Tight Ends Now Part of the Conversation For Mountaineer Offense
August 18, 2018 09:28 AM | Football
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Five years ago, asking West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen to talk about his fullbacks and tight ends was about like asking Barry Bonds to discuss his bunting skills.
But things can change.
Today, not only can you ask Holgorsen about his fullbacks and tight ends, you can also ask his offensive coordinator Jake Spavital about them, too, or even the coach Holgorsen has assigned to oversee them - Dan Gerberry.
So we did. Trevon Wesco
"We're good so far," Gerberry, promoted from senior football analyst to WVU's 10thassistant coach last winter, said earlier this week. "I've been really happy with Trevon Wesco. He's been playing at a high level, but he needs to get better and he knows that. Jovani (Haskins) is playing well, as well. He's really come a long way and I'm happy with his progression."
Wesco, from Martinsburg, prepped at Musselman High and then spent two years at Lackawanna College (playing one) before arriving at WVU in 2016.
He has played two seasons at West Virginia, seeing progressively more action as Spavital began utilizing the tight end more often. You can count Wesco's college catches on one hand, but he's instilled enough confidence in the coaching staff to earn an even bigger role in the offense this season.
"I think Trevon is the most developed – that's the way I would phrase it – just from the mere fact that I believe he's a 23-year-old man now," Gerberry said.
Then there is Haskins, who was an interesting addition to the offense last fall after spending a year at Miami. The Bergenfield, New Jersey, resident picked Miami over West Virginia when the two schools were pursuing him out of high school, but brought his talents to Morgantown last fall to play in a system seemingly more suitable to those talents.
Haskins still has three years of eligibility remaining at WVU.
"Jovani is a kid that takes pride in football," Gerberry noted. "I remember on his visit three years ago, you could tell he was kind of shy and passive, which is typical of a lot of kids that age, but from the time you saw him pick up a football and throw it around at practice you could just tell the kid had a passion for football. And it comes through."
Wesco, listed at 6-feet-4 inches and weighing 274 pounds, is about 25-30 pounds heavier than Haskins, but the biggest difference between the two is their ages.
"Trevon is a 23-year-old man and Jovani is 20, I believe," Gerberry mentioned. "So there's three years of maturation there. There's a big difference between a 23-year-old and a 20-year-old." Jovani Haskins
But Gerberry mentioned that Haskins is really coming along nicely during camp as are sophomore Logan Thimons and true freshman T.J. Banks, from nearby East Allegheny High in North Versailles, Pennsylvania.
The other guys Gerberry is working right now with are former minor league baseball player Jesse Beal, from Washington, D.C., Matt Bezjak from Loveland, Ohio, and two local performers, Elijah Drummond from nearby Bridgeport High and Joseph Turner from Morgantown High.
Of the newer guys, Banks is already there size-wise at 6-feet-5, 253 pounds, but being so young he's still learning how to prepare like a college player.
"He hasn't been through things," Gerberry noted. "Certain things I may overlook, I have to go back and retouch with him."
Gerberry said his job is to get the half-dozen or so guys he's working with prepared to play at a high level when the Mountaineers open the season against Tennessee on Saturday, Sept. 1, in Charlotte. He said it's up to Holgorsen and Spavital to determine which guys get on the field and how they will be utilized.
"I hope all of them play, but realistically we know that's not going to happen," Gerberry said.
On Tuesday, Spavital indicated that he thought as many as four of them are probably close to being game ready right now.
"That's such a unique position because you have to learn the passing and running game and coach Gerberry does a really good job with that," Spavital noted. "You see these young guys making strides at a very rapid level you don't normally see because coach Gerberry does such a good job with them."
That includes playing attached at the line of scrimmage and unattached lined up in the slot or someplace else.
"We make them do it both," the offensive coordinator explained. "If you rep them enough at it they're going to get good at it."
Consistency is the No. 1 thing Gerberry said he is seeking from his guys, which he says applies to every position on the football team.
"You can't be trusted to do the right things if you can't play," Gerberry said. "I'm not going to put a guy out there that I can't trust and as now we're trending in the right direction of trusting my guys."
Despite being down promising true freshman Mike O'Laughlin, who is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery, Gerberry said there are many more bodies to work with in the tight end/fullback meeting room this year.
"It's a completely different room," he mentioned. "If you would go back and analyze the names, the people and their sizes, we're longer, heavier, more athletic and a more physical group and that's a testament to coach Holgorsen's and coach Spavital's vision of what they want this position to look like."
