Personnel Decisions Starting to Come Into Focus This Week for Mountaineers
August 14, 2024 03:58 PM | Football, Blog
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – By the end of this week, following Saturday's scrimmage inside the stadium, West Virginia coaches will review the tape and begin establishing a two-deep roster for the season opener against Penn State.
What would appear to be a process that includes lots of intense meetings, discussions and arguments really isn't always the case.
"A lot of times, those things don't have to happen in meetings because we try to give really clear feedback day to day," he explained earlier this week. "These guys are graded from a percentage-basis and a production-basis every time."
Brown admits college football is becoming more like the NFL in terms of how personnel decisions are being made on deadlines.
"We've adopted that during preseason camp. (Last Saturday's scrimmage) was preseason game No. 1, and we've got preseason game No. 2 coming up this Saturday," Brown said. "Just like the NFL teams are cutting their rosters, we're not cutting anybody, but we're building up to who's going to play.
"There is not a whole lot of gray area in it. 'Here is what your grade was from a percentage-standpoint of your effort, your alignment and your assignment and here is what your production looks like,'" he said. "The production is basically, did you make a play? When (a player) was in position to make a play, did he make a play?"
In a team setting, that's clear for everyone to see. Brown said by the time the team concludes its mock game and the calendar flips to Wednesday, Aug. 21 for the first day of classes for the fall semester, Penn State game planning starts the following day.
By that time, there will not be a whole lot of gray area in the decision-making process.
"Sometimes when you have a quarterback competition, you've got to have a hard conversation, but for the most part it's, 'Hey, this is what it looks like and this is where we're at.' Of the 22 starting positions, you may have three or four that are tough conversations, but for the most part, it's pretty clear who's playing and the way the game is played now, very few positions you play every snap, so there is a ton of rotation."
He continued.
"We are going to be more personnel-based defensively, so we are going to play more sub-packages than we have in the past, so more people are going to play on that side of the ball," he said.
"For example, who is going to be our third running back? We know who the first two are so who is going to be the third? Who is going to be the third tight end? Then you make a decision about who is playing. The tougher deal is when you have to make a travel roster, so for Oklahoma State when we have to have a legitimate travel roster, those are some hard conversations about who's not going because we have to get down to 70," he said.
Brown cautions that coaches cannot be influenced too heavily by experience, even though there is some comfort in knowing what you've got in a player.
"As a coach, your crutch is experience and hungry talent can overcome experience," he explained. "That's kind of the inner battle because from experience you kind of know what you've got, but maybe you've got a younger player that's more talented and you are a little unsure, especially when you are coming out of preseason, you've got to be ready to go.
"We are not easing into it, but regardless of who you are playing, you've really got to say, 'Hey, even though a guy has got some experience, let's not forget that hungry talent can overcome that.' It may be a little later, but it is eventually going to overcome it. Those are things you fight with as a coach," Brown admitted.
Instincts also play a role in the evaluation process, according to the coach.
"You've got to trust your gut a little bit, and you've got to do a good job of creating pressure situations within practice. Part of the high school or transfer evaluation process is how did they handle pressure situations?
"(Wide receiver) Brandon Rehmann has a really good chance to play as a freshman. He's played in three state championship games. He's had to go out there and play when it really, really matters," he said. (Former Troy defensive lineman) TJ Jackson is a transfer, but he's logged a ton of snaps, and he played in two conference championship games, both 12 o'clock ESPN kicks. That's how you kind of weigh it. Rodney (Gallagher) had to step up and hit some free throws in Pitt's arena to win the WPIAL and all eyes were on him, so you know he is going to handle this alright."
Brown wants to put his players in challenging situations as much as possible, whether it's calling on someone to answer a question during a team meeting or telling the kickers or punters before practice that they must place the ball in a specific area during the challenge portion of practice, and if they miss their spot the entire team is going to run.
For years, the late Bobby Bowden used to have mat drills at Florida State to see who his toughest players were, and he was also willing to let fights go on during practice for a little bit before blowing the whistle to break them up, just to see who was willing to stand up for themselves and who wasn't.
That can be valuable information in a tight football game in the fourth quarter.
"Anything that gets them out of their comfort zone helps, and it tells a little bit about, 'Are they going to be ready? Is this too big for them?'" Brown said, adding, "if there are some guys who fail, then you better tee them up next time and make sure it works because you want them to be ready and confidence is a big piece of it."
West Virginia's practice this afternoon on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field included an hour window for media to observe.
The schedule for the remainder of the week includes no on-field activities on Thursday, and then a moderate practice on Friday leading into Saturday's closed scrimmage inside the stadium.
Earlier today, the Mountaineer Ticket Office announced that Gold and Blue mini-season tickets sales are now sold out. The only tickets available for West Virginia's FOX Big Noon season-opening game against eighth-ranked Penn State on Saturday, Aug. 31, is by purchasing a season ticket, and according to the announcement, less than 200 season tickets are still available for the Mountaineers' seven-game home schedule.
To view availability and to purchase season tickets, log on to WVUGAME.com.
Briefly:
* West Virginia had practice No. 12 up on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field with media members permitted to watch a half-four window.
Later in practice during red zone work, wide receiver Jaden Bray made three Kevin White, Chris Henry type catches in heavy traffic, drawing oohs and aahs from everyone watching. Tight end Kole Taylor also made an athletic catch and on the other side, safety Aubrey Burks came up with a pair of interceptions.
"A lot of times in those situations, it's just making a play, and we made some on defense, too," coach Neal Brown said afterward.
There were enough quality plays on both sides of the ball today to make Brown much happier than he was following yesterday's practice.
"Today was really our first time working some fourth-and-goal situations down in the score zone and then some end-of-game situations," Brown said. "Those are trial-and-error, and you've got to figure out what your quarterback feels comfortable with and from a coaching standpoint and a play caller standpoint, you are doing it to learn. We did some really good things today and we made some mistakes today, both from the quarterbacks and myself, that we have got to correct." Charles Wesley Godwin took a break from his summer tour to take in some Mountaineer football practice Wednesday (Submitted photo).
* Emerging country music star Charles Wesley Godwin, a big West Virginia University football fan, was in town between breaks on his tour to take in today's practice. Godwin said he wraps up his summer tour with stops this weekend in Kansas City, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Tupelo, Mississippi.
"First of all, I've really enjoyed getting to know Charles on a personal level," Brown said. "I'm just fired up about the success he's had, and it's so well-deserved. He's got a unique story. He's extremely humble and just think about the summer he's had being on the Late Show, SportsCenter and he's played on the Luke Combs Tour in front of 80,000-plus and still managed to come home and make time to see us.
"He's right up there, now, as one of Mountaineer football's most famous fans," Brown added.
* Brown indicated following today's practice that his plan on Saturday is to go a little longer than usual to finish up some of the work they didn't get completed on Tuesday.
"It goes back to that NFL mindset of having preseason game No. 1 with our guys playing 40-to-50 snaps (in last Saturday's scrimmage). Just like NFL teams do amping it up as you go, we're going to try to get our main guys 50-to-55 plays on Saturday in preseason game No. 2," Brown said.
