Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Brown Gives Nod to Defense During Saturday's Scrimmage
August 10, 2019 07:15 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Neal Brown now has a starting point for his young West Virginia University football team following today's officiated scrimmage inside Milan Puskar Stadium.
WVU's first-year coach said he saw some good and some bad out there today.
"The good thing is we get a chance to get live work in a game situation with officials, but the bad thing is it's a wakeup call that we've got a lot of work to do and most of that is to be expected, honestly," he said.
Brown gave the nod to the first defense today against the first offense and he thought the second offense got the best of the second defense.
Defensive standouts Brown mentioned during today's scrimmage included junior college transfer Taijh Alston, who accounted for four sacks, Michigan transfer Reuben Jones and freshman corner Tae Mayo, who had a long interception return.
Brown also singled out the work redshirt freshman quarterback Trey Lowe III did with the second offense. Lowe III wore a regular blue jersey and was effective running and passing the football this afternoon.
One Lowe aerial went to Temple transfer Sean Ryan for a 39-yard touchdown early in the scrimmage.
Other touchdowns were scored by running back Martell Pettaway on a 23-yard pass coming out of the backfield, by Florida State transfer George Campbell and by T. J. Simmons.
Austin Kendall threw two of the touchdowns while Jack Allison tossed the other.
Overall, however, Brown indicated that he's still seeking more from the quarterback position.
"I'm hesitant to be critical until I watch it," he mentioned. "It's really a hard assessment until you watch the video and get a better angle to kind of see what they're seeing."
A day after having what Brown termed "the worst practice since we've been here," the No. 1 defense did a 180 this afternoon during today's scrimmage.
"The one defense was ready to go today and the offense didn't answer the bell," Brown said, citing a number of illegal procedure penalties, dropped passes and an inability to consistently run the football by the offense.
The coach also mentioned the outstanding work Fairmont's Darius Stills put forth this afternoon controlling the line of scrimmage. Among the running backs, Brown singled out sophomore Alex Sinkfield as today's top performer.
Collectively, Brown said he is seeking more consistency from his young football team.
"What this football team has got to correct is our bad has got to be way better," he said. "If you look at really quality football teams when they don't play really well they're still good enough to be in games and have a chance to win. Right now with us, our bad is really bad.
"Now when we're good we look like a quality football team, but we've got to make it where our bad is we're just average," he added. "That's where we've got to get to and we're not there yet because defensively we were bad yesterday. It was a race up and down the sidelines. Today the offense was really bad; we struggled to move the ball in any phase. I'm not discouraged, but I was disappointed in some guys' performance but it's always good to get it on tape, correct it, and get back at it."
Which is exactly what the Mountaineers will do tomorrow.
Scrimmage Notes:
* Brown said LSU graduate transfer punter Josh Growden was on the field today and is currently going through the acclimation process. Growden appeared in 31 games for the Tigers and averaged 41.4 yards per punt during his freshman season in 2016. Since then, he split punting duties with Zach Von Rosenberg.
"He's got talent and it fits a need," Brown said. "I think he was a little premature in giving it up and he had one year of eligibility left and he wanted to play. And we definitely had a need."
* Brown said receivers Sam James, Sean Ryan and George Campbell continue to make plays down the field. Brown admitted he's anxious to get an eligibility ruling on Ryan because he's performed well in camp so far.
* Brown noted his team went into today's scrimmage relatively healthy seven days into fall training camp. One notable absence was junior college corner Dreshun Miller, who is nursing a minor ailment.
Brown said it wasn't anything serious though.
* Bridgeport junior Dante Bonamico has moved closer to the line of scrimmage to play the Spear position while touted true freshman Tykee Smith from Imhotep Charter High in Philadelphia is now playing safety.
Brown said Smith is a youngster who is going to be a part of their immediate plans. "We're are going to get him ready to play."
* The back end of the Mountaineer secondary today consisted of Sean Mahone, Josh Norwood, Tykee Smith and Jake Long at safety, with Hakeem Bailey, Keith Washington and true freshmen Nicktroy Fortune and Tae Mayo taking most of the reps at corner.
Brown said another young corner prospect who is catching their eye is Tacorey Turner from Montgomery, Alabama. All three freshman corners appear to have bright futures.
* Brown had this to say to the media, although he did not single out anyone in particular, "I'm not upset that we had some struggles on offense just because we've got some guys who think they are better than they actually are and they think sometimes that they don't need to take coaching so it's good to say, 'Hey, if you do what you're supposed to do right here this is the play that is supposed to be made.'"
* Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen made an appearance at today's scrimmage, along with a couple dozen former football players. One of those alums being one of the oldest living football alums in Louis Biruaskis, whose first season with the Mountaineers was 1944. Legendary WVU player Ira "Rat" Rodgers coached the WVU football team that season.
* And, one of the officials for today's scrimmage was former Mountaineer running back Undra Johnson, who is now working games in the PSAC and Mountain East conferences. By the way, Undra still looks like he could take a few carries for the Mountaineers.
WVU's first-year coach said he saw some good and some bad out there today.
"The good thing is we get a chance to get live work in a game situation with officials, but the bad thing is it's a wakeup call that we've got a lot of work to do and most of that is to be expected, honestly," he said.
Brown gave the nod to the first defense today against the first offense and he thought the second offense got the best of the second defense.
Defensive standouts Brown mentioned during today's scrimmage included junior college transfer Taijh Alston, who accounted for four sacks, Michigan transfer Reuben Jones and freshman corner Tae Mayo, who had a long interception return.
Brown also singled out the work redshirt freshman quarterback Trey Lowe III did with the second offense. Lowe III wore a regular blue jersey and was effective running and passing the football this afternoon.
One Lowe aerial went to Temple transfer Sean Ryan for a 39-yard touchdown early in the scrimmage.
Other touchdowns were scored by running back Martell Pettaway on a 23-yard pass coming out of the backfield, by Florida State transfer George Campbell and by T. J. Simmons.
Austin Kendall threw two of the touchdowns while Jack Allison tossed the other.
Overall, however, Brown indicated that he's still seeking more from the quarterback position.
"I'm hesitant to be critical until I watch it," he mentioned. "It's really a hard assessment until you watch the video and get a better angle to kind of see what they're seeing."
A day after having what Brown termed "the worst practice since we've been here," the No. 1 defense did a 180 this afternoon during today's scrimmage.
"The one defense was ready to go today and the offense didn't answer the bell," Brown said, citing a number of illegal procedure penalties, dropped passes and an inability to consistently run the football by the offense.
The coach also mentioned the outstanding work Fairmont's Darius Stills put forth this afternoon controlling the line of scrimmage. Among the running backs, Brown singled out sophomore Alex Sinkfield as today's top performer.
Collectively, Brown said he is seeking more consistency from his young football team.
"What this football team has got to correct is our bad has got to be way better," he said. "If you look at really quality football teams when they don't play really well they're still good enough to be in games and have a chance to win. Right now with us, our bad is really bad.
"Now when we're good we look like a quality football team, but we've got to make it where our bad is we're just average," he added. "That's where we've got to get to and we're not there yet because defensively we were bad yesterday. It was a race up and down the sidelines. Today the offense was really bad; we struggled to move the ball in any phase. I'm not discouraged, but I was disappointed in some guys' performance but it's always good to get it on tape, correct it, and get back at it."
Which is exactly what the Mountaineers will do tomorrow.
Scrimmage Notes:
* Brown said LSU graduate transfer punter Josh Growden was on the field today and is currently going through the acclimation process. Growden appeared in 31 games for the Tigers and averaged 41.4 yards per punt during his freshman season in 2016. Since then, he split punting duties with Zach Von Rosenberg.
"He's got talent and it fits a need," Brown said. "I think he was a little premature in giving it up and he had one year of eligibility left and he wanted to play. And we definitely had a need."
* Brown said receivers Sam James, Sean Ryan and George Campbell continue to make plays down the field. Brown admitted he's anxious to get an eligibility ruling on Ryan because he's performed well in camp so far.
* Brown noted his team went into today's scrimmage relatively healthy seven days into fall training camp. One notable absence was junior college corner Dreshun Miller, who is nursing a minor ailment.
Brown said it wasn't anything serious though.
* Bridgeport junior Dante Bonamico has moved closer to the line of scrimmage to play the Spear position while touted true freshman Tykee Smith from Imhotep Charter High in Philadelphia is now playing safety.
Brown said Smith is a youngster who is going to be a part of their immediate plans. "We're are going to get him ready to play."
* The back end of the Mountaineer secondary today consisted of Sean Mahone, Josh Norwood, Tykee Smith and Jake Long at safety, with Hakeem Bailey, Keith Washington and true freshmen Nicktroy Fortune and Tae Mayo taking most of the reps at corner.
Brown said another young corner prospect who is catching their eye is Tacorey Turner from Montgomery, Alabama. All three freshman corners appear to have bright futures.
* Brown had this to say to the media, although he did not single out anyone in particular, "I'm not upset that we had some struggles on offense just because we've got some guys who think they are better than they actually are and they think sometimes that they don't need to take coaching so it's good to say, 'Hey, if you do what you're supposed to do right here this is the play that is supposed to be made.'"
* Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen made an appearance at today's scrimmage, along with a couple dozen former football players. One of those alums being one of the oldest living football alums in Louis Biruaskis, whose first season with the Mountaineers was 1944. Legendary WVU player Ira "Rat" Rodgers coached the WVU football team that season.
* And, one of the officials for today's scrimmage was former Mountaineer running back Undra Johnson, who is now working games in the PSAC and Mountain East conferences. By the way, Undra still looks like he could take a few carries for the Mountaineers.
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