Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Spring Work Concludes With Saturday’s Gold-Blue Game
April 24, 2021 03:44 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It's great having spring football back at West Virginia University! The annual Gold-Blue Game to benefit WVU Medicine Children's was played this afternoon before a socially-distanced crowd of 8,312 at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Last year's game was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was a fun afternoon," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "We wanted our players to have an opportunity to compete in front of fans in the stands, and we wanted everyone watching it to enjoy it."
The team was split up into Gold and Blue squads, but essentially it was the ones versus the ones and the twos versus the twos with the twos playing tackle football.
As was the case in the first two scrimmages of the spring, the ones did not tackle.
Senior Jarrett Doege was an efficient 10-of-14 passing for 79 yards quarterbacking the Gold team, and he scored one of the game's three offensive touchdowns with a 1-yard keeper in the second quarter. Winston Wright Jr. led the Gold team with four catches for 43 yards.
Garrett Greene operated the Blue offense, and he finished today's scrimmage completing half of his 16 pass attempts for 103 yards, including a pretty 51-yarder to freshman Kaden Prather that led to a Tyler Sumpter 20-yard field goal.
Danny King also kicked a 26-yard field goal for the Blue squad.
Prather, a Montgomery Village, Maryland, resident, snared a scrimmage-best three passes for 62 yards for the Gold squad.
A'Varius Sparrow found the end zone for the Blue squad late in the scrimmage when he scored from the 9. Sparrow had a scrimmage-best 50 yards on just eight carries.
Freshman cornerback Daryl Porter Jr. made a pretty interception of a Greene pass in the end zone, and both defenses performed well in the red zone.
A flurry of activity came late in the scrimmage when the threes got onto the field.
Freshman safety Avery Wilcox stepped in front of a Will Crowder pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown, but Crowder bounced back moments later to hook up with Sam Brown for a 65-yard touchdown.
Crowder completed three of his four pass attempts for 66 yards.
The Gold finished today's scrimmage with 221 yards of total offense, while the Blue squad was credited with 96 total yards.
There were just four penalties called on both squads during the 68-play scrimmage.
"We wanted to play clean football, and I thought we accomplished that today," Brown said.
Sprinkled into today's scrimmage were a number of team competitions that factored into today's scoring, which ended with the Gold edging the Blue 39-38 in overtime.
The highlight of the team competitions was the Quarterback Challenge with men's basketball standout Deuce McBride, a former high school quarterback, a surprise participant in the drill.
He ran out onto the field to a standing ovation.
"These spring games can become stale real quick," Brown said. "We want to try and make the games as entertaining as possible. I'm a basketball fan and I had an event with (Bob Huggins), and I asked him about it. He said as long as there was no gear involved he was for it, and Deuce was all for it as long as he could wear a jersey."
During halftime, Brown announced this spring's spring award winners, beginning with the Iron Mountaineer Award winners presented by the WVU strength and conditioning staff. Recognized this year for their work in the weight room were Leddie Brown, Zach Frazier, Graeson Malashevich, Tony Mathis Jr. and Scottie Young.
Malashevich, a sophomore from Spring Valley High in Ceredo, West Virginia, was also honored as this year's Tommy Nickolich Award winner, presented by the Blue & Gold News to the program's top walk-on player.
"I love the kid, and I love everything he's about," Brown said. "He's one of the hardest working players on the team, and I think he's going to work himself into a role this year."
This annual award is voted on by the WVU coaching staff and has been presented each year to the program's most outstanding walk-on player since 1991. It's named in the memory of Nickolich, a walk-on WVU player who tragically died of cancer in 1983.
A number of team awards were also revealed by Brown this afternoon. These include
Juice Award - Garrett Greene (offense), Eddie Watkins Jr. (defense)
Love to Practice (Attitude) Award – Zach Frazier (offense), Nicktroy Fortune (defense), J.P. Hadley (special teams)
Perfect Effort – Mike O'Laughlin (offense), Edward Vesterinen (defense)
Outstanding Walk-on Award – Nick Malone and Tyler Connelly (offense), Drew Joseph (defense)
Most Improved First-Year Player Award – Jordan White, Garrett Greene and Reese Smith (offense), Lanell Carr, Jackie Matthews and Taurus Simmons (defense)
Most Improved Overall – Tony Mathis Jr. and Parker Moorer (offense), Akheem Mesidor and VanDarius Cowan (defense)
Scout Special Teams Award – Naim Muhammad
Most Productive Player Award – Winston Wright Jr. and Isaiah Esdale (offense), Dante Stills (defense), Malachi Ruffin (special teams)
"I really like the trajectory of our program," Brown said. "One of the things I wanted to do was to challenge some of our better players to get better this spring, and I think some of those guys did that.
"Some of those guys really bought into these practices this spring to improve," Brown added.
Some areas where Brown said his team needs to improve before the end of fall camp are the punting game and the play up front.
Today's Gold-Blue Game concluded spring football work for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia will open the 2021 season on Saturday, Sept. 4, in College Park, Maryland, against the Maryland Terrapins.
The 2021 home opener will take place a week later on Saturday, Sept. 11, when the Mountaineers face LIU at Milan Puskar Stadium. A week later, the Virginia Tech series will be revived for the first time since 2017 when the Hokies play at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 18.
It will be Tech's first appearance in Morgantown since 2005.
Tickets are currently on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
Last year's game was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was a fun afternoon," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "We wanted our players to have an opportunity to compete in front of fans in the stands, and we wanted everyone watching it to enjoy it."
The team was split up into Gold and Blue squads, but essentially it was the ones versus the ones and the twos versus the twos with the twos playing tackle football.
As was the case in the first two scrimmages of the spring, the ones did not tackle.
Senior Jarrett Doege was an efficient 10-of-14 passing for 79 yards quarterbacking the Gold team, and he scored one of the game's three offensive touchdowns with a 1-yard keeper in the second quarter. Winston Wright Jr. led the Gold team with four catches for 43 yards.
Garrett Greene operated the Blue offense, and he finished today's scrimmage completing half of his 16 pass attempts for 103 yards, including a pretty 51-yarder to freshman Kaden Prather that led to a Tyler Sumpter 20-yard field goal.
Danny King also kicked a 26-yard field goal for the Blue squad.
Prather, a Montgomery Village, Maryland, resident, snared a scrimmage-best three passes for 62 yards for the Gold squad.
A'Varius Sparrow found the end zone for the Blue squad late in the scrimmage when he scored from the 9. Sparrow had a scrimmage-best 50 yards on just eight carries.
Freshman cornerback Daryl Porter Jr. made a pretty interception of a Greene pass in the end zone, and both defenses performed well in the red zone.
A flurry of activity came late in the scrimmage when the threes got onto the field.
Freshman safety Avery Wilcox stepped in front of a Will Crowder pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown, but Crowder bounced back moments later to hook up with Sam Brown for a 65-yard touchdown.
Crowder completed three of his four pass attempts for 66 yards.
The Gold finished today's scrimmage with 221 yards of total offense, while the Blue squad was credited with 96 total yards.
There were just four penalties called on both squads during the 68-play scrimmage.
"We wanted to play clean football, and I thought we accomplished that today," Brown said.
Sprinkled into today's scrimmage were a number of team competitions that factored into today's scoring, which ended with the Gold edging the Blue 39-38 in overtime.
The highlight of the team competitions was the Quarterback Challenge with men's basketball standout Deuce McBride, a former high school quarterback, a surprise participant in the drill. He ran out onto the field to a standing ovation.
"These spring games can become stale real quick," Brown said. "We want to try and make the games as entertaining as possible. I'm a basketball fan and I had an event with (Bob Huggins), and I asked him about it. He said as long as there was no gear involved he was for it, and Deuce was all for it as long as he could wear a jersey."
During halftime, Brown announced this spring's spring award winners, beginning with the Iron Mountaineer Award winners presented by the WVU strength and conditioning staff. Recognized this year for their work in the weight room were Leddie Brown, Zach Frazier, Graeson Malashevich, Tony Mathis Jr. and Scottie Young.
Malashevich, a sophomore from Spring Valley High in Ceredo, West Virginia, was also honored as this year's Tommy Nickolich Award winner, presented by the Blue & Gold News to the program's top walk-on player.
"I love the kid, and I love everything he's about," Brown said. "He's one of the hardest working players on the team, and I think he's going to work himself into a role this year."
This annual award is voted on by the WVU coaching staff and has been presented each year to the program's most outstanding walk-on player since 1991. It's named in the memory of Nickolich, a walk-on WVU player who tragically died of cancer in 1983.
A number of team awards were also revealed by Brown this afternoon. These include
Juice Award - Garrett Greene (offense), Eddie Watkins Jr. (defense)
Love to Practice (Attitude) Award – Zach Frazier (offense), Nicktroy Fortune (defense), J.P. Hadley (special teams)
Perfect Effort – Mike O'Laughlin (offense), Edward Vesterinen (defense)
Outstanding Walk-on Award – Nick Malone and Tyler Connelly (offense), Drew Joseph (defense)
Most Improved First-Year Player Award – Jordan White, Garrett Greene and Reese Smith (offense), Lanell Carr, Jackie Matthews and Taurus Simmons (defense)
Most Improved Overall – Tony Mathis Jr. and Parker Moorer (offense), Akheem Mesidor and VanDarius Cowan (defense)
Scout Special Teams Award – Naim Muhammad
Most Productive Player Award – Winston Wright Jr. and Isaiah Esdale (offense), Dante Stills (defense), Malachi Ruffin (special teams)"I really like the trajectory of our program," Brown said. "One of the things I wanted to do was to challenge some of our better players to get better this spring, and I think some of those guys did that.
"Some of those guys really bought into these practices this spring to improve," Brown added.
Some areas where Brown said his team needs to improve before the end of fall camp are the punting game and the play up front.
Today's Gold-Blue Game concluded spring football work for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia will open the 2021 season on Saturday, Sept. 4, in College Park, Maryland, against the Maryland Terrapins.
The 2021 home opener will take place a week later on Saturday, Sept. 11, when the Mountaineers face LIU at Milan Puskar Stadium. A week later, the Virginia Tech series will be revived for the first time since 2017 when the Hokies play at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 18.
It will be Tech's first appearance in Morgantown since 2005.
Tickets are currently on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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