Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Ford-Wheaton’s Second-Quarter Play Big Boost to Mountaineer Offense
November 01, 2020 11:36 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Six games into this crazy, COVID-19 football season, Bryce Ford-Wheaton finally delivered something coach Neal Brown has been seeking all year from his youthful offense – an explosive play from an outside receiver against man coverage.
It happened early in the second quarter of yesterday's 37-10 win over 16th-ranked Kansas State and it completely turned around a football game that appeared headed toward a field-position siege.
Kansas State's Blake Lynch had just missed a 52-yard field goal – badly – which clearly demonstrated Chris Klieman's desire to hunt for points he thought were going to be hard to come by.
Actually, he was half-right. Points were hard to come by … for Kansas State. But not West Virginia, thanks to Ford-Wheaton's 58-yard reception on a third-and-9 play from the WVU 35.
All 11 Wildcat defenders were within 8 yards of the line of scrimmage, virtually daring the Mountaineers to throw the football down the field.
K-State had all five games this year to study.
It knew the Mountaineers' young wide receiver corps had struggled to break free of man coverage and make explosive plays down the field. All of this information told them to get up in the faces of WVU's two outside receivers, pressure quarterback Jarret Doege and dare him to throw the ball down the field and make a play.
And they did!
Ford-Wheaton got past Kiondre Thomas at the line of scrimmage, and Doege hit him in stride for a pass play that covered 58 yards before he was finally tackled from behind at the Wildcat 7.
Three plays later, Doege found sophomore Ali Jennings in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown.
On West Virginia's next offensive possession, Doege completed another explosive play, this one a 32-yarder to T.J. Simmons down the far sideline to the K-State 21, setting up Leddie Brown's 9-yard touchdown run.
The lid was finally lifted.
"Without a doubt those explosive plays were huge," Brown explained afterward.
Ford-Wheaton said it was a matter of making Kansas State pay for putting its corners out on an island playing man coverage.
"I just did what I was taught and once we catch the ball our coaches says it's 'genetics' after that," Ford-Wheaton explained. "I was able to pick up a pretty big gain and got some downfield blocking. I wish I could have finished it, but I got down there."
Later, Ford-Wheaton added his second explosive play when he out-fought Justin Gardner on a 50-50 ball down the near sideline. That resulted in a 38-yard gain to the K-State 26, leading to more Mountaineer points.
Brown said those explosive plays really made the rest of the offense work more effectively.
"This is a group that's hard to move the ball against in long drives," Brown said. "They are big in the D-tackles, they've got speed rushers on the edge and 31 (Jahron McPherson), their safety, they walk him up in the box all night because he's as good a tackler as there is in our league so it's difficult.
"We knew we had to get some explosive plays, but it's tricky because you've got to be careful just throwing the ball down the field. It puts you in some bad down and distances sometimes and some matchups we didn't like going into the game," he added.
After his second-quarter reception, Ford-Wheaton said the Wildcat corners began giving him a lot more respect.
"I noticed after that they didn't play us that way again almost the whole entire game," he explained. "I think big plays softened up the defense a little bit."
They did, and they will continue to soften up defenses.
Now that West Virginia has put some of these plays on tape, defenses are going to have to show the Mountaineers' downfield passing game a little more respect.
If they don't, then it's up to Ford-Wheaton, Jennings, Simmons, Winston Wright Jr., Sean Ryan, Sam James, Reese Smith and even emerging tight ends Mike O'Laughlin and T.J. Banks to keep defenses honest.
That will take some of the load off of Leddie Brown, who is now averaging 21 carries per game. The junior has already surpassed the 107 rushing attempts he had last year with four more regular season games remaining.
It will also take some pressure off of Doege, who is really blossoming as a passer. The junior produced his third straight 300-yard passing performance and is now averaging 281.7 yards per game through the air.
The offense is much more balanced too, with a rushing attack that is contributing 172 yards per contest.
An improving Ford-Wheaton, coming off his first-career 100-yard receiving game, on the outside means defenses must defend all areas of the football field.
They have to because Ford-Wheaton's plays are now on tape, which means they will be watched.
"We knew we had to have more explosive plays, and I think we just came out and stepped up (Saturday)," Ford-Wheaton concluded.
It happened early in the second quarter of yesterday's 37-10 win over 16th-ranked Kansas State and it completely turned around a football game that appeared headed toward a field-position siege.
Kansas State's Blake Lynch had just missed a 52-yard field goal – badly – which clearly demonstrated Chris Klieman's desire to hunt for points he thought were going to be hard to come by.
Actually, he was half-right. Points were hard to come by … for Kansas State. But not West Virginia, thanks to Ford-Wheaton's 58-yard reception on a third-and-9 play from the WVU 35.
All 11 Wildcat defenders were within 8 yards of the line of scrimmage, virtually daring the Mountaineers to throw the football down the field.
K-State had all five games this year to study.
It knew the Mountaineers' young wide receiver corps had struggled to break free of man coverage and make explosive plays down the field. All of this information told them to get up in the faces of WVU's two outside receivers, pressure quarterback Jarret Doege and dare him to throw the ball down the field and make a play.
And they did!
Ford-Wheaton got past Kiondre Thomas at the line of scrimmage, and Doege hit him in stride for a pass play that covered 58 yards before he was finally tackled from behind at the Wildcat 7.
Three plays later, Doege found sophomore Ali Jennings in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown.
On West Virginia's next offensive possession, Doege completed another explosive play, this one a 32-yarder to T.J. Simmons down the far sideline to the K-State 21, setting up Leddie Brown's 9-yard touchdown run.
The lid was finally lifted.
"Without a doubt those explosive plays were huge," Brown explained afterward.
Ford-Wheaton said it was a matter of making Kansas State pay for putting its corners out on an island playing man coverage.
"I just did what I was taught and once we catch the ball our coaches says it's 'genetics' after that," Ford-Wheaton explained. "I was able to pick up a pretty big gain and got some downfield blocking. I wish I could have finished it, but I got down there."
Later, Ford-Wheaton added his second explosive play when he out-fought Justin Gardner on a 50-50 ball down the near sideline. That resulted in a 38-yard gain to the K-State 26, leading to more Mountaineer points.
Brown said those explosive plays really made the rest of the offense work more effectively.
"This is a group that's hard to move the ball against in long drives," Brown said. "They are big in the D-tackles, they've got speed rushers on the edge and 31 (Jahron McPherson), their safety, they walk him up in the box all night because he's as good a tackler as there is in our league so it's difficult.
"We knew we had to get some explosive plays, but it's tricky because you've got to be careful just throwing the ball down the field. It puts you in some bad down and distances sometimes and some matchups we didn't like going into the game," he added.
After his second-quarter reception, Ford-Wheaton said the Wildcat corners began giving him a lot more respect.
"I noticed after that they didn't play us that way again almost the whole entire game," he explained. "I think big plays softened up the defense a little bit."
They did, and they will continue to soften up defenses.
Now that West Virginia has put some of these plays on tape, defenses are going to have to show the Mountaineers' downfield passing game a little more respect.
If they don't, then it's up to Ford-Wheaton, Jennings, Simmons, Winston Wright Jr., Sean Ryan, Sam James, Reese Smith and even emerging tight ends Mike O'Laughlin and T.J. Banks to keep defenses honest.
That will take some of the load off of Leddie Brown, who is now averaging 21 carries per game. The junior has already surpassed the 107 rushing attempts he had last year with four more regular season games remaining.
It will also take some pressure off of Doege, who is really blossoming as a passer. The junior produced his third straight 300-yard passing performance and is now averaging 281.7 yards per game through the air.
The offense is much more balanced too, with a rushing attack that is contributing 172 yards per contest.
An improving Ford-Wheaton, coming off his first-career 100-yard receiving game, on the outside means defenses must defend all areas of the football field.
They have to because Ford-Wheaton's plays are now on tape, which means they will be watched.
"We knew we had to have more explosive plays, and I think we just came out and stepped up (Saturday)," Ford-Wheaton concluded.
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