Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Campus Connection: Smart Football Players
October 27, 2017 09:54 AM | Football, Blog
It's always nice to have some smart guys on your football team.
That's certainly the case when it comes to West Virginia University, with quarterback Will Grier and wide receiver David Sills V frequently being praised for their high IQs.
Well, you can add another player to that list: senior linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton.
"He's probably the smartest (defensive player) I've coached on that side of the ball," West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen said earlier this week. "There are some quarterbacks that have such a high IQ, football smart - Will Grier and David Sills are two of the smarter ones - but defensively, he is off-the-charts intelligent. Just from an intelligence point of view and a football point of view, he sees it."
Benton has used all of that knowledge and wisdom to lead the team in tackles (60), tackles for losses (11 ½), sacks (2 ½) and quarterback hurries (4).
It's hard to fathom where this defense would be right now without Mr. Benton manning the middle.
"We keep track of production points and stuff, which the formula really doesn't matter, but his production points have been as high as anybody around here since I've been here," Holgorsen remarked.
So, what changed with Benton from a couple of years ago?
"He had himself in shape," Holgorsen said. "He was fat about three years ago, and he has gotten himself in shape. It matters to him; he's a team captain, he's been here for five years and he's a team leader. It gets to a point now where he's mad if he doesn't make a tackle."
Judging from the number of tackles he's made so far this year, and the difference there is between the next highest tackler, I'd say Benton has been reasonably happy with the way he's been playing.
The Mountaineers are going to need a great effort from Benton and Co. this Saturday against one of the best offensive attacks in the country in 11th-ranked Oklahoma State.
Evidently, WVU quarterback Will Grier has a new nickname that is blowing up on social media: "Touchdown Jesus." When director of football communications Mike Montoro asked Grier if he was okay with it, he just laughed and said he didn't mind.
Speaking of West Virginia's football Messiah, here is some more national coverage leading up to Saturday's big game against the Cowboys from our good buddy Jake Trotter: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21145750/nation-most-prolific-qb-way-more-famous-brothers
Watching the Oklahoma State-Texas game in the hotel before traveling down to Waco, Texas, to play Baylor last Saturday, I noticed that the Cowboys had a couple of key starters missing along the offensive line.
When asked Tuesday if that was to West Virginia's advantage, defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said it could be.
"The problem is, listening to (Oklahoma State coach Mike) Gundy, he thinks they will get them all back this week, which is just about our luck," Gibson joked.
In the media room on Tuesday, there were several questions posed to West Virginia's defensive staff about trying to give Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph a bunch of different looks in the secondary to try and confuse him.
That sounds like a pretty good idea until you realize that Rudolph will be playing in his 37th career college game on Saturday, and his third against West Virginia's defense.
Gibson admitted it is going to be important to avoid giving up cheap touchdowns and explosive plays against the Cowboys. Heading into Saturday's game, Oklahoma State has produced 56 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or longer, 45 of those coming from the arm of Rudolph.
West Virginia has got to figure out a way to get running back Justin Crawford back on track. After rushing for more than 100 yards in each of his first five games, in his last two games against Texas Tech and Baylor the senior has managed just 77 yards on 24 carries.
Overall, the rushing attack has generated only 162 yards on 58 attempts for an average of 2.8 yards per rush.
"Whatever (Crawford) can handle he'll get," Holgorsen said. "If he's sore and banged up, then I'm going to put Kennedy McKoy back there.
"How many times have we stood up here and talked about this; you're going to get your No. 2 and No. 3 back. Hopefully you don't get your No. 4 back, but we've got our No. 5 back, right? So, how is this any different?"
It was great to see Tynice Martin walking around on the court shooting set shots before Wednesday's practice on the WVU Coliseum floor. However, coach Mike Carey said he is still unsure what the timetable is for her return.
"We've got a couple of infections that are now better and then an x-ray will be sent out to her doctor in Colorado and then hopefully we can let her do other things in the training room," he said before Wednesday's practice.
Carey noted that things are moving in the right direction for her right now as long as she doesn't have any more setbacks.
Carey said his team is still banged up a little bit and he will only dress eight or nine players for Sunday's 4 p.m. scrimmage against West Virginia Wesleyan at the Coliseum.
"Of these, three are freshmen and one is a junior college transfer so that's all you need to know," he said.
Carey also indicated that he may have to simplify some things, particularly on the fast break to better utilize his team's overall athleticism and skill.
"When it's a half-court setting and it's controlled, it's pretty good, but when you get up and down it looks like open gym," Carey admitted. "No execution whatsoever so it's going to be a process."
Such a process, in fact, that the entire Tuesday practice earlier this week consisted of the players not touching a basketball.
"It was all defense," he said. "We've got to learn, if we're not going to score then we've got to keep them from scoring."
Considering the number of injuries he's had to deal with so far during preseason practice, Carey might want to consider issuing gold practice jerseys to assistants Christal Caldwell and Ayana Dunning.
Both were once tremendous players for the Mountaineers.
By the way, WVU is going to begin the season ranked No. 15 in the coaches' poll released Thursday. That's a testament to Mike Carey and the great job he has done establishing this program.
I wonder what was said in this picture, and who said it? I've got a pretty good idea, though.
Hint: He's not wearing a suit jacket!
West Virginia's charity exhibition basketball game against Albany tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum presents a great opportunity for all concerned.
It's a great opportunity for Albany, from the American East Conference, to travel down to Morgantown and play a game against a Power 5 Conference program picked 10th in the country to begin the preseason.
It's a great opportunity for West Virginia to face a quality preseason opponent that won 21 games last year and is predicted to finish second in its conference behind Vermont, and it's a great opportunity for the American Red Cross to provide additional funding for victims of the recent hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
West Virginia and Albany received an NCAA waiver to play the exhibition, which will entail a regulation 40-minute game.
Kansas and Missouri did something similar last week and raised nearly $1.8 million for the country's hurricane relief efforts.
Speaking of exhibition games, I can remember years ago when West Virginia used to bring in those foreign touring teams that frequently showed up late, rarely wore matching uniforms and the players usually walked into the arena smoking cigarettes and wanting an extra case of beer to drink at halftime.
I believe once, many, many years ago when Bob Huggins was a WVU player, there was even a bench-clearing brawl during one of these exhibitions - and this happened against the Fellowship of Christian Athletes!
That's not going to happen on Saturday, I'm pretty certain of that, but what will happen will be beneficial to everyone.
West Virginia's seventh-ranked women's soccer team sits in the unusual position of needing some help to capture its sixth-straight regular season conference title.
Because the Mountaineers tied Texas Tech last week, that means West Virginia is going to need to beat Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, and will also need eighth-ranked Texas to at least tie 15th-ranked Oklahoma State for the Mountaineers to earn a share of the league title. WVU and Texas victories would give West Virginia the title outright.
Beating Kansas in Lawrence will not be an easy task, however. The Jayhawks show home wins this year over defending national champion USC and Texas so far this season.
Anybody know what's going on with the national archives website lately? I hear it's been pretty busy over there these last couple of days.
Finally, don't forget to wear your blue to the stadium on Saturday. I will have mine on!
Have a great weekend!
That's certainly the case when it comes to West Virginia University, with quarterback Will Grier and wide receiver David Sills V frequently being praised for their high IQs.
Well, you can add another player to that list: senior linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton.
"He's probably the smartest (defensive player) I've coached on that side of the ball," West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen said earlier this week. "There are some quarterbacks that have such a high IQ, football smart - Will Grier and David Sills are two of the smarter ones - but defensively, he is off-the-charts intelligent. Just from an intelligence point of view and a football point of view, he sees it."
Benton has used all of that knowledge and wisdom to lead the team in tackles (60), tackles for losses (11 ½), sacks (2 ½) and quarterback hurries (4).
It's hard to fathom where this defense would be right now without Mr. Benton manning the middle.
"We keep track of production points and stuff, which the formula really doesn't matter, but his production points have been as high as anybody around here since I've been here," Holgorsen remarked.
So, what changed with Benton from a couple of years ago?
"He had himself in shape," Holgorsen said. "He was fat about three years ago, and he has gotten himself in shape. It matters to him; he's a team captain, he's been here for five years and he's a team leader. It gets to a point now where he's mad if he doesn't make a tackle."
Judging from the number of tackles he's made so far this year, and the difference there is between the next highest tackler, I'd say Benton has been reasonably happy with the way he's been playing.
The Mountaineers are going to need a great effort from Benton and Co. this Saturday against one of the best offensive attacks in the country in 11th-ranked Oklahoma State.
***
Evidently, WVU quarterback Will Grier has a new nickname that is blowing up on social media: "Touchdown Jesus." When director of football communications Mike Montoro asked Grier if he was okay with it, he just laughed and said he didn't mind.Speaking of West Virginia's football Messiah, here is some more national coverage leading up to Saturday's big game against the Cowboys from our good buddy Jake Trotter: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21145750/nation-most-prolific-qb-way-more-famous-brothers
***
Watching the Oklahoma State-Texas game in the hotel before traveling down to Waco, Texas, to play Baylor last Saturday, I noticed that the Cowboys had a couple of key starters missing along the offensive line.
When asked Tuesday if that was to West Virginia's advantage, defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said it could be.
"The problem is, listening to (Oklahoma State coach Mike) Gundy, he thinks they will get them all back this week, which is just about our luck," Gibson joked.
***
In the media room on Tuesday, there were several questions posed to West Virginia's defensive staff about trying to give Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph a bunch of different looks in the secondary to try and confuse him.
That sounds like a pretty good idea until you realize that Rudolph will be playing in his 37th career college game on Saturday, and his third against West Virginia's defense.
***
Gibson admitted it is going to be important to avoid giving up cheap touchdowns and explosive plays against the Cowboys. Heading into Saturday's game, Oklahoma State has produced 56 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or longer, 45 of those coming from the arm of Rudolph.
***
West Virginia has got to figure out a way to get running back Justin Crawford back on track. After rushing for more than 100 yards in each of his first five games, in his last two games against Texas Tech and Baylor the senior has managed just 77 yards on 24 carries.
Overall, the rushing attack has generated only 162 yards on 58 attempts for an average of 2.8 yards per rush.
"Whatever (Crawford) can handle he'll get," Holgorsen said. "If he's sore and banged up, then I'm going to put Kennedy McKoy back there.
"How many times have we stood up here and talked about this; you're going to get your No. 2 and No. 3 back. Hopefully you don't get your No. 4 back, but we've got our No. 5 back, right? So, how is this any different?"
***
It was great to see Tynice Martin walking around on the court shooting set shots before Wednesday's practice on the WVU Coliseum floor. However, coach Mike Carey said he is still unsure what the timetable is for her return."We've got a couple of infections that are now better and then an x-ray will be sent out to her doctor in Colorado and then hopefully we can let her do other things in the training room," he said before Wednesday's practice.
Carey noted that things are moving in the right direction for her right now as long as she doesn't have any more setbacks.
Carey said his team is still banged up a little bit and he will only dress eight or nine players for Sunday's 4 p.m. scrimmage against West Virginia Wesleyan at the Coliseum.
"Of these, three are freshmen and one is a junior college transfer so that's all you need to know," he said.
Carey also indicated that he may have to simplify some things, particularly on the fast break to better utilize his team's overall athleticism and skill.
"When it's a half-court setting and it's controlled, it's pretty good, but when you get up and down it looks like open gym," Carey admitted. "No execution whatsoever so it's going to be a process."
Such a process, in fact, that the entire Tuesday practice earlier this week consisted of the players not touching a basketball.
"It was all defense," he said. "We've got to learn, if we're not going to score then we've got to keep them from scoring."
***
Considering the number of injuries he's had to deal with so far during preseason practice, Carey might want to consider issuing gold practice jerseys to assistants Christal Caldwell and Ayana Dunning.
Both were once tremendous players for the Mountaineers.
By the way, WVU is going to begin the season ranked No. 15 in the coaches' poll released Thursday. That's a testament to Mike Carey and the great job he has done establishing this program.
***
I wonder what was said in this picture, and who said it? I've got a pretty good idea, though.
Hint: He's not wearing a suit jacket!
***
West Virginia's charity exhibition basketball game against Albany tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum presents a great opportunity for all concerned.
It's a great opportunity for Albany, from the American East Conference, to travel down to Morgantown and play a game against a Power 5 Conference program picked 10th in the country to begin the preseason.
It's a great opportunity for West Virginia to face a quality preseason opponent that won 21 games last year and is predicted to finish second in its conference behind Vermont, and it's a great opportunity for the American Red Cross to provide additional funding for victims of the recent hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
West Virginia and Albany received an NCAA waiver to play the exhibition, which will entail a regulation 40-minute game.
Kansas and Missouri did something similar last week and raised nearly $1.8 million for the country's hurricane relief efforts.
***
Speaking of exhibition games, I can remember years ago when West Virginia used to bring in those foreign touring teams that frequently showed up late, rarely wore matching uniforms and the players usually walked into the arena smoking cigarettes and wanting an extra case of beer to drink at halftime.
I believe once, many, many years ago when Bob Huggins was a WVU player, there was even a bench-clearing brawl during one of these exhibitions - and this happened against the Fellowship of Christian Athletes!
That's not going to happen on Saturday, I'm pretty certain of that, but what will happen will be beneficial to everyone.
***
West Virginia's seventh-ranked women's soccer team sits in the unusual position of needing some help to capture its sixth-straight regular season conference title.Because the Mountaineers tied Texas Tech last week, that means West Virginia is going to need to beat Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, and will also need eighth-ranked Texas to at least tie 15th-ranked Oklahoma State for the Mountaineers to earn a share of the league title. WVU and Texas victories would give West Virginia the title outright.
Beating Kansas in Lawrence will not be an easy task, however. The Jayhawks show home wins this year over defending national champion USC and Texas so far this season.
***
Anybody know what's going on with the national archives website lately? I hear it's been pretty busy over there these last couple of days.
***
Finally, don't forget to wear your blue to the stadium on Saturday. I will have mine on!
Have a great weekend!
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