Photo by: Drew Mathis
Brown Sees Positives in all Three Phases During Saturday’s Scrimmage
August 14, 2021 02:42 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Neal Brown and his Mountaineer coaching staff got some valuable information about their football team on tape during this morning's 100-plus-play officiated scrimmage inside Milan Puskar Stadium.
Broken down, the ones received about 50 plays, the twos approximately 30 plays and the threes roughly 20 during today's 2 ½-hour scrimmage.
The Mountaineers also got in some live special teams work with officials for the first time during fall camp. Morning rain showers subsided before the team took the field and practice concluded before another round of showers moved through the area.
"It was nice to be in the stadium again. Our guys flew around and they were excited to be in there," Brown said following today's scrimmage. "The good news is we've got three weeks to get ready for Maryland. We did some things really, really well. I thought the energy was good. We had some highlights on both sides of the ball."
Brown singled out the play of sophomore running back Tony Mathis Jr., who broke free for a 35-yard touchdown run during the opening drive of today's scrimmage, and Mathis also got into the end zone during some goal-line work and the overtime period.
Mathis began to emerge last spring and after a productive summer, he is beginning to really solidify his spot as the team's No. 2 running back behind starter Leddie Brown.
"We always talk about work. (Mathis') season didn't go exactly the way he wanted it to and he came in (during January) and he wanted to know what he had to improve," Brown said. "He went and saw coach (Chad) Scott and coach Scott laid it all out and I talked to him as well, and he's come back and been Workout Warrior multiple times during the offseason. He won an award from the weight room staff in the winter and won another award in the summer. He's been a real bright spot in camp and that's going to be huge for our football team."
Brown was also pleased with the work senior quarterback Jarret Doege put in today operating the first offense. Doege hit tight end T.J. Banks for a 24-yard gainer during the opening drive and later had a pair of nice hookups with senior wide receiver Isaiah Esdale.
The senior's lone touchdown pass came during the overtime period when he flipped a 2-yard scoring strike to Esdale.
"Jarret Doege continues to be sharp in fall camp. I thought he had a nice day," Brown said. "I thought the interior part of our offensive line did some good things, which we need them to so that was a positive."
Backup Garrett Greene took all of his snaps with the twos this morning and he also got the second offense into the end zone during the overtime period when he completed a 3-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end Charles Finley.
Earlier in the scrimmage, they connected on a pretty 31-yard pass play down the near sideline for the longest pass play of the day.
True freshman quarterback Will Crowder took about 15 snaps with the threes while sophomore Matt Cavallaro had about a half-dozen snaps.
Starting tailback Leddie Brown saw minimal action during today's scrimmage, which Neal Brown said was by design.
Defensively, the coach was pleased with the pressure his three defensive groups got on the quarterbacks today. He thought the pass rush was the best it's been since the beginning of camp.
Sophomore defensive tackle Akheem Mesidor forced a fumble and alertly picked it up and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown, and backup free safety Kerry Martin made a leaping interception of a pass thrown by Greene.
Senior safety Scottie Young made a fumble recovery for the third forced turnover of the scrimmage for the defense. Brown also mentioned the work put in this morning by Penn State transfer Lance Dixon at will linebacker.
"I thought Akheem Mesidor continued his climb," Brown said. "I think he's got a chance to be special before it's all said and done. (VanDarius) Cowan had his best day of camp today. He had a pressure and a forced fumble and Lanell Carr with the twos really had some nice one-on-one pass rushes where he won. He had a big-time play in a two-minute, end-of-half scenario."
Brown said they are going to take it right through until the end of camp on the 24th before determining who the guys are that will be getting the reps for the season opener with Maryland on Saturday, Sept. 4.
"We'll go Friday night under the lights and have another good run similar to today and then we'll go Tuesday the 24thand we'll take all of those decisions right up to the 24th," Brown explained. "Today was about exposing some bad habits, honestly. As coaches we got on the sideline and let them play and we had some mistakes.
"I always tell our staff, 'After the first scrimmage that's when it starts.' You see practice everything's kind of controlled but you get to that first scrimmage and now you know where you're really at. How much better can we get between right now until the 25th when we start Maryland prep? Right now is when it starts," he concluded.
West Virginia is off on Sunday and will resume camp work Monday morning.
Tickets for the 2021 season remain on sale and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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