Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU’s Sinkfield Now Shining as a Pass Catcher, Too
August 12, 2019 04:13 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – This is around the time during preseason training camp when coaches start repeating themselves.
If you happen to be a player whose name they keep repeating, well, that's a good thing. One name that keeps popping up again and again is sophomore Alec Sinkfield, used exclusively in the past as a running back.
Now, the Delray Beach, Florida, resident is also taking reps at slot receiver, and he couldn't be happier.
"I knew this would give me more opportunities to get on the field," he explained.
He's right.
With seniors Kennedy McKoy and Martell Pettaway and rising sophomore Leddie Brown in the running back room, the Mountaineers have three very capable ball-toters right. Coach Neal Brown is also high on true freshman Tony Mathis, so the opportunities for Sinkfield to get the ball in his hands were going to be limited.
Therefore, why not get the football to him in a different way, perhaps on a jet sweep, a slip screen or a pass down the field? That's what Brown explained to Sinkfield when he sat him down and went through his thought process.
"He brought me in one day and he was like, 'We want you to try this and let's see how it goes.' It wasn't a set thing," Sinkfield said.
"But there was no need to sell me on it," he quickly added. "I'm here to play football regardless of what position it is. I guess we all want to get to the NFL so I can't go to the NFL and say, 'No, I'm not playing this position' or I'm not playing special teams.' Whatever the job is I've got to tackle it."
And not get tackled while doing it, which is why Brown wants to see what Sinkfield can do out in the open field. He is one of the most explosive playmakers on the team, and we saw small glimpses of it last year in Jake Spavital's offense.
The American Heritage High product carried the ball 19 times for 68 yards and a touchdown and also caught four passes for 44 yards in just five games during his redshirt freshman campaign, but nagging injuries and a full complement of running backs kept him from getting more touches.
But he's getting them so far this fall.
"We've got four good guys in the backfield, and we all can't run the ball at the same time so he has to figure out special ways to get everybody touches because you can't go a game without using all four," Sinkfield reasoned. "I think the way coach Brown is going about it is impressive."
How?
"He's so clever with what he does," Sinkfield admitted. "There is always a surprise. The way he runs his offense is pretty amazing with different formations and things you never thought of."
In this regard, Neal Brown is probably very similar to the way Rich Rodriguez once attacked defenses with his West Virginia offenses using a bunch of different formations and pre-snap movement to try and get defenses out of position.
Rich Rod used to run the same play out of many different formations, and that's what Sinkfield says Brown does with his offense.
The object, of course, is to get a one-on-one matchup with his most explosive playmakers in space.
"All he needs is a guy who can make somebody miss in open space and win one-on-one battles, which is what he's always preaching," Sinkfield said. "If you win your one-on-one battles, he's going to get you the ball, regardless of your size."
That's what he did at Troy with 5-foot-7, 173-pound Jabir Frye, who ended up getting 75 touches from scrimmage. Brown had six different players get at least 50 touches from scrimmage last year, which bodes well for guys like Sinkfield and 5-foot-6, 166-pound junior slot receiver Tevin Bush, another name you keep hearing.
These two have probably benefitted the most from the coaching transition. Sinkfield says he sees a greater attention to detail this year, possibly because the coaching staff keeps preaching it over and over.
They even have an acronym for it: ATD. That's attention to detail if you haven't been paying close attention.
"If you take two steps instead of three then it throws the whole play off," Sinkfield explained. "I think coach Brown and his staff do a good job of making sure everything is detailed, and we do the right things how it's supposed to be done."
Sinkfield said it's a process that doesn't happen overnight, which is why the defense is probably a little ahead of the offense right now on a more consistent basis. If you really think about it, the players have only had less than a dozen officiated scrimmages in this new offense, so they have still barely scratched the surface.
"It takes reps," Sinkfield said. "The more reps we get the better we're going to be. We have a lot of time to get better."
Well, maybe not a lot of time. We are now inside of 20 days before the football goes up in the air for the season opener against James Madison on Saturday, Aug. 31.
But there is still a lot that can happen between now and then, that's for sure.
If you happen to be a player whose name they keep repeating, well, that's a good thing. One name that keeps popping up again and again is sophomore Alec Sinkfield, used exclusively in the past as a running back.
Now, the Delray Beach, Florida, resident is also taking reps at slot receiver, and he couldn't be happier.
"I knew this would give me more opportunities to get on the field," he explained.
He's right.
With seniors Kennedy McKoy and Martell Pettaway and rising sophomore Leddie Brown in the running back room, the Mountaineers have three very capable ball-toters right. Coach Neal Brown is also high on true freshman Tony Mathis, so the opportunities for Sinkfield to get the ball in his hands were going to be limited.
Therefore, why not get the football to him in a different way, perhaps on a jet sweep, a slip screen or a pass down the field? That's what Brown explained to Sinkfield when he sat him down and went through his thought process.
"He brought me in one day and he was like, 'We want you to try this and let's see how it goes.' It wasn't a set thing," Sinkfield said.
"But there was no need to sell me on it," he quickly added. "I'm here to play football regardless of what position it is. I guess we all want to get to the NFL so I can't go to the NFL and say, 'No, I'm not playing this position' or I'm not playing special teams.' Whatever the job is I've got to tackle it."
And not get tackled while doing it, which is why Brown wants to see what Sinkfield can do out in the open field. He is one of the most explosive playmakers on the team, and we saw small glimpses of it last year in Jake Spavital's offense.
The American Heritage High product carried the ball 19 times for 68 yards and a touchdown and also caught four passes for 44 yards in just five games during his redshirt freshman campaign, but nagging injuries and a full complement of running backs kept him from getting more touches.
But he's getting them so far this fall.
"We've got four good guys in the backfield, and we all can't run the ball at the same time so he has to figure out special ways to get everybody touches because you can't go a game without using all four," Sinkfield reasoned. "I think the way coach Brown is going about it is impressive."
How?
"He's so clever with what he does," Sinkfield admitted. "There is always a surprise. The way he runs his offense is pretty amazing with different formations and things you never thought of."
In this regard, Neal Brown is probably very similar to the way Rich Rodriguez once attacked defenses with his West Virginia offenses using a bunch of different formations and pre-snap movement to try and get defenses out of position.
Rich Rod used to run the same play out of many different formations, and that's what Sinkfield says Brown does with his offense.
The object, of course, is to get a one-on-one matchup with his most explosive playmakers in space.
"All he needs is a guy who can make somebody miss in open space and win one-on-one battles, which is what he's always preaching," Sinkfield said. "If you win your one-on-one battles, he's going to get you the ball, regardless of your size."
That's what he did at Troy with 5-foot-7, 173-pound Jabir Frye, who ended up getting 75 touches from scrimmage. Brown had six different players get at least 50 touches from scrimmage last year, which bodes well for guys like Sinkfield and 5-foot-6, 166-pound junior slot receiver Tevin Bush, another name you keep hearing.
These two have probably benefitted the most from the coaching transition. Sinkfield says he sees a greater attention to detail this year, possibly because the coaching staff keeps preaching it over and over.
They even have an acronym for it: ATD. That's attention to detail if you haven't been paying close attention.
"If you take two steps instead of three then it throws the whole play off," Sinkfield explained. "I think coach Brown and his staff do a good job of making sure everything is detailed, and we do the right things how it's supposed to be done."
Sinkfield said it's a process that doesn't happen overnight, which is why the defense is probably a little ahead of the offense right now on a more consistent basis. If you really think about it, the players have only had less than a dozen officiated scrimmages in this new offense, so they have still barely scratched the surface.
"It takes reps," Sinkfield said. "The more reps we get the better we're going to be. We have a lot of time to get better."
Well, maybe not a lot of time. We are now inside of 20 days before the football goes up in the air for the season opener against James Madison on Saturday, Aug. 31.
But there is still a lot that can happen between now and then, that's for sure.
Players Mentioned
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