Spring Football: Offense Carries the Day
April 11, 2015 09:14 PM | General
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The No. 1 offense scored four times from the plus-30, while the second offense reached pay dirt twice during the same part of practice.
Josh Lambert and Billy Kinney also kicked field goals today.
“We didn’t make any plays,” said defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. “Our corners struggled a little bit; safeties a little bit; linebackers and D-line, so it was not a good day for us. It was good to see the offense do what they did. I thought they played really well and we played really bad.”
Junior Daikiel Shorts caught a pair of short touchdown passes, redshirt freshman Shelton Gibson got past the secondary for a 30-yard scoring grab and Wendell Smallwood broke free down the near sideline and weaved his way 22 yards for another score.
“Last Saturday they (the defense) got us, so this Saturday we (offense) tried to go after them,” said Smallwood. “I had a big run. I was just trying to get a first down but then I saw an opportunity and I took it.”
All three touchdown passes were thrown by Skyler Howard, who completed 11 of his 21 pass attempts during the red zone portion of practice, while Shorts was on the receiving end of seven of those aerials or 54 yards.
Twice, Shorts beat backup corner Ricky Rumph in the corner of the end zone on 2-yard fade passes.
Shelton Gibson’s 30-yard reception was on a pretty slant pattern in the back of the end zone on the opening possession of red zone work. Gibson could have had another score when Howard dropped a beautifully thrown ball over his right shoulder but the redshirt freshman was unable to secure the pass down the far sideline.
“I thought Skyler threw the ball really well and Daikiel and Shelton Gibson made some big plays. That’s going to happen at times, but at some point we have to put a stop to it,” said Gibson.
Running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider thought today’s practice may have been the most effective for the offense so far this spring, particularly the red zone portion of it.
“We’ve only been in this situation twice so to see our guys answer the call … because we got our butts kicked down there at Shepherdstown,” said Seider. “To see them fight back in that situation and to go out there and compete is encouraging.”
Quarterbacks William Crest, Jr. and Chris Chugunov took turns operating the second offense, Crest leading the twos to a pair of red zone scores.
The first was a result of Crest’s screen pass to freshman running back Donte Thomas-Williams that moved the football 23 yards to the seven. Thomas-Williams took it in from there on the next play.
Later, Thomas-Williams again crossed the goal line when he bounced outside from the 3.
The defense was more successful earlier in the afternoon when both offenses started drives from their own 30.
Crest and Chugunov both completed a pair of passes during that part of the scrimmage work, while Howard was just 3 of 8 with the ones from that spot on the field.
The defense was without several key contributors on Saturday and it showed at times.
“We have a couple guys out (at corner) and three of our D-linemen out that we’re really counting on so it was a bad day for us,” said Gibson. “Hopefully we can take some stuff off the film and learn from it.”
Up front, Kyle Rose was not on the field for disciplinary reasons, Christian Brown did not practice and Noble Nwachukwu practiced briefly before spending the rest of it standing on the sidelines with his pads off.
Darrien Howard has been working with the ones in place of Rose.
“Anytime you gets those twos in there with the ones that’s good for us because that keeps building depth that way,” admitted Gibson.
Gibson did say Thursday’s practice was possibly the best of the spring for his defense.
“We were flying around and the kids were excited. Was the weather too nice today and were the kids not thinking about football and different things going on? I don’t know but it was a really bad day for us,” said Gibson.
The Mountaineers will resume spring work on Tuesday afternoon and then will have a pair of practices at The Greenbrier next weekend. Friday’s practice will be closed to the general public while Saturday’s workout will be open.
Before today’s practice, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen offered his thoughts on where the team is eight practices into the spring.
“Everything is good,” he said. “We’re heading into practice nine right now and we’re relatively healthy and getting a lot of work done.”
- Today’s work focused more on drills than scrimmaging with the team doing some hitting to begin practice. Two of the more spirited confrontations featured offensive lineman Jonathan Haynes going up against defensive lineman Dontae Angus and running back Jacky Marcellus matched up against defensive back Daejuan Funderburk.
- Vernon Davis Jr., Jacky Marcellus, Lamar Parker, and Jordan Thompson were back deep catching punts. Last weekend, West Virginia’s punt returners once again struggled to handle the ball during very windy conditions.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Holgorsen. “I know what happened last weekend. That was a learning experience for not only the punt returners, but for our punter who shanked about 12 in a row there.”
- Holgorsen said Daikiel Shorts has been moved from inside to outside receiver to help bolster that spot in the lineup.
“We need to find a wideout,” admitted Holgorsen. “(Shorts is) going through some growing pains with that right now, but he’s an experienced receiver who’s got good size and good speed. He’s right now our top guy outside.
“We need outside receivers. This is going to be a while before we have established guys on the outside,” added Holgorsen. “We’re just adding him to the equation to see if that’s an answer. I think it will be.”
- When the Mountaineers went four-wide they lined up with Shelton Gibson and Daikiel Shorts on the outside with Wendell Smallwood and Jordan Thompson in the slot.
The word is Smallwood has looked really good this spring both as a runner and as a pass catcher.
- Finally, Holgorsen provided an update on Rose’s situation.
“He’s been suspended all week,” said Holgorsen. “He’s cleaned the entire weight room and you’ll see him running stairs. We will handle it internally, but that type of behavior is not going to be tolerated under any circumstances. He understands what is expected of him as a senior leader.”
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