Gibson-Main-91115.jpg
Campus Connection: Impressive Debut for Young WRs
September 11, 2015 02:40 PM | Football
The nice thing about what Shelton Gibson and Jovon Durante did last Saturday night against Georgia Southern is that it is all on film.
This week, Liberty’s defensive coaches have been watching Gibson and Durante blow past man coverage and make athletic catches for touchdowns in the Georgia Southern game. In the coming weeks, it will be the same deal for other defensive coaches as they begin putting together their game plans to stop the duo.
Gibson caught three passes for 130 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles, and Durante, a true freshman making his college debut, hauled in three passes for 121 yards and a TD. It’s the first time in school history two players making their initial college starts managed to produce 100-yard receiving performances in the same game.
Now, the next step for them will be stringing more of these performances together.
“Consistency is one thing, but before we can talk about consistency we have to talk about improvement,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “What was impressive about those young guys at receiver is that they made catches. Those catches weren’t easy.”
Indeed, Durante’s touchdown catch on the game’s opening possession was a thing of beauty. He was able to maneuver his body in a way to shield off the defender and secure the ball as he was going into the end zone.
Gibson, too, made an impressive grab over his left shoulder later in the game. Again, he was well covered when he made his touchdown grab
“It’s not like they were running scot-free, catching it in stride and prancing into the end zone,” said Holgorsen. “They were contested catches. It’s exciting for me to watch those two guys make contested catches.”
Wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway, the man in charge of their weekly development, was encouraged with their performance last week but he cautions there is a lot of room for improvement.
“The biggest thing I tell them is to keep getting better in practice because the better you get in practice when you get to the games things sort of slow down,” Galloway explained. “That is the plan for all of the guys.”
For Gibson, his deal last year was making catches on a consistent basis. He has the tools to be a quality receiver, but it’s just a matter of trusting himself and putting it all together.
Galloway explained.
“The biggest thing for Shelton is to get out of his own way and go out there and compete and that’s what he did,” he said. “It was good to see him make those catches that he made. Now, we’ve just got to work on coming back to the ball and those things.”
As for Durante, he displayed a propensity for making big plays and big catches during preseason camp, but the biggest question for Galloway was how that was going to translate to the actual games.
Durante
Sometimes it transfers seamlessly and other times what you see in practice is not exactly what you get in the games.
“(Durante) doesn’t seem to be fazed by things,” said Galloway. “I kept asking him all week, ‘Are you going to be scared?’ He’s like, ‘Nah coach, I’ve been waiting for this’ – and he wasn’t scared. He’s an even-keeled kid. He can handle being coached and he works hard at it. He’s been a pleasant surprise.”
Holgorsen said he wants to see improvement in the timing between Durante, Gibson and Howard.
“I told Skyler if his timing is better with these guys, and if their technique on the route was a little sharper, then we will see uncontested catches where they can just run into the end zone like we saw last year (with Kevin White and Mario Alford), as opposed to the timing being off and they catch it and get tackled,” said Holgorsen.
That’s certainly something to keep an eye on this Saturday and in the coming weeks from those three.
***
Cajuste
West Virginia’s other first-time offensive starter, left tackle Yodny Cajuste, had a pretty good first game as well, says offensive line coach Ron Crook.
“He played well. He graded out in the 90s,” said Crook. “He did some good stuff – what we expected him to do. He got a couple of looks where he was a little bit confused when guys were showing one thing and actually did another, which we expected, and he’ll learn from it, move forward and he’s going to keep improving.”
Crook said he will remain consistent with how he coaches Cajuste but will continue to expect more from him in the coming weeks.
“I don’t consciously go into a week saying, ‘I’m going to coach him harder for this game,’” said Crook. “It’s early. We’ve got one game down and we’ll see how he survives this one and then we’ve got an open week.”
On Saturday, Liberty will do some things schematically that will give Cajuste plenty for which to prepare.
“They throw a lot of twists at you, blitzes that are a little bit unorthodox – stuff that he probably hasn’t seen a whole lot,” said Crook.
Liberty will also widen out pass rusher Chima Uzowihe to take advantage of his speed and quickness coming off the edge.
That's something else to pay attention to on Saturday
***
Earlier this week we received the sad news that Jack Linn, a backup offensive lineman on West Virginia’s 1989 Fiesta Bowl team, died in a motorcycle accident in Lee County, Florida.
Linn was a starting offensive tackle on West Virginia’s 1989 team that lost to Clemson in the Gator Bowl.
Our condolences go out to his family.
***
Lyons
And finally, kudos to West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons and Pitt AD Scott Barnes for reviving the Backyard Brawl. The announcement was made yesterday that the longtime series will resume in 2022 with a game in Pittsburgh, and will continue with games in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The Panthers will visit Morgantown for contests at Milan Puskar Stadium in 2023 and 2025.
The last game in the series took place in Morgantown in 2011, a 21-20 Mountaineer victory, meaning the rivalry will be on an 11-year hiatus before its resumption.
This current interruption is the longest for one of Eastern college football’s most extensive rivalries that dates back to 1895.
Pitt hit the pause button on the series following the 1939 season when the Panthers were seeking membership in the Big Ten. The two schools resumed play in 1943 when gasoline rationing during World War II limited college football programs from traveling long distances to play its games.
Other interruptions occurred in 1918, 1914-16, 1911-12, 1905 and 1899.
As for the next game, the guys who will be on the field in 2022 when play resumes are currently in the third grade.
Now that the football portion of the Backyard Brawl is taken care of, perhaps something can be worked out on the hardwood at some point, too?
We’ll see.
Enjoy your weekend!
Gold-Blue Spring Festival Fan Recap
Sunday, April 19
John Neider | April 18
Saturday, April 18
Coach Zac Alley | April 18
Saturday, April 18
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 18
Saturday, April 18
