MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Just like every other team in America going through preseason training camp right now, West Virginia is experiencing some of the ups and downs that come with this time of the year.

 

One day the offense performs well, controls play and dictates the pace of practice as was the case yesterday, and then sometimes it’s the other way around as happened on Saturday.

 

The defense clearly got the upper hand during today's hour and 45-minute, officiated scrimmage on a very sunny and very hot afternoon inside Milan Puskar Stadium.

 

“Any time you have camp it’s going to be an up-and-down cycle, it’s always been that way, but with that being said, we’re worried about today and today we didn’t do a great job of executing,” said offensive coordinator Joe Wickline. “As a group, as a staff and as players, we need to continue to grind. We’ve got a ways to go.”

 

Tony Gibson’s crew, scrimmaging for the first time without junior free safety Dravon Askew-Henry, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during Thursday’s practice, stepped up and took it to the offense today, pressuring them into committing five turnovers, three coming on interceptions from Nana Kyeremeh, Jarrod Harper and Jeremy Tyler (Askew-Henry’s replacement at free safety) and creating two more miscues by way of fumbles.

 

The No. 1 defense was also successful getting off the field nine out of 11 times on third down, and was a perfect three of three on fourth down opportunities.

 

“It was a good day,” admitted Gibson. “I thought we tackled well and created some turnovers, but we’ve still got a long way to go. We’re not even close to where we need to be. I was happy with Jeremy Tyler, who we put in at free safety and he made some plays today. And I expect that from him. He’s an older guy who has played a bunch and he was in a battle with Dravon two years ago for that spot, so he I thought he did really well and he’s got to keep coming along."

 

The first D limited the first offense to just one late Mike Molina field goal during the 10-plus possessions they were out on the field going head to head. That first defensive group included the three regulars up front, Noble Nwachukwu, Darrien Howard and Christian Brown, linebackers Al-Rasheed Benton, Sean Walters and Justin Arndt, and a retooled secondary that included Harper, Tyler and junior college transfer Kyzir White at safeties, with Rasul Douglas and Maurice Fleming manning the two corner spots.

 

According to Gibson, he brought a lot of pressure today by design.

 

“I wanted to see our guys in man (coverage),” he said. “We threw our nickel package out there a bunch and I wanted to see how it would hold up on third down and try and create some stops that way.”

 

Benton, a junior middle linebacker and one of the vocal leaders on the defense, said it will be important for his group to build on today’s performance and not take a step backward when they return to the field on Monday evening.

 

“It’s a mental thing,” he said. “We talk about it all the time in team meetings and stuff like that. It’s about being mentally strong, no matter what circumstances they put you in. The coaches do a great job of putting us in different situations, whether it be the offense backed up on their two-yard line or we’re backed up on 25, whether it’s hot, cold, raining, we’ve got to make sure we get out there and make the plays that we’re supposed to make.”

 

The second offense, led by Chris Chugunov, finally got some points when Molina converted a 43-yard field goal, one of three the Hurricane, West Virginia, resident made for the day. The others were from 20 and 21 yards, while he also missed a 30-yard try late in the scrimmage.

 

Molina handled all four placement attempts this afternoon as Josh Lambert’s early-season replacement.

 

The two touchdowns were scored by backup quarterbacks William Crest Jr., on a four-yard run, and by freshman Cody Saunders, who got past the second defense for a nifty 34-yard jaunt to pay dirt late in the scrimmage.

 

But it wasn’t all good for the defense and all bad for the offense. The offense did have their moments, specifically:

 

* Crest hitting freshman wide receiver Marcus Simms on a pretty pass play across the middle for about 25 yards that set up Molina’s first field goal.

 

* Chugunov hooking up with Gary Jennings for an effective pass play covering about 30 yards along the near sideline.

 

* Jovon Durante taking a pass from Skyler Howard out in the flat, making a quick cut in space and turning on the jets for a substantial gain that eventually led to the only points scored by the first offense.

 

* Junior college transfer Justin Crawford, playing in place of injured Rushel Shell III at running back, showing lots of elusiveness out in space when he had the ball in his hands and making a couple of effective runs.

 

“(Crawford) is going to put his mark on this program,” predicted running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider. “I firmly believe that. Today probably wasn’t his best day, but still it was decent. He has set the bar so high already with some of the stuff he is capable of doing and we caught some glimpses of that today the way he ran through tackles and broke out. That’s what he’s done all camp, and I’d like to see that energy a little earlier (during the scrimmage).”

 

Overall, Wickline said today was another teaching tool for the guys sitting in the offensive position rooms.

 

“We’ll put it all together, look at it and we’ll get better from it,” he said.

 

The team will take tomorrow off to participate in Fan Day festivities scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility, then will have two more closed practices before classes start on Wednesday.

 

The team will have another week of preseason work before game week preparation begins on Monday, August 29, leading into the Saturday, September 3, season opener against Missouri at Milan Puskar Stadium.