MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The good news for this year's West Virginia University football team is that this is probably the best roster of players, top to bottom, that Neal Brown will be fielding since he came here from Troy in 2019.
 
The bad news is those players could be facing the most difficult schedule during Brown's WVU tenure, based on some of the things you read. 
 
Phil Steele rates this year's West Virginia schedule as the seventh-most difficult in the country with 11 power conference opponents. WVU is the only team in the country to open its season with a power conference opponent four straight years, including this year's opener against Penn State.
 
Brown said after today's opening practice of fall camp that he's taking a wait-and-see approach to both, starting with a schedule that includes the opener against Penn State and then a brutal stretch of physical games from Sept. 14 to Oct. 26 featuring Pitt, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Kansas State and Arizona.
 
Fortunately, there is a break in there between the Kansas and Oklahoma State contests.
 
"The schedule is to be determined," Brown admitted. "Everybody was whining about last year's schedule, and in hindsight, if you remember we opened up with Penn State, a top-10 team, and we played Pitt who was on a lot of people's top-25 lists and then Texas Tech came here, and they were preseason top 25.
 
"On paper, it looks really hard, and our league is extremely deep," Brown added. "I will say this about our schedule: I like where our bye weeks are. We've got two long trips to Lubbock and to Tucson, but the Lubbock trip is at the end of the year and the Tucson trip will have a bye week post, so we are protected a little bit on that, so that helps. It's to be determined, but there are some really good teams on there."
 
As for his overall roster, Brown is once again taking a wait-and-see attitude.
 
"Talk to me after our second scrimmage, and I can probably give you a fair answer, but on paper it is," he explained. "Defensively, we have more depth than we've ever had and offensively, we've got a good mix of playmakers, probably the most diverse group we've had.
 
"I think Garrett (Greene) has a chance to be elite. He's a difference maker, and he had a really good opening day of practice. I think Nicco (Marchiol) is going to open some eyes as well."
 
What Brown is most encouraged about are the body types he now has on both lines of scrimmage. The body fat percentages taken of the players in those two areas are considerably better than they have ever been since his arrival.
 
So, at the very least, they look the part.
 
"We look like a contending power four football team (physically)," he said.
"Our line of scrimmage looks significantly different than our first two or three years here. That's not a knock on anybody who was here, but we just didn't have the depth, and we were having to play young players before they had really developed from a strength standpoint and a weight standpoint," he said.
 
The coach continued by mentioning his the tight ends and wide receivers.
 
"Look at our tight end room. Kole Taylor sticks out. (Freshman) Jack Sammarco sticks out from just a size standpoint," he pointed out. "Look at our receivers room with (Mississippi State transfer) Justin Robinson, (Oklahoma State transfer) Jaden Bray and Traylon Ray, or even Hudson (Clement), those guys with size and length. We've had one when Bryce (Ford-Wheaton) was here and Sean Ryan had that, but we haven't had a lot of size and length in that room."
 
On the other side of the ball, Brown noted the improved size at corner, safety and linebacker.
 
"We are bigger at corner than we've been. Our body style at linebacker has changed because we've gone bigger. We go about five deep there now with some bigger linebackers who can also run," he said.
 
He's also excited about the explosive, playmaking ability of sophomore Jahiem White, who averaged 8.9 yards every time he touched the football last year as a freshman.
 
"I think (Jahiem White) is special. I think he can do a lot," Brown said. "Now he's still maturing as a player, so there is still a lot of room for improvement, but he can do a lot of things and there are not a whole lot of people talking about him. 
 
"I didn't get one question about him at media day, not one person asked me about him," Brown continued. "I haven't done an interview (with a national media member) where somebody has asked me about him, so he's flying under the radar. And we've mentioned those things to him."
 
Offensively, Brown believes his team has the ability to move the football effectively on any defense in America if they can improve their passing efficiency.
 
"Receivers-wise, we did some good things last year and made some explosive plays, but if you look at opponents' scouting reports on us last year, it would be 'make them throw it and play the receivers singled up,'" Brown said. "So that's a challenge for those guys because if we can progress efficiency wise throwing it, and our receivers can win one on ones, we're going to be really tough to defend. If you've got to defend us horizontally and vertically, that's going to be a challenge for people."
 
Overall, Brown said he's as excited about this group of football players as any he's coached in his 22 total years in the profession.
 
"I'm really fired up about this group," he concluded.
 
Briefly:

* Brown said he plans on having lots of physical practices during camp leading up to the Penn State game to get his defense prepared for the Nittany Lions' outstanding running back duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
 
"We're going to make it more game-like four or five times before we suit it against Penn State," Brown noted.
 
He said the team will prepare for the entire season until Aug. 21, and then will spend the remaining time focusing on the season opener.
 
* Brown began today's remarks by going over those available and unavailable for practice. The list of available and practicing players include running CJ Donaldson Jr. (full), defensive back Jaheem Joseph (full), tight end Kole Taylor (full), wide receiver Dom Collins (limited), cornerback Jacolby Spells (limited), defensive lineman Asani Redwood (limited) and defensive lineman Oryend Fisher (limited).
 
He indicated promising freshman offensive lineman Kyle Altuner will miss a significant amount of time with a lower body injury, but he expects him to return sometime this year, possibly by midseason if his recovery goes well.
 
Promising redshirt freshman defensive lineman Corey McIntyre remains out after suffering a lower body injury last spring, but Brown is hopeful he can return sometime this year.
 
Two players, Jairo Faverus and Maurice Hamilton, have been medically disqualified from participation in college athletics due to injuries.
 
* The team resumes practice Thursday morning and will continue work through the weekend in advance of Saturday's Fan Day activities, which begin at 9:30 a.m. on the Milan Puskar Stadium concourse.
 
Season tickets and mini packages are still available for thew 2024 season and can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
 
A tweet sent out by Mountaineer football's official account yesterday indicated less than 500 total Gold and Blue mini packages remain for the season.