Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Short Practice Follows Fan Day Activities in the Stadium Today
August 05, 2023 03:27 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – An estimated 1,800 were in attendance for today's Mountaineer football Fan Day on the concourse level of Milan Puskar Stadium.
West Virginia players and coaches spent about an hour and a half visiting with fans and signing autographs prior to this afternoon's brief, hour practice inside the stadium.
Fans, media and about a half-dozen NFL scouts were invited to watch.
"I appreciate everyone coming out," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "It's a good event. Our people do a really good job of hosting it and there were a lot of young people here, which is why we have it for the interaction with our players and the young people.
"If you look at the game of football, our numbers are in decline across the country, so we've got to continue to do things to keep this game alive. It's the great team sport in the country, in my humble opinion. I love all sports, but I think this game teaches more than any other game," Brown said.
Today's practice consisted mostly of fundamental and special teams work with some team work sprinkled in toward the end.
There was also a team competition prior to practice with select offensive and defensive linemen required to catch punts. The offensive linemen won the challenge, meaning the defensive players had to do up-downs.
"It was a recovery-day practice for us, so it was really light," Brown explained. "We stressed them yesterday, so today's was really short and tomorrow is a non-practice day. For all intents and purposes, camp really starts on Monday."
West Virginia director of athletics Wren Baker was among those watching today's practice, as were his deputy directors Steve Uryasz and Ben Murray, who is back running the Mountaineer Athletic Club again after spending the last two years at Nebraska.
The team is scheduled to have Sunday off and will begin heavy work in shells on Monday morning up on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field, with Tuesday's practice being the first in full pads.
"We'll start doing some tackling and that's when it will kind of separate people out," Brown said.
Briefly:
* Earlier today, former Mountaineer gridder Chuck Howley was officially inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, becoming only the third player in school history to be recognized. The others are Joe Stydahar and Sam Huff.
"It's gold jacket day today so I wanted to make sure to recognize Chuck Howley, who was one of the best linebackers to ever play in the NFL," Brown said before beginning today's press conference remarks. "What a tremendous honor."
* Brown said personnel decisions for starting positions still up for grabs will be made following the second weekend scrimmage in the stadium a couple of weeks from today.
"We try to give everybody two scrimmages, now it will thin out a little bit before then," he explained. "Two live opportunities in the stadium is kind of what it's been. Now, our starting left tackle is Wyatt Milum, and our starting center is Zach Frazier. But there are several jobs that are open. There are a lot of backup jobs, special teams jobs and travel roster spots that are open.
"Most of those decisions will be made on Sunday-Monday following the second scrimmage, but some of them will go longer," he said. "The other thing, too, is you've got to keep hope alive. There are certain guys that we know who are probably not going to help us this year, but they're key to down the road. That's why you saw some of the two-spot stuff we did today is to get those guys reps."
* The coach indicated the right guard job is still open with juniors Ja'Quay Hubbard and Brandon Yates still battling it out.
* Brown singled out Marshall transfer E.J. Horton's performance today among the wide receivers, calling it "his best day" since camp began. He said Cortez Braham is back practicing the last two days after missing the first two practices.
* As for highly touted freshman wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III, Brown said he's had two good days in a row.
"Rodney has put on about 12 or 14 pounds since he's been here, which is giving him an opportunity to compete. He's blocked a lot better than I probably anticipated because he's never had to," he said. "He's made a couple of really contested catches over the middle, so I've been pleased with those two aspects."
Jahiem White, another touted freshman from the Keystone State, really came on the last two weeks of spring ball and has continued his development so far in preseason camp.
"He plays at a different gear than our other running backs," Brown explained. "I don't mean he's superior to them, he's just quicker and his running style is much different than the other guys we have. He's versatile. He catches the ball and he's really sudden. I felt coming out of the spring that he would play, and he hasn't done anything but help himself over the summer and through our first four practices."
* Brown indicated this year's camp is going to be more physical than last year's.
"We're going to err on the side of being more physical. We didn't do that a year ago and I think it hurt us early in the year," he said. "We didn't tackle very well against Pitt and our tackling against Kansas was atrocious. We didn't have a really deep team last year and weren't as physical in camp and it showed in our play."
* Brown was asked about the additions of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Big 12, joining Colorado to give the conference 16 members beginning in 2024.
"I've been really impressed with commissioner (Brett) Yormark since he took over. I think he's been aggressive," he said. "I don't think enough credit goes to commissioner (Bob) Bowlsby, too. The conference, under his leadership, reacted really quickly and we added four really good football programs to the Big 12 when Texas and Oklahoma initially left.
"And then commissioner Yormark has had a plan from the beginning and now were sitting with 16 teams and I think for the last several months we've been in a position of power, which has not always been the case, so a lot of credit goes to his leadership," Brown added.
West Virginia players and coaches spent about an hour and a half visiting with fans and signing autographs prior to this afternoon's brief, hour practice inside the stadium.
Fans, media and about a half-dozen NFL scouts were invited to watch.
"I appreciate everyone coming out," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "It's a good event. Our people do a really good job of hosting it and there were a lot of young people here, which is why we have it for the interaction with our players and the young people.
"If you look at the game of football, our numbers are in decline across the country, so we've got to continue to do things to keep this game alive. It's the great team sport in the country, in my humble opinion. I love all sports, but I think this game teaches more than any other game," Brown said.
Today's practice consisted mostly of fundamental and special teams work with some team work sprinkled in toward the end.
There was also a team competition prior to practice with select offensive and defensive linemen required to catch punts. The offensive linemen won the challenge, meaning the defensive players had to do up-downs.
"It was a recovery-day practice for us, so it was really light," Brown explained. "We stressed them yesterday, so today's was really short and tomorrow is a non-practice day. For all intents and purposes, camp really starts on Monday."
West Virginia director of athletics Wren Baker was among those watching today's practice, as were his deputy directors Steve Uryasz and Ben Murray, who is back running the Mountaineer Athletic Club again after spending the last two years at Nebraska.
The team is scheduled to have Sunday off and will begin heavy work in shells on Monday morning up on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field, with Tuesday's practice being the first in full pads.
"We'll start doing some tackling and that's when it will kind of separate people out," Brown said.
Briefly:
* Earlier today, former Mountaineer gridder Chuck Howley was officially inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, becoming only the third player in school history to be recognized. The others are Joe Stydahar and Sam Huff."It's gold jacket day today so I wanted to make sure to recognize Chuck Howley, who was one of the best linebackers to ever play in the NFL," Brown said before beginning today's press conference remarks. "What a tremendous honor."
* Brown said personnel decisions for starting positions still up for grabs will be made following the second weekend scrimmage in the stadium a couple of weeks from today.
"We try to give everybody two scrimmages, now it will thin out a little bit before then," he explained. "Two live opportunities in the stadium is kind of what it's been. Now, our starting left tackle is Wyatt Milum, and our starting center is Zach Frazier. But there are several jobs that are open. There are a lot of backup jobs, special teams jobs and travel roster spots that are open.
"Most of those decisions will be made on Sunday-Monday following the second scrimmage, but some of them will go longer," he said. "The other thing, too, is you've got to keep hope alive. There are certain guys that we know who are probably not going to help us this year, but they're key to down the road. That's why you saw some of the two-spot stuff we did today is to get those guys reps."
* The coach indicated the right guard job is still open with juniors Ja'Quay Hubbard and Brandon Yates still battling it out.
* Brown singled out Marshall transfer E.J. Horton's performance today among the wide receivers, calling it "his best day" since camp began. He said Cortez Braham is back practicing the last two days after missing the first two practices.
* As for highly touted freshman wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III, Brown said he's had two good days in a row.
"Rodney has put on about 12 or 14 pounds since he's been here, which is giving him an opportunity to compete. He's blocked a lot better than I probably anticipated because he's never had to," he said. "He's made a couple of really contested catches over the middle, so I've been pleased with those two aspects."
Jahiem White, another touted freshman from the Keystone State, really came on the last two weeks of spring ball and has continued his development so far in preseason camp.
"He plays at a different gear than our other running backs," Brown explained. "I don't mean he's superior to them, he's just quicker and his running style is much different than the other guys we have. He's versatile. He catches the ball and he's really sudden. I felt coming out of the spring that he would play, and he hasn't done anything but help himself over the summer and through our first four practices."
* Brown indicated this year's camp is going to be more physical than last year's.
"We're going to err on the side of being more physical. We didn't do that a year ago and I think it hurt us early in the year," he said. "We didn't tackle very well against Pitt and our tackling against Kansas was atrocious. We didn't have a really deep team last year and weren't as physical in camp and it showed in our play."
* Brown was asked about the additions of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Big 12, joining Colorado to give the conference 16 members beginning in 2024.
"I've been really impressed with commissioner (Brett) Yormark since he took over. I think he's been aggressive," he said. "I don't think enough credit goes to commissioner (Bob) Bowlsby, too. The conference, under his leadership, reacted really quickly and we added four really good football programs to the Big 12 when Texas and Oklahoma initially left.
"And then commissioner Yormark has had a plan from the beginning and now were sitting with 16 teams and I think for the last several months we've been in a position of power, which has not always been the case, so a lot of credit goes to his leadership," Brown added.
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