Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU Football Notebook
August 15, 2018 11:44 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - New West Virginia University running backs coach Marquel Blackwell must feel like he's about to cast a vote for National League rookie of the year when he sends his first running back out onto the field at Bank America Stadium in Charlotte early next month.Just like picking between Juan Soto and Ronald Acuna as the NL's top rookie, who does Blackwell select as his starting running back?
Kennedy McKoy?
Martell Pettaway?
Freshman Alec Sinkfield?
True freshman Leddie Brown?
All of them have their redeeming qualities and provide value to the offense. McKoy is probably the most versatile of the four with his outstanding ball skills. Pettaway is always falling forward and moving the chains and probably has the most patience of WVU's four runners. Sinkfield is a one-cut-and-go guy capable of hitting a home run every time he touches the football, and Brown might be the most advanced freshman back WVU has had since possibly Noel Devine 11 years ago. Brown is also the biggest tailback in the program, weighing more than 210 pounds.
Tough choices for Mr. Blackwell, who left a good situation at Toledo last winter for an even better one at WVU.
"We need to run the ball, I'll tell you that," Blackwell said Tuesday. "Guys that win ballgames run it. I know it might be easier if one guy plays that position than if seven play, but it'll help them, too.
"At the end of the day, the most important thing is to protect them and protect the football – don't go turning the ball over and keep the quarterback clean," Blackwell said. "Those guys are good enough runners to make that happen."
That true freshman Brown remains under consideration for playing time this year based on what West Virginia has coming back is a testament to his immense potential.
"Leddie is a special kid," Blackwell admitted. "He's shown so many different things that's natural. You want to do right by him and make sure he gets a little bit, and as that continues to build, he'll be pretty good. His approach, the way he goes about it, the way he follows the other guys, he has something in him that you need as a freshman.
"I'm just looking forward to those guys competing to see how it plays out."
Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said he is going into the season planning to use all of them.
"You script your play calls based off what they're good at, and I think you rotate those guys in until it eventually works itself out," he said. "Then, you get a true starter from that group. But I'm really pleased with these four running backs right now, and I'm putting the whole decision on coach Blackwell because it's a pretty difficult one to make right now – all four are playing at a high level."
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
***
Spavital will also be part of the decision making process at H-Back. Senior Trevon Wesco is the oldest at 23 and probably the most well-rounded of the group, but Miami transfer Jovani Haskins continues to show good things in the passing game.And then there is 6-foot-5-inch, 253-pound man-child freshman T.J. Banks from nearby North Versailles, Pennsylvania. Banks already has a Big 12-ready body and has shown some good things so far during camp.
Assistant coach Dan Gerberry, who works with the H-Backs, said his job is to get all seven guys he's working with ready to play.
Spavital said Tuesday he thinks four of the seven are probably close to being game ready.
Again, another area on this year's football team that possesses solid depth.
***
The theme of team unity once again came up during Tuesday's media session. Veteran defensive coordinator Tony Gibson believes this is the tightest group of players he's seen in the six years since he's been back at WVU.
"That's a very positive sign, and it's easy right now because we haven't played a game," Gibson noted. "Hopefully, they stick together through the good and the bad and find a way to get it done."
Gibson said the bond his guys have on defense is showing up on the field in the way they communicate and interact with each other.
"That's so important in the game of football," Gibson admitted. "They trust each other. When you get that, that's a big hurdle. Last year, there were times when there may have been guys that other guys didn't trust, whether it was on or off the field."
***
The one new name that keeps popping up time and again is safety Josh Norwood. The former Ohio State signee is not very big, standing 5-feet-10 inches and weighing just 174 pounds, but he's all football player. Gibson noted early in camp that there is room for Norwood on this year's defense because he's clearly one of West Virginia's top 11 players on that side of the ball, perhaps even at corner.
"Norwood is a guy who plays hard every single play, whether it's on defense or special teams," cornerbacks coach Doug Belk noted.
***
West Virginia has had a run of spur safeties move on to the NFL and the Mountaineers' latest, senior Dravon Askew-Henry, is a little bit different than those last two - Kyzir White and KJ Dillon.
Safeties coach Matt Caponi explains, "The two before him with KJ and Kyzir, they were longer, bigger bodies," he said. "But I'd have to argue and say (Askew-Henry has) been probably one of the top two guys on defense so far in camp. He's making plays and he's been completely locked in since spring ball.
"When we had that conversation (moving from bandit to spur) he said, 'Coach, whatever I have to do to help the team' and he took it and ran with it and has played that position up to expectations. I've been really happy with him so far. He does everything that we asked KJ and Kyzir to do, and sometimes he even does it at a higher level."
An area where Askew-Henry should really help this year is covering slot receivers and tight ends in the seams. West Virginia struggled at times last year handling that aspect of the passing game.
***
And finally, prior to Sunday's practice Dana Holgorsen recalled a humorous story about his son, Logan. When Holgorsen first started coaching the Mountaineers back in 2011, Logan, then just a young boy, wanted to come to practice and be around his dad while he worked on the field.
Holgorsen enjoyed having his son around but warned him that there were going to be things that he probably shouldn't see or hear at such a young age, especially down at the other end of the field where the defensive linemen practiced.
One day, Logan snuck down to the far end of the stadium where former assistant coach Bill Kirelawich was teaching his guys a whole new vocabulary.
"He came back and his eyes were really, really, really wide and he was like, 'Dad' and I go, 'I know. I didn't say you could go down there!'" Holgorsen laughed. "(Coaches' sons) hear a lot of things, they see a lot of things and they absorb a lot of things.
"When they get into a situation like this, there's not a whole lot that they can't handle," Holgorsen concluded.
The team has today off for the first day of classes for the fall semester and will resume work on Thursday.
Fan Day is this Sunday, Aug. 19, at 12:30 p.m. inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility. That evening, Women's Football 101 will take place inside the stadium at 6:30 p.m.
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