MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football associate head coach/defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, offensive coordinator Jake Spavital and select members of the West Virginia University football team met with the media on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
 
Associate Head Coach (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers) Tony Gibson
 
On the NC State cancellation
I just found out three minutes ago, literally. I was in there getting practice ready for NC State. Obviously, we aren't going to play it now. So, we need to move on. We can't treat this as a bye week. We're two games in, and we still have a lot of corrections to make. We have a lot of things to get done. We just have to keep preparing. Today's practice will be a little different than what we expected. We probably will go good on good. I don't know, though. We haven't even talked about it yet.
 
On looking ahead to Kansas State
I watched them Saturday, on TV. That's about it, but we're familiar with them I mean that's obviously a league opponent.
 
On the possibility of having a scrimmage this week
I don't know about a scrimmage. It will help us to practice against each other. Probably today and tomorrow, we'll turn to more of good on good and get a lot of stuff done that way, and then, turn all our sights on Kansas State probably Thursday or Friday. Again, that's with not knowing what we're going to do. All I know is that we're going to practice today while we can, and the weather is nice. So, let's go out and run a bunch of plays. We need that.
 
On what he saw out of junior safety JoVanni Stewart against Youngstown State
I watched the film. He graded out okay. He made a few mistakes, lost leverage on a couple plays and that is to be expected. But, overall, I thought he played very hard and thought he was physical. He took on some pullers and some zone scheme stuff – fullbacks, tight ends – and did okay with that. I think that his game will get better and better as we get into Big 12 play, because of the style of offense we will be facing. That is what we are looking for. We're getting him game ready for our next game.
 
On team tackles for loss and getting tackles in the backfield
I think it was 21 TFLs; wasn't it? No, 21.5 actually. In game one, I was shocked that we had 12 coming out of that one. Then, my expectations were set pretty high for the guys. The penetration we're getting up front and playing with fresh bodies, I think that's a big part of it. I think the stat is out of the 21.5 we have – if I'm not mistaken – has come from 14 different guys, or something like that. That's pretty impressive for that stat. We have a couple of DBs (defensive backs) in the mix as well for getting TFLs. That's good thing on screen plays and some different things like that. Usually, (redshirt junior linebacker) David (Long Jr.) had to get them all by himself, but everybody is contributing now.
 
On having redshirt sophomore linebacker Dylan Tonkery in the middle
I like it. I was kind of disappointed in his game Saturday night. I don't know if I've ever seen a middle linebacker not have a tackle. I don't think he recorded a tackle. He was in on a few assists. He knocks the ball out a lot to (redshirt junior linebacker) David (Long Jr.) and to (junior safety) JoVanni (Stewart) and to our safeties. But he has to start being more productive.
 
On making schematic, defensive changes with redshirt sophomore linebacker Dylan Tonkery
It was a little bit of schematics. We did some different things. We played a lot of base, and their run schemes against us were about targeting certain parts of our defense where they wanted to go with the ball. I'm not concerned, but he missed a couple of tackles, that hurt us Saturday night, that he needs to make. He has to get better with that.
 
On being able to use so many players on defense against Youngstown State
I was happy with that. Once we got into the game, and I knew that, offensively, we had control of the game with what they were doing defensively, we were going to eat some clock up. I think we defended seven snaps in the first quarter. It kind of got boring over there, and then, once we got the lead, I knew that we could just be patient, do what we do and call our base stuff to get (junior safety) JoVanni (Stewart) a lot of reps; plus, with our other guys as well. Against Tennessee, I was doing a lot of different things. So, it was really good to get that many snaps of our base defense on film and watch with our guys, because there are times in games when you want to calm everybody down and go back to something that you know. It was good to see that.
 
On downfield coverage against Youngstown State
I thought, early on, we were good. (Redshirt junior cornerback Josh) Norwood made a really good play early. We got beat on a couple of double moves, and there's no excuse for that, especially when the, at one point was, 42-14. I told the guys, 'Just don't let anything behind you.' Then, we ended up getting beat on a 43-yard double move. That was embarrassing, number one. But, number two, it was bad technique all the way around. Then, the other thing too, our down safeties, our SPUR, our bandit (safety) and our linebackers have to quit biting so hard on play action and get their eyes right. A lot of times, we have four guys in a route and only three guys defending. That's not good for us. We have to get that fixed. We're going to tweak some things. We had a lot of good stuff going into this week, because this was going to be the first true quarterback we were going to see throwing the ball. We'll get to work that in practice, and there's nobody better to work it on than (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier). We'll see how we hold up against on our offense. It's good timing, actually, for us to be able to get some new coverages and doing some different stuff.
 
On scouting defensive back-ups in the second half against Youngstown State
We just wanted to go out there. (Redshirt junior cornerback) Keith Washington (Jr.) is a perfect example. I think he ended up getting 25 or 28 defensive snaps, and he was our defensive player of the game for the fact that he played physical. He fit the tight end, run game really well over there - the nub side. They were trying to run the ball at him, and he came up and made a few big hits. So, it was good to see. He was good in coverage. He didn't get to play a lot of man, but he was good in the zone stuff. He's a kid that, obviously, earned more playing time off his second-half results on Saturday, and he's going to play a lot more.
 
On sophomore cornerback Derrek Pitts Jr.
There's good and bad. I though he was active early (against Youngstown State). He had a nice pass break up. He should've had an interception, but he ended up having three PBU's for the game. He played physical and tackled pretty well. He tackled the wide-out one time without the ball pretty well. He got a PI (pass interference) call for that. He just has to get his confidence up and keep going. But he's going to play a lot for us.
 
On the defensive line rotation
What we do right now is that we always have a fresh group ready on the sideline. When we get three or four plays into the drive, we're going to try and roll them. If they sub, we're going to roll our guys in and try to keep fresh bodies in. There's going to be a time, though, that our guys are going to have to be our guys, and they're going to have to play through some stuff. We've had the luxury of having big leads and being able to rotate guys. We've been rotating eight guys. That rotation, in a tight game, may go to five or six guys. But right now, it's working. We're going to keep riding it.
 
On how the N.C. State cancellation affects the team
You only get 12 opportunities to do this, and you work all year long as a staff on it. The kids work on it, too. So, it's a shame. It sucks, but we can't control it. There's a lot bigger issues going on out there in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida that are bigger than football. We can't control that. I just hope that everybody is safe. My daughter just moved to Raleigh. So, she's there. My concern is getting her out of there as quick as I can.
 
Assistant Coach (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks) Jake Spavital
 
On where he thinks the offense is at after two games
There's always an ongoing process of trying to keep improving weekly. I think we are further ahead on the curve just based off the experience that we have. I think we are a very mature team. We have an experienced quarterback and a lot of receivers. We have some pretty good continuity with the o-line. We still have a long way to go. We do. When you look at the Youngstown State game, I thought we were a little sloppy at times. I thought we were up and down on certain things and made some mistakes that we shouldn't have, but where we are at overall, I think we are in a good spot. We are. I think we are healthy. I think our kids are in the right spot, mentally and physically. I think the culture is right. The rest is just making sure that we continue to improve each week.
 
On how the offense has stepped up this year in terms from last year
I think it has improved a lot. You can kind of look at how we have sustained these 10-14 play drives. That's something that we look at in terms of efficiency. You look at the Tennessee game, and I thought we were pretty efficient across the board. We had 20 drives on the year. We had 10 drives each game, and for the most part, I think we have been sustaining drives. Our critical downs are a lot better than what we have had in the past. We just have to keep pressing forward in terms of making sure we are consistently playing at that high of a level, but efficiency has been the main thing that has changed us in who we are we. We are not playing at an ultra-fast paced. We are trying to get into the proper play calls. You see at times, like with (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier) in the first drive, you saw him try to make that big explosive play. He tried to extend some things that he hasn't done in a while. After the first drive, he came off to the sidelines and got right back to the flow of how we normally are. I thought, for the most part, he was really efficient after that first drive.
 
On how his mindset changes with using the four running backs
That's always been a tough question. When we had 75 snaps in the last game, you end up getting those guys a lot more touches. Overall, I think it goes back to how they perform throughout the course of the week. (Redshirt freshman running back Alec) Sinkfield got nicked up, and then it's just the next guy in. I think that is constantly going to keep changing throughout the course of this year. I thought (freshman running back) Leddie Brown had a breakout game, which puts him in the talks of getting more touches, as well. It's a healthy competition in that room. It brings out the best in all of them. You can see how all four of those running backs are running at a pretty good pace while in the game because they understand that they have to perform. If not, the other guy is going to step in and play. I don't have a science in the fourth quarter, we want this guy. I think that's just how it naturally plays out, and he is the freshest back going in. He has to up his play. I think it just works out on its own right now.
 
On if having a 215-pound running back in the fourth quarter influences his decision
He looked good, didn't he? I think (assistant coach/running backs) coach (Marquel) Blackwell had it at 50 yards at yards after contact. It was about 48. I think that was the final number, which is impressive for a freshman and being 215 pounds. That's a load right there. I think when you have that type of guy that can make those type of plays and keep the ball moving forward after contact, you have to keep feeding that guy the rock to see what happens.
 
On if he had a different game plan for freshman running back Leddie Brown for the Youngstown State game in comparison to the Tennessee game
We were going to give him more touches. There are so many unknowns with the first game. You don't know how a freshman is going to react to the environment that he was put in, but we were going to up his touches, not just in the short-yardage packages, but in the open field. I think with (redshirt freshman running back Alec) Sinkfield going out, it just upped it even more. When it got to the end of the game, he was the guy that we kept feeding the ball to because it was a good opportunity to get him more touches and more experience.
 
On pigeon holing a position with a specific set of plays
I thought that (freshman running back) Leddie (Brown) did a really good job in terms of protection. There were a lot of safety blitzes and Sam linebacker blitzes that he stayed on his point and protected the quarterback, which just shows the maturity of that kid. That's going to naturally get him out of that mold of always being a short-yardage back or when he comes in the game that we are always going to hand the ball off to him. I think with the more reps that he has, he is going to naturally get out of that mold.
 
On if he saw a progression from freshman running back Leddie Brown going from week one to week two
I think when (assistant coach/running backs) coach (Marquel) Blackwell heard that story, they had a pretty good conversation after that and cleaned that up. I think he's a very eager kid. He wants to be really good. He is putting in a lot of work. You can see the improvements not just from running the ball. We know that he can run hard and run through contact. He is now starting to understand the timing of the play, the gap schemes, the outside zones and the inside zones. On top of that, he wants to be an all-around back. You can see him naturally progressing each week. I just laugh at those stories because there is a lot that goes on in the heat of the battle, and (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier) has that calm nature to be like 'listen, you have this guy right here. If you worry about him, I'll take care of the rest.'
 
On what he makes of his offense not having a bunch of chump plays
I think it is how they are playing (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier). I think that going into the season, a lot of teams were looking at how we were throwing the ball last year. A lot of their mentally is that they are going to keep a lot of things in front of us, force us to run the ball and make us be an efficient offense, which we kind of saw the writing on the wall for this. We knew that we would be in these situations. If you do that consistently, if you are running the ball effectively, it's going to get those safeties more involved. It's going to get the linebackers more involved. Then you are going to be able to hit these deeper passes down the field, and you saw that early in the second half. (Senior wide receiver) Gary (Jennings Jr.) caught a couple deep balls. You saw that in the Tennessee game in the second half, where we were running the ball more, and they started loading up the box and giving us opportunities on the perimeter. I think that's just part of the chess match that we have to play each week. It all depends on how they are going to come out and play us, and I think we have answers for all of it. We just have to keep focusing on being the most efficient offense we can possibly be.
 
On what positives come from not playing N.C. State this week
You know how I am. I want to play them. The thing is that we have a game plan in. We have put the work in as a coaching staff. We are going to execute it again out there today. It's just part of the process. I don't know if there are any positives you get out of not playing it because you would like to get an extra game underneath your belt going in to conference play. Those are things we can't control. Right now, we just have to focus on beating N.C. State. An off week is always going to be good on a kid from a recovery standpoint. That can definitely be a positive. But from a coaches' standpoint, you have to keep challenging these kids. You have to keep getting better because it is a long season. There were a lot of mistakes that we had in this past Youngstown game that we need to improve on. You just have to stay the course with these guys and stay with the process. We can't be playing our best ball right now. Championship teams have to keep improving weekly for us to make a run at it.
 
On players dealing with their families being in the path of the storm
I bet they are having a lot of conversations. I haven't really talked much with the players because they had their off day yesterday, and we were game planning the entire time. I bet you all the kids have a plan of action in what they are trying to do.
 
On what the message was to his offensive line following the eight penalty calls vs. Youngstown State
There's opinions on all those. You can call holding every single play. You've probably heard that a hundred times, but that's the way it is. If they got called for a holding, we need to be cleaner with our technique. Some of it goes down to effort, moving your feet and hand placement. The challenge to the offense after the game was about improving with our technique. We can't afford to have eight penalties. Not just eight penalties, we had four ball security situations with the ball on the ground. We can't afford that either. We also had four negative plays. We have to eliminate the negative plays, the penalties and the ball security issues. We have to eliminate the things that we can control. I always tell them that holding is going to happen, but we have to coach off it, and we have to correct it as an individual in terms of technique.
 
On if that played into what Youngstown State's head coach Bo Pelini wanted to do
Yeah, it is. That was the negative part of our unit meeting, the penalties. When you are playing a team that is in that bend, don't break mentality, that's tough to overcome at times. I thought from an adversity standpoint, they did a really good job at overcoming those longer situations. I think on every single penalty that we had, we overcame it at some point. It's a testament to them on understanding how they are playing you, being efficient, getting the ball in play and always moving forward. Those penalties are crushing us right now, and when we get into tight battles, those are not going to play in our favor.
 
On if what we saw out of junior wide receiver Marcus Simms' last week is going to be a weekly thing
(Youngstown State head coach Bo) Pelini's game plan was to take (senior wide receiver) David Sills V out of the game. He had two to three guys on him at all times, so that's naturally going to open up someone else. That's what we talked about so much. If you elevate your play, you are going to open up other people. We want everybody on the perimeter playing at a high level. That puts a lot of stress on defensive coordinators with who they are going to try to take away in the game plan. If you can get the run game going more efficiently and effectively, that's going to be a pick your poison type deal. We knew Marcus was capable of doing that. That was good just to see it happen. It's been great to finally see (senior wide receiver) Gary (Jennings Jr.) get in the end zone. He has four of them now, so it's good to see other people having success because the focus on this past game was to try and take Sills out of the game.
 
Redshirt Senior Safety Dravon Askew-Henry
 
On reaction to game cancellation
I actually just found out about five minutes ago. This sucks, I was ready to play. I come in every day prepared the same way, and I was looking forward to playing. But we have to move on to the next one now.
 
On changing preparation for next game
I don't want any off days. I'm ready to move on to the next one. They cancelled this game. So, I'm ready to start preparing for Kansas State now.
 
On what he's learned about WVU's defense in first two games
We play tough. Even when things go bad, we still play with a chip on our shoulder. We have good leadership on the defensive side, and I feel like that can only keep getting better and better.
 
Redshirt Junior Linebacker David Long Jr
 
On if he's experienced a game cancellation before
No, not at all. I guess we will act accordingly. I'm not sure how fast we'll move on to Kansas State, but we have practice at 2:55 p.m. so it's my job to get ready for that.
 
On his thoughts about the N.C. State cancellation
I was excited. The team, as a whole, was excited to play this game. NC State is 2-0. They're a good team. So, I thought it would be good for us to go down there and play. Prayers out to Carolina and the stuff that they're going through. Hopefully, it's not as bad as it looks.
 
On how the defense has been able to cause havoc in the backfield
We have depth at the defensive line. We're rotating them in and out. I think that's good for the defense. We still gave up a lot of yards in both games, I think. That's our job to fix that. We'll get back in the lab and fix our mistakes.
 
Junior Safety JoVanni Stewart
 
On if transitioning to linebacker will be tough
No, I don't think so. I think I'm good now. I feel like I knew the defense pretty well before the position change. I think I'm fine.
 
On experience on the field from different perspective
It's a little different. Being that far back, you have more time to react, and being a linebacker, you're right there as soon as the ball is snapped. That's kind of the only thing.
 
On saying he would play anywhere during the preseason
I guess I wasn't lying then. I told the coaches I was ready. I wasn't hesitant or anything. I was ready to learn. I just hurried, so I could get out there, react and play fast.
 
Redshirt Senior Quarterback Will Grier
 
On his recovery strategy
I do all kinds of different recovery modes, not just one in particular. I think doing a lot of them helps. So, that's one of the things I do. But I can't point to one thing and say, 'This is why I am not sore.'
 
On GPS trackers
That stuff is great, because it just tracks everything. You can compare numbers and data all the way back to last year to see where you're at (this year) with stuff. It's really good information.
 
On what it means to not play the N.C. State game this weekend
I just heard the news as I was walking in here. I haven't had a whole lot of time to digest it. We were preparing to play N.C. State this weekend, full go, up until this point. I haven't had a whole lot of time to gather my thoughts. We can't control everything. We're going to have to pivot and move forward.
 
On his thoughts of the situation with the hurricane
I think especially with having friends and family in that area, I'm concerned. We've seen what storms like this can do to places, and it's nerve-racking for everybody involved. That's part of it. I'm hopeful that everybody is safe in this event. That's my first concern is everybody's safety.
 
Junior Running Back Kennedy McKoy
 
On how the N.C. State cancellation changes his mindset and preparation
Like you said, we were heading into this week preparing to play this game this weekend, but N.C. State decided to cancel it. I'm not sure what we'll do this week, but I think we may move ahead to next week and look forward to Kansas State. I'm just here to practice and do what the coaches tell me to do.
 
On the running backs' ability to step up when needed
It's just that competitive edge that we have, but also that strong bond we have. We know how to work, and we know how to make each other better. We also know how to cheer for each other. So, when all is going well, nobody is sad or upset. Everyone is rooting for each other.
 
On team's maturity shift this year
I kind of feel that. Coach (Dana) Holgorsen preaches to us that everybody has a role on this team. It's your job to go out there every day and improve your role, and you try to help the team get better. I think everybody on this team has really taken that to heart. It's making us a very close-knit group, and I think we're going to be really special.
 
Senior Wide Receiver David Sills V
 
On reaction to the N.C. State cancellation
I definitely look forward to every game. I think it was going to be a good matchup, but that's something that we can't control. So, we're just moving on to Kansas State now.
 
On the talk about hurricane amongst the team
We've all been thinking about it after seeing the hurricane kind of pick up over the last couple days. Coach (Dana) Holgorsen has just told us to control what we can control. So, we were going to go out there today, practice and watch film on NC State and everything like that. We were going to prepare for this week just like any other game week and not really focus on it. I think some people were just looking at the reports and everything and just asking questions. We were ready. If we were going to go down there, we'd be just as ready as we would be for any other game.
 
On experiencing Hurricane Sandy back home in Delaware
Hurricane Sandy kind of hit Delaware. It hit the New Jersey area and hit Delaware. So, that was probably the worst one that hit that far up north. That was one of the ones that I remember. I think my power was out for three days or something like that.