MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Sunday, August 6, 2017, at the Steve Antoline Family Football Practice Field.
On what he has learned from watching the players in pads
It’s still way too early. We had six practices last week; I didn’t know how I would feel about recovery day, the non-practice day. I understand why the NFL does it now. I thought it was really good for coaches, I thought it was really good for players. Just to rest up and get their legs underneath them. I think they have a little pop in there right now, just because they have been resting up for about 48 hours. We went Friday morning, because of the weather in the afternoon. We brought them back and recovered them Friday night and basically Saturday was an off-day with treatments and recovery. We fed them real good, got them some per-diem, let them go home or go out to eat, whatever they wanted to do with it. We seem to be in a good place today. I like that aspect of it. It did give our coaches an opportunity to really catch up on film and evaluate everybody. We are still feeling things through, a lot of young kids that we still have to get a lot of reps on. We are pretty settled with scheme, we are going to continue to install stuff over the next week. Today we will start hitting red zone, goal line stuff that we haven’t hit yet. I like the energy; I like the practices, everything has been good; we are on schedule we just have to keep going through week two.
On if there are any new injuries
Nope, it is all good. There is always going to be a couple of things. (Redshirt senior cornerback) Corey Winfield, he is practicing today, he is a tough kid. It is a little unfortunate, he has a finger that he has to have surgery on, that is going to put him on the shelf for like two weeks. He will be back ready to go. (Redshirt senior safety) Marvin (Gross Jr.) kind of tweaked his knee like he did in the spring as well. He is going to be out for two, three weeks. He is so dang old that he can afford to miss some time. He knows what to do, that is a minor thing. You will see Corey, but you will not see Marvin out there just because of that. Other than that, we are in good shape.
On if junior wide receiver Jovon Durante is practicing
No, he is dealing with personal issues. He has not reported. I don’t know if he will, I don’t know when he will. He has personal things that he has to work on. We are going to get some other guys ready to go.
On how the Charleston area natives have been performing so far
(Redshirt senior tight end/fullback) Eli (Wellman) is a team captain and a fifth-year senior who does everything right. I am excited about him. (Sophomore defensive lineman) Reese Donahue is a starter. He is playing really well at defensive end. He knows what to do, he has experience and we are happy with his progression. (Redshirt freshman wide receiver) Druw (Bowen) has really had a good camp so far. He is the next inside receiver in the game next to (junior wide receiver) Gary (Jennings) and (junior wide receiver) David (Sills V). He is playing well. We have him on about every special team and he is coming along nicely at receiver as well.
On if he would rather have a punt returner get more yards or be more reliable catching the ball
Can I remind you of what happened four years ago? I have been studying a lot of that. (Junior wide receiver) Gary (Jennings) does a good job. Gary is as reliable as reliable gets and he is going to get better at it next year. He had a couple of miscues last year but people were on top of him quicker than anything. That is what we need to focus on. We have to focus in on the line of scrimmage. It has nothing to do with the actual returner. I have had average players be great punt returners because they have space. Our front line is not very good, so we are really focusing on the details of rushing the punt and making those guys retreat; then the technique of holding those guys up on the line of scrimmage. That is what we have to get better at. It’s not Gary, it is what is going on in front of him.
On depth on special teams
The thing I’ve told these guys with special teams that we’re going to focus on is everybody is going to be a part of it. I don’t care who you are, you’re going to be a part of it. Now, we don’t want (redshirt senior linebacker) Al (-Rasheed) Benton starting on four special teams. We want starters to focus on one – potentially two – just based on who that is and what we need them to do. But they’re going to do something and they’re going to take ownership in it. For instance, (redshirt senior tight end/fullback) Elijah (Wellman) and Al, two of our fifth-year senior captain guys that start, they’re like, ‘We have to get this kickoff return thing right’, so they’re focusing on kickoff return. That’s just one example. And, on top of that, we’re going to have another 25-30 guys that are second-team guys or even third-team guys that need to be on as many of them as they possibly can. They need to develop competition to be able to be on those units, and they have.
On redshirt junior quarterback Will Grier and redshirt sophomore quarterback Chris Chugunov
They’re both doing well. Will gets better every day just by the familiarity with what we’re doing with him and (offensive coordinator) Jake (Spavital) working together. The timing I see with our top four receivers right now with (redshirt senior receiver) Ka’Raun (White) and (sophomore receiver) Marcus (Simms) on the outside and (junior receiver) Gary (Jennings) and (junior receiver) David (Sills V) on the inside, I see them improving every single day. We need to continue to develop backups at receiver. I haven’t been thrilled with that right now. (Chugunov) has been good, too. Usually, by this time in the camp or spring after six, seven, eight practices, his arm falls off. He’s so much with his arm that his arm tends to get worn out. Well, we have three other quarterbacks who are helping out with that right now with (sophomore quarterback David) Isreal, (redshirt freshman) Jack (Allison) and other young man out here that just joined us. It takes a lot of throws off (Chugunov), so he looks really good at this point.
On new addition at quarterback
(Freshman quarterback) Jack (Bueltel) something-or-other. I know names once they make a play. He’s a walk-on from Florida. He just got here.
On using tight ends more in the offense
We don’t have many. We have one. I think (redshirt junior tight end/fullback Trevon) Wesco is doing job in the backfield playing (redshirt senior tight end/fullback) Elijah’s (Wellman) position, but if you want to get into where you’re using all these tight ends, when you only have one, I don’t know how much scheme you can do. If you have one tight end and you put a bunch of scheme stuff in there and that one tight end goes down, what do you do then? So, we’re trending that way in recruiting, but that doesn’t help this team. When you have one eligible tight end, it’s tough to do. Maybe in three years I can say, ‘Yeah, we have three tight ends who can play; we’re probably going to use them a little bit.’
On redshirt freshman tight end/fullback Jovani Haskins and sophomore receiver T.J. Simmons
I wish those guys could play right now. If they could play right now, then they’d be playing right now. Those guys look a little different than some of the other guys we have running around here. I’m glad they’re here. They have to sit a year and they’re going to develop and learn what to do. They both have great attitudes. They’re learning, they’re going to help on scout team. With those two and (redshirt quarterback) Jack (Allison), we have one of the better scout teams out there. They have to sit and we’re going to be happy to have them for three years after that.
