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Holgorsen: ‘15 Team His Most Experienced at WVU
July 20, 2015 03:29 PM | Football
DALLAS – Different personnel groupings and more quarterback runs are some of the things West Virginia football fans can look forward to this year, says Mountaineer coach Dana Holgorsen.
Holgorsen and WVU players Karl Joseph, Nick Kwiatkoski, Tyler Orlosky and Wendell Smallwood were in downtown Dallas on Monday as part of the two-day Big 12 Football Media Day event going on at the Omni Hotel.
West Virginia, league favorite TCU, Kanas State, Texas Tech and Kansas are in Dallas today while Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor, Iowa State and Oklahoma State will be here tomorrow.
“This league is so similar with what we do offensively,” explained Holgorsen. “There’s so much carryover from guys that I’ve coached or guys that I’ve coached with or whatever it is to the point to where we’ve got to do different things to change to keep people off balance.”
Holgorsen has his most experienced team since arriving in Morgantown in 2011, the Mountaineers returning 15 starters and 44 lettermen from last year’s team that finished 7-6 and lost to Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl. Among those 15 starters are a league-high eight returning senior starters.
Most of that experience is coming back on a Mountaineer defense Holgorsen believes could be the best he’s been involved with in more than 20 years of coaching.
“I’ve just got guys that have a bunch of experience,” he said. “When we came into this league three years ago, everybody remembers (quarterback) Geno Smith and (wide receivers) Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey, but I doubt you could name another person, especially on defense. Just the guys that have been here three and four years, even going into their fifth year – guys have been here and they’ve played a bunch.
“It’s been a long road to get to this point defensively, and we obviously feel good about it.”
On the other side of the football, Holgorsen is going into his fifth preseason at WVU with junior Skyler Howard handling the controls at quarterback. Howard passed for 829 yards and eight touchdowns with no interceptions in 2 ½ games – an aspect of Howard’s game Holgorsen says is encouraging.
“I think the No. 1 thing that we’ve got to talk about when it comes to the quarterback position is he’s taking care of the football,” said Holgorsen. “He did play in 2 ½ games last year and didn’t throw a pick; (Howard) had one fumble he learned a lesson from.”
Howard is a thicker, more mobile quarterback than last year’s starter Clint Trickett, and Holgorsen indicated that the possibility exists that Howard may be asked to run the football more frequently than other quarterbacks he’s had in the past.
Again, handling the football will be important if that’s the case.
“Everybody talks about the quarterback position taking care of the ball when he’s throwing it, but you’ve got to take care of the ball in the pocket, and you’ve got to take care of the ball when you tuck it and head downfield as well,” said Holgorsen. “Whoever that guy is for us is going to be the guy that can take care of the ball more than anything. We were 120th in turnover margin last year and we felt like we could have put ourselves in a position to win the conference if we’d have done a better job of taking care of the ball and getting turnovers on defense as well.”
One of the biggest question marks heading into the preseason is locating capable replacements for wide receivers Kevin White and Mario Alford, the team’s top two downfield threats in 2014 who are now on NFL rosters.
Holgorsen correctly pointed out a year ago that White and Alford were basically unknown players heading into the season but were able to develop into big-time playmakers.
He believes more playmakers will eventually emerge this fall.
“We’re in a much better place than we were two years ago when we lost 99 percent of our receiving production,” said Holgorsen. “Right now, even with those guys gone, we’ve got at least 50 percent of our receiving production coming back. (Senior) Jordan Thompson is a good little player who keeps getting better. (Junior) Daikiel Shorts is a very solid guy that has a chance to be one of those replacements on the outside. (Sophomore) Shelton Gibson is probably the fastest receiver that I’ve coached.
“Then we brought in three guys (Jovon Durante, Gary Jennings and Ka’Raun White), and I think all three are a different caliber player than we’ve recruited for the last several years,” he continued. “I like those guys’ mentality and the way their bodies are.”
The wildcard for this year’s offense could be junior running back Smallwood, who Holgorsen says is West Virginia’s most versatile back since Charles Sims led the team in rushing in 2013.
Smallwood has the ability to line up just about anywhere and will probably do so, keeping defensive coordinators guessing whenever he’s on the field.
Smallwood had more than 1,000 all-purpose yards last year running the football and catching passes out of the backfield, and Holgorsen expects that number to increase this season.
“He’s potentially the most versatile guy I’ve ever been around,” admitted Holgorsen. “We’re planning on doing some of the same things with (quarterback) William Crest, too – that running back-type body that can carry the ball and can also transition into the slot and be able to do things successfully downfield. It is going to be interesting to watch.”
Holgorsen said the offensive staff the last couple of years has worked hard to get the running game to a point where defenses must respect it.
“Last year we were still top seven or eight in passing in the country, but we ran the ball over 50 percent of the time,” he pointed out. “That’s just kind of what our philosophy is, and that’s the way it’s going to be. The more success we have running the ball, the more we’re going to do it.”
Running quarterbacks; quarterbacks lining up in the slot or in the backfield and running the football; running the football more than 50 percent of the time … could Dana Holgorsen’s “Air Raid” attack finally be grounded?
“Geez, I still like to throw the ball a good bit, you know,” he said. “But I know one thing: if you can’t do either one, you’re not going to be worth a darn, I can assure you of that.”
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