very tough Wyoming team," Stewart said. "They played very hard against Colorado State and Toledo, but they were just misfiring. So I see a talented group of people that beat us last year. They have good running backs, quarterback and receivers."
"I would like to see him carry the ball about 20 or 25 times a game," Stewart said. "I would like to get the ball in his hands passing about three to eight times. The problem is when you run the option and Jarrett pulls the ball, Noel’s number is called. We can’t tell you what that defense is going to do. That is why we have to find ways to get the ball in No. 7’s hand like we did on that first touchdown.
"The other night, 7 flat out ran over two or three guys. He is a tough man."
In two career games against Auburn, Devine has carried 32 times for 335 yards and four rushing touchdowns.
"I think if you spread the defense out and give the ball to 7, there are lanes and creases and he can hit them," Stewart said. "I am so impressed with his burst. When the ball touches his hands, watch how fast his feet turn."
"We are trying to spread the wealth. We are trying to spread the defense and Jock has an innate ability to get open and make catches, and he doesn’t drop the ball very often," Stewart said. "When he catches the ball, Jock Sanders explodes out of his cut."
However, Stewart said that West Virginia has several options in the passing game.
"I know our skill level is pretty good. Look at Bradley Starks, Alric Arnett, Wes Lyons and Jock Sanders out there on the flank and two tight ends with Will Johnson and Tyler Urban," he said. "Then you have Noel and Jarrett in the back field being able to run that ball that is a lot of talent.
"Now are we ready to be kingpins of football? No, we are still a work in progress. I really like what we are doing and I like the aggressiveness. We are not going to back off. I want to take the ball and stretch the field vertically as well as horizontally. We have always done a good job at stretching the field horizontally, but never that well vertically, and that is what we are doing," he said.
