Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Gold Outlasts Blue in Saturday’s Spring Game
April 23, 2022 05:15 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Quarterback Will Crowder passed for 199 yards and a touchdown, and senior wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton caught a scrimmage-best six passes for 98 yards and a touchdown during Saturday's annual Gold-Blue Spring game at a sun-drenched Milan Puskar Stadium.
The Gold Team, coached by running backs coach Chad Scott, edged the Blue team coached by defensive line coach A.J. Jackson, 22-21.
Tackling was limited to only the backups and quarterbacks. Crowder, Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol performed for both squads. Only base schemes were utilized for today's game.
"The pleasing thing for me was clean football," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said afterward. "I thought all three quarterbacks operated well. I'm not saying we made all the right decisions or all the right throws, but I thought we operated pretty well.
"We were purposely vanilla in each phase today," Brown added.
Crowder completed 8 of his 12 pass attempts for 133 yards for the Gold squad and finished the scrimmage 14-of-24 for 199 yards.
"Today was Goose Crowder's best performance all spring," Brown noted.
Green's combined passing figures showed five completions in 12 attempts for 132 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while Marchiol ended the day 10-of-19 for 75 yards.
Crowder was responsible for three of the four first-half scores this afternoon. He marched the Gold squad 75 yards on the scrimmage's opening drive, which culminated with Lyn-J Dixon's 7-yard touchdown run.
In the second quarter, Crowder hooked up with senior wide receiver Sam James over the middle for a 31-yard scoring pass for the Blue squad, and then directed a 10-play, 73-yard drive that resulted in Danny King's 19-yard field goal for the Gold squad on the final play of the first half.
Marchiol was responsible for the other first half touchdown, the freshman calling his own number from the 7. Marchiol completed 6 of his 7 pass attempts on the drive, including a pretty 27-yard toss to Graeson Malashevich.
Greene began the third quarter with back-to-back long passes to Ford-Wheaton, a 44-yarder up the middle and then a 31-yard touchdown strike to the far corner of the end zone.
"What we wanted to do was to put some pressure on the quarterbacks today," Brown said.
Tyler Consolidated High's Markquan Rucker wrapped up the scrimmage by scoring an 11-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Morgantown's Preston Fox made the play of the day late in the second quarter with his acrobatic 39-yard grab along the near sideline – similar to some of the other catches he's made this spring. He also caught a 50-yard pass from Crowder down the far sideline and ended the afternoon with five receptions for a scrimmage-best 117 yards.
Afterward, the coaching staff awarded him a scholarship for his outstanding play this spring in a ceremony held in the team locker room which was attended by his parents.
Sophomore wide receiver Kaden Prather also had a pretty 34-yard grab over his back shoulder on a perfectly thrown pass from Greene. Prather ended the day with four catches for 43 yards, while James grabbed five passes for 56 yards.
Prather said he likes the downfield passing philosophy new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell has introduced this spring. There were several shot plays down the field this afternoon.
"I felt like last year we were more conservative," Prather said.
Senior offensive tackle James Gmiter said afterward that there is now a high-degree of confidence in Harrell's play calling after 15 spring practices.
"Those shot plays down the field opens up the field, because it's going to keep the linebackers honest," Gmiter said.
"That's something that we have to improve on," Brown admitted. "We've talked about explosive plays. When we won last year, we had those. When we didn't, against some of the better defenses that we've played, we struggled with that."
Sophomore safety Aubrey Burks came up with the only interception of the scrimmage when he picked off Green's first-quarter pass in the end zone. Burks led the Gold squad with five tackles while Jairo Faverus, Zeiqui Lawton and Jalen Thornton were credited with four stops each for the Blue.
Freshman Jaylen Anderson produced a scrimmage-best 41 yards on seven rushing attempts.
An announced crowd of 12,678 attended today's spring game. A portion of the proceeds from the game will benefit WVU Medicine Children's.
During halftime festivities, Morgantown's Nick Malone was announced as the recipient of this year's Nickolich Award presented to the team's top walk-on player, while Zach Frazier, Jared Bartlett, Doug Nester and Graeson Malashevich were honored by the strength and condition staff as it's Iron Mountaineer Award recipients.
Today's game concluded spring work for the Mountaineers, who will face Pitt on Thursday Sept. 1, at Heinz Field to open the 2022 season.
The Gold Team, coached by running backs coach Chad Scott, edged the Blue team coached by defensive line coach A.J. Jackson, 22-21.
Tackling was limited to only the backups and quarterbacks. Crowder, Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol performed for both squads. Only base schemes were utilized for today's game.
"The pleasing thing for me was clean football," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said afterward. "I thought all three quarterbacks operated well. I'm not saying we made all the right decisions or all the right throws, but I thought we operated pretty well.
"We were purposely vanilla in each phase today," Brown added.
Crowder completed 8 of his 12 pass attempts for 133 yards for the Gold squad and finished the scrimmage 14-of-24 for 199 yards.
"Today was Goose Crowder's best performance all spring," Brown noted.
Green's combined passing figures showed five completions in 12 attempts for 132 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while Marchiol ended the day 10-of-19 for 75 yards.
Crowder was responsible for three of the four first-half scores this afternoon. He marched the Gold squad 75 yards on the scrimmage's opening drive, which culminated with Lyn-J Dixon's 7-yard touchdown run.
In the second quarter, Crowder hooked up with senior wide receiver Sam James over the middle for a 31-yard scoring pass for the Blue squad, and then directed a 10-play, 73-yard drive that resulted in Danny King's 19-yard field goal for the Gold squad on the final play of the first half.
Marchiol was responsible for the other first half touchdown, the freshman calling his own number from the 7. Marchiol completed 6 of his 7 pass attempts on the drive, including a pretty 27-yard toss to Graeson Malashevich.
Greene began the third quarter with back-to-back long passes to Ford-Wheaton, a 44-yarder up the middle and then a 31-yard touchdown strike to the far corner of the end zone.
"What we wanted to do was to put some pressure on the quarterbacks today," Brown said.
Tyler Consolidated High's Markquan Rucker wrapped up the scrimmage by scoring an 11-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Morgantown's Preston Fox made the play of the day late in the second quarter with his acrobatic 39-yard grab along the near sideline – similar to some of the other catches he's made this spring. He also caught a 50-yard pass from Crowder down the far sideline and ended the afternoon with five receptions for a scrimmage-best 117 yards.
This catch by @P_fox21 ?? #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/kTKu7GC5iS
— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) April 23, 2022
Afterward, the coaching staff awarded him a scholarship for his outstanding play this spring in a ceremony held in the team locker room which was attended by his parents.
Sophomore wide receiver Kaden Prather also had a pretty 34-yard grab over his back shoulder on a perfectly thrown pass from Greene. Prather ended the day with four catches for 43 yards, while James grabbed five passes for 56 yards.
Prather said he likes the downfield passing philosophy new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell has introduced this spring. There were several shot plays down the field this afternoon.
"I felt like last year we were more conservative," Prather said.
Senior offensive tackle James Gmiter said afterward that there is now a high-degree of confidence in Harrell's play calling after 15 spring practices.
"Those shot plays down the field opens up the field, because it's going to keep the linebackers honest," Gmiter said.
"That's something that we have to improve on," Brown admitted. "We've talked about explosive plays. When we won last year, we had those. When we didn't, against some of the better defenses that we've played, we struggled with that."
Sophomore safety Aubrey Burks came up with the only interception of the scrimmage when he picked off Green's first-quarter pass in the end zone. Burks led the Gold squad with five tackles while Jairo Faverus, Zeiqui Lawton and Jalen Thornton were credited with four stops each for the Blue.
Freshman Jaylen Anderson produced a scrimmage-best 41 yards on seven rushing attempts.
An announced crowd of 12,678 attended today's spring game. A portion of the proceeds from the game will benefit WVU Medicine Children's.
During halftime festivities, Morgantown's Nick Malone was announced as the recipient of this year's Nickolich Award presented to the team's top walk-on player, while Zach Frazier, Jared Bartlett, Doug Nester and Graeson Malashevich were honored by the strength and condition staff as it's Iron Mountaineer Award recipients.
Today's game concluded spring work for the Mountaineers, who will face Pitt on Thursday Sept. 1, at Heinz Field to open the 2022 season.
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