Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Monday Football Camp Notebook
August 05, 2019 03:14 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN – They call them the dog days of summer, and it appears the dog bit Neal Brown's West Virginia University football team this morning.
The Mountaineers' first-year coach said he wasn't too pleased with the way his young football team practiced today.
"I was really disappointed in today's work," he said. "It was kind of a recovery day, and we were out there for true work probably about an hour, and I thought it was unfocused and probably our most disappointing of our four. We've got to get better. I just didn't like our approach."
Brown later expanded on his thoughts.
"I just didn't like our mental approach today," he said. "I thought it was very immature. I thought our leadership was lacking. It was a little hot,and I just didn't think we responded very well.
"The whole deal is if you do little things right – if you prepare and you work hard – good things are going to happen. And I think the opposite is also true. If you are not mentally prepared, if you're not taking care of your body, if you are not focusing on details that ball will find you and you will get exposed," Brown said. "We had some guys get exposed today because they weren't ready to go."
He said there were really two areas that need to be addressed.
"First one are guys that have played meaningful snaps," he said. "They should be able to overcome adversity, whether it's the number of practices, whether it's fatigue or whether it's just coach-created adversity, they should be able to overcome it and I didn't think some of our older guys handled that as well.
"And, we've got some younger guys that are having to transition. Maybe they were redshirted or maybe they were high school players, but they're having to transition and where we're at as a football program they're going to be counted on. I've told them, 'Your development is fast-forwarded. It is what it is.' In order to do that, you've got to have a mental approach to attack every single day to get better," he explained. "I thought we had the mentality with both of those groups today of, 'We're going to get through this and not improve at this.'"
Brown said he fully expects Tuesday morning's full-go practice will be full-go for his players.
"Part of it, too, is as coaches we've got to do a better job of getting them ready to go," he said. "It's on us too."
Brown said Tuesday's practice plan calls for a lot of 11-on-11 work.
Mountaineer Football Notebook
* Former Mountaineer wide receiver Tommy Bowden was a visitor at this morning's practice. Two members of Brown's WVU staff, defensive coordinator Vic Koenning and senior defensive analyst Ron West, were once members of Bowden's Clemson coaching staff.
"He looks good," Brown said. "He looks young (because) he got out young."
Bowden currently works as a studio analyst for the ACC Network.
* Brown said the team will be at either 79 or 80 scholarships when the season begins on Aug. 31 against James Madison. That's either five or six below the NCAA maximum number of 85 scholarships permitted for Division I football programs.
"Six of those were former walk-ons put on scholarship," Brown mentioned. "We'll always evaluate our current walk-ons at the end of camp. If we have guys that are deserving they will be put on scholarship."
* The Mountaineers right now are having two units get reps on each side of the field simultaneously to give maximum reps. Their work is being videotaped and evaluated by the coaching staff after each practice.
"Every team period we have we have a Gold unit and a Blue unit so we're getting compounded reps," Brown explained. "When we go seven or eight minutes we're actually getting 32 reps because we've got 16 on one side of the field and 16 on the other. Everybody in our program is getting reps in all of our groups during the team activities.
"We're getting a lot of evaluations done this way."
* Brown indicated he likes what he is seeing so far from his freshmen. He cited their athleticism and preparation so far, indicating "several" freshmen could see playing time this season. "It's a good class. Where they are at football-wise has yet to be determined," he added.
* Redshirt freshman wide receiver Bryce Wheaton from Holly Springs High in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, continues to be a name to watch. Brown cited the strides Wharton continues to make and called him the "team's most improved football player from spring ball" to this point. Wheaton is the grandson of Garrett Ford Sr., the first running back in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season in 1966.
* Brown was asked about his team's punting situation right now and he chose to punt, "Next question."
Conversely, the coach said his wide receivers have made a "180 degree turn" since last spring. He is much happier with the way they are performing up to this point.
* Brown brought up an interesting point that is rarely considered about the game of football. He said it's really the only sport where players are required to sit for 20 minutes during halftime and then must return to the field and play. To combat that, he tries to simulate that each day during practice by doing something full speed immediately. On Monday it was one-on-one reps and tomorrow it will be a full-speed, 11-on-11 drill right out of the gate.
"It makes them have to be ready," he explained.
It certainly makes a lot of sense.
* During the competition period before the start of practice today sophomore running back Alec Sinkfield made a terrific catch to give the offense the nod.
* Brown said there have been some "highs" and some "lows" with his team's quarterback play so far in camp. He said Jack Allison and Austin Kendall have the best understanding of the offense right now and overall, the group's completion percentage is up from the spring and their decision making has been improved from the spring.
Brown said redshirt freshman Trey Lowe III is coming off his best day on Sunday and Bowling Green transfer Jarret Doege has already had his moments in the short amount of time he's been on the field performing in a new offense.
"He can throw the football and he's real poised," Brown said.
Keep in mind, Doege may be the most inexperienced quarterback in Neal Brown's offense, but he is the most experienced quarterback in terms of game experience having played two full seasons with the Falcons.
The Mountaineers' first-year coach said he wasn't too pleased with the way his young football team practiced today.
"I was really disappointed in today's work," he said. "It was kind of a recovery day, and we were out there for true work probably about an hour, and I thought it was unfocused and probably our most disappointing of our four. We've got to get better. I just didn't like our approach."
Brown later expanded on his thoughts.
"I just didn't like our mental approach today," he said. "I thought it was very immature. I thought our leadership was lacking. It was a little hot,and I just didn't think we responded very well.
"The whole deal is if you do little things right – if you prepare and you work hard – good things are going to happen. And I think the opposite is also true. If you are not mentally prepared, if you're not taking care of your body, if you are not focusing on details that ball will find you and you will get exposed," Brown said. "We had some guys get exposed today because they weren't ready to go."
He said there were really two areas that need to be addressed.
"First one are guys that have played meaningful snaps," he said. "They should be able to overcome adversity, whether it's the number of practices, whether it's fatigue or whether it's just coach-created adversity, they should be able to overcome it and I didn't think some of our older guys handled that as well.
"And, we've got some younger guys that are having to transition. Maybe they were redshirted or maybe they were high school players, but they're having to transition and where we're at as a football program they're going to be counted on. I've told them, 'Your development is fast-forwarded. It is what it is.' In order to do that, you've got to have a mental approach to attack every single day to get better," he explained. "I thought we had the mentality with both of those groups today of, 'We're going to get through this and not improve at this.'"
Brown said he fully expects Tuesday morning's full-go practice will be full-go for his players.
"Part of it, too, is as coaches we've got to do a better job of getting them ready to go," he said. "It's on us too."
Brown said Tuesday's practice plan calls for a lot of 11-on-11 work.
Mountaineer Football Notebook
* Former Mountaineer wide receiver Tommy Bowden was a visitor at this morning's practice. Two members of Brown's WVU staff, defensive coordinator Vic Koenning and senior defensive analyst Ron West, were once members of Bowden's Clemson coaching staff."He looks good," Brown said. "He looks young (because) he got out young."
Bowden currently works as a studio analyst for the ACC Network.
* Brown said the team will be at either 79 or 80 scholarships when the season begins on Aug. 31 against James Madison. That's either five or six below the NCAA maximum number of 85 scholarships permitted for Division I football programs.
"Six of those were former walk-ons put on scholarship," Brown mentioned. "We'll always evaluate our current walk-ons at the end of camp. If we have guys that are deserving they will be put on scholarship."
* The Mountaineers right now are having two units get reps on each side of the field simultaneously to give maximum reps. Their work is being videotaped and evaluated by the coaching staff after each practice.
"Every team period we have we have a Gold unit and a Blue unit so we're getting compounded reps," Brown explained. "When we go seven or eight minutes we're actually getting 32 reps because we've got 16 on one side of the field and 16 on the other. Everybody in our program is getting reps in all of our groups during the team activities.
"We're getting a lot of evaluations done this way."
* Brown indicated he likes what he is seeing so far from his freshmen. He cited their athleticism and preparation so far, indicating "several" freshmen could see playing time this season. "It's a good class. Where they are at football-wise has yet to be determined," he added.
* Redshirt freshman wide receiver Bryce Wheaton from Holly Springs High in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, continues to be a name to watch. Brown cited the strides Wharton continues to make and called him the "team's most improved football player from spring ball" to this point. Wheaton is the grandson of Garrett Ford Sr., the first running back in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season in 1966.
* Brown was asked about his team's punting situation right now and he chose to punt, "Next question."
Conversely, the coach said his wide receivers have made a "180 degree turn" since last spring. He is much happier with the way they are performing up to this point.
* Brown brought up an interesting point that is rarely considered about the game of football. He said it's really the only sport where players are required to sit for 20 minutes during halftime and then must return to the field and play. To combat that, he tries to simulate that each day during practice by doing something full speed immediately. On Monday it was one-on-one reps and tomorrow it will be a full-speed, 11-on-11 drill right out of the gate.
"It makes them have to be ready," he explained.
It certainly makes a lot of sense.
* During the competition period before the start of practice today sophomore running back Alec Sinkfield made a terrific catch to give the offense the nod.
* Brown said there have been some "highs" and some "lows" with his team's quarterback play so far in camp. He said Jack Allison and Austin Kendall have the best understanding of the offense right now and overall, the group's completion percentage is up from the spring and their decision making has been improved from the spring.
Brown said redshirt freshman Trey Lowe III is coming off his best day on Sunday and Bowling Green transfer Jarret Doege has already had his moments in the short amount of time he's been on the field performing in a new offense.
"He can throw the football and he's real poised," Brown said.
Keep in mind, Doege may be the most inexperienced quarterback in Neal Brown's offense, but he is the most experienced quarterback in terms of game experience having played two full seasons with the Falcons.
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