WVU QBs Coach Reagan all in on Winning
February 19, 2019 03:14 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan has a couple of empty chairs in his meeting room that he'd like to see occupied in the near future.
He inherited just two scholarship quarterbacks from the prior coaching regime and if not for some quick thinking on the part of Neal Brown, he could have been working with just those two when spring football practice begins in a couple of weeks.
But Brown was able to move swiftly after he was officially hired in early January to secure the services of Oklahoma transfer Austin Kendall to compete with holdovers Jack Allison and Trey Lowe III.
Reagan admitted Monday that three scholarship quarterbacks are still not enough. Four is a much safer number heading into the season.
"In the perfect world try and get that fifth one every now and then, but if you can hold four you're doing really well," he said. "That's hard to do in today's football with the transfers and all of that."
The other problem West Virginia has is two of its three scholarship quarterbacks are in the same class.
"We've got to figure out a way to fix that moving forward, whether it be the 20 class, the 21 class or the 22 class," Reagan explained. "We've got to get our scholarship numbers up there in the next two years because we'll lose (Kendall and Allison)."
What Reagan has on tape of Allison and Lowe is not much. He also doesn't have a lot on Kendall either because Kendall spent his Sooner career backing up Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.
"There is little video," Reagan admitted. "I remember Austin when he was in high school because that's about when I got on him. I've seen a little bit of film on Jack here and Lowe here, but yes, you are going in blind.
"It's starting from the ground up with drill work right now fundamentally and when we get into the spring we'll kind of see where we're at."
Even then, Reagan cautions it may take most of the spring to get a better handle on what his quarterbacks can actually do.
And what they can do will ultimately determine what the offense does.
"We'll have our base," Reagan said. "Will we run the zone? Yes. You can bank on us running the zone play somehow. But it won't be until the spring when we really get dialed in to what we really want to do in fall camp because we are going in blind."
Brown and his staff may have an idea how they want to attack things offensively before the start of spring practice, but it could change entirely once they familiarize themselves with their players.
One of the most impressive aspects of Troy's success over the last three years with these guys was the variety of ways the Trojans won football games.
Watch the Youtube highlights of the LSU victory a couple of years ago and compare that to how Troy beat Nebraska last September. The two wins were entirely different, as were the victories over Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State or Buffalo last season.
If Troy needed to run the football to win a game they ran it.
If they needed to throw the ball down the field to win they did that.
If they needed to play conservatively and rely on their defense to win a field-position game they did that.
If they needed a special teams play to win they did that as well.
It wasn't a particular style that won at Troy, it was an entire program pulling together to meet a common cause.
Those are the types of coaches Brown has on his staff. It's not about a system putting up big numbers, it's about doing whatever it takes to win a football game.
"You just try and figure out what gives you the best chance to win a ballgame," Reagan explained. "I think Neal said it before. We went into LSU and beat them at your own game. Against Nebraska we spread them out and came away with a win.
"You just break down an opponent and try and figure out what's the best chance to win," Reagan continued. "Is it to throw it a hundred times? Then throw it a hundred times. If it's not then don't."
The Conyers, Georgia, native may coach the quarterbacks, but his inclination is to run the football when things get tight just like his boss prefers - much the way Rich Rodriguez once went about things here at West Virginia more than a decade ago.
If you recall, Rich Rod came here wanting to throw the football all over the lot before realizing the players he inherited weren't necessarily capable of doing that. Consequently, with the help of some wise, old offensive coaches such as Rick Trickett, he morphed the innovative ideas he had in the passing game at Tulane and Clemson with a power ground attack that proved devastating.
It wasn't what Rodriguez preferred to do but rather what his players were capable of doing that ultimately determined what they did.
You get the same impression talking to Reagan and West Virginia's other assistant coaches that Brown will approach things in a similar manner, starting with a mindset to run the football and be physical on offense.
WVU's inability to consistently do that over the course of a season in Big 12 play put a ceiling on its success.
"I think in college football today you've got to be able to run the football to win the game," Reagan explained. "If you cannot run the ball it's very, very hard to win consistently. The passing game is a very big part of what we do but when you get the lead in the fourth quarter you've got to be able to run the football."
It can mean the difference between playing in the Sugar Bowl or playing in the Camping World Bowl.
If you have your doubts, just go back and watch that Oklahoma State game again.
He inherited just two scholarship quarterbacks from the prior coaching regime and if not for some quick thinking on the part of Neal Brown, he could have been working with just those two when spring football practice begins in a couple of weeks.
But Brown was able to move swiftly after he was officially hired in early January to secure the services of Oklahoma transfer Austin Kendall to compete with holdovers Jack Allison and Trey Lowe III.
Reagan admitted Monday that three scholarship quarterbacks are still not enough. Four is a much safer number heading into the season.
"In the perfect world try and get that fifth one every now and then, but if you can hold four you're doing really well," he said. "That's hard to do in today's football with the transfers and all of that."
The other problem West Virginia has is two of its three scholarship quarterbacks are in the same class."We've got to figure out a way to fix that moving forward, whether it be the 20 class, the 21 class or the 22 class," Reagan explained. "We've got to get our scholarship numbers up there in the next two years because we'll lose (Kendall and Allison)."
What Reagan has on tape of Allison and Lowe is not much. He also doesn't have a lot on Kendall either because Kendall spent his Sooner career backing up Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.
"There is little video," Reagan admitted. "I remember Austin when he was in high school because that's about when I got on him. I've seen a little bit of film on Jack here and Lowe here, but yes, you are going in blind.
"It's starting from the ground up with drill work right now fundamentally and when we get into the spring we'll kind of see where we're at."
Even then, Reagan cautions it may take most of the spring to get a better handle on what his quarterbacks can actually do.
And what they can do will ultimately determine what the offense does.
"We'll have our base," Reagan said. "Will we run the zone? Yes. You can bank on us running the zone play somehow. But it won't be until the spring when we really get dialed in to what we really want to do in fall camp because we are going in blind."
Brown and his staff may have an idea how they want to attack things offensively before the start of spring practice, but it could change entirely once they familiarize themselves with their players.
One of the most impressive aspects of Troy's success over the last three years with these guys was the variety of ways the Trojans won football games.
Watch the Youtube highlights of the LSU victory a couple of years ago and compare that to how Troy beat Nebraska last September. The two wins were entirely different, as were the victories over Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State or Buffalo last season.
If Troy needed to run the football to win a game they ran it.
If they needed to throw the ball down the field to win they did that.
If they needed to play conservatively and rely on their defense to win a field-position game they did that.
If they needed a special teams play to win they did that as well.
It wasn't a particular style that won at Troy, it was an entire program pulling together to meet a common cause.
Those are the types of coaches Brown has on his staff. It's not about a system putting up big numbers, it's about doing whatever it takes to win a football game.
"You just try and figure out what gives you the best chance to win a ballgame," Reagan explained. "I think Neal said it before. We went into LSU and beat them at your own game. Against Nebraska we spread them out and came away with a win.
"You just break down an opponent and try and figure out what's the best chance to win," Reagan continued. "Is it to throw it a hundred times? Then throw it a hundred times. If it's not then don't."
The Conyers, Georgia, native may coach the quarterbacks, but his inclination is to run the football when things get tight just like his boss prefers - much the way Rich Rodriguez once went about things here at West Virginia more than a decade ago.
If you recall, Rich Rod came here wanting to throw the football all over the lot before realizing the players he inherited weren't necessarily capable of doing that. Consequently, with the help of some wise, old offensive coaches such as Rick Trickett, he morphed the innovative ideas he had in the passing game at Tulane and Clemson with a power ground attack that proved devastating.It wasn't what Rodriguez preferred to do but rather what his players were capable of doing that ultimately determined what they did.
You get the same impression talking to Reagan and West Virginia's other assistant coaches that Brown will approach things in a similar manner, starting with a mindset to run the football and be physical on offense.
WVU's inability to consistently do that over the course of a season in Big 12 play put a ceiling on its success.
"I think in college football today you've got to be able to run the football to win the game," Reagan explained. "If you cannot run the ball it's very, very hard to win consistently. The passing game is a very big part of what we do but when you get the lead in the fourth quarter you've got to be able to run the football."
It can mean the difference between playing in the Sugar Bowl or playing in the Camping World Bowl.
If you have your doubts, just go back and watch that Oklahoma State game again.
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
QB
/ FootballRich Rodriguez | Dec. 3
Wednesday, December 03
Reid Carrico | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Jeff Weimer | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
