Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Friday Morning Practice Recap
August 02, 2024 02:29 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Day three of fall training camp up on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field this morning consisted of lots of team and individual work.
It was the Mountaineers' first practice in shells and at times it showed, according to coach Neal Brown.
"Some of it is to be expected because we practice football with the offseason OTAs and some of that, but we haven't put pads on since the spring game," he said afterward.
"From a coaching perspective, you don't expect it to be super clean," he explained. "The difference is we spend a lot of time planning how we are going to build up to this, and we use a lot of technology, but it's still each individual's responsibility to take care of their bodies.
"You've got to hydrate, and you've got to eat right and when you are competing at this level against elite athletes … if you're off – if you don't sleep, if you don't hydrate and you are not eating the right things – then your body can't go through what we're asking them to go through, and we just had some guys today that weren't physically prepared," he said.
Brown spent some extra time talking to his players about some of these things once practice concluded around noon today.
"This was the first day we were trying to be physical in practice, and you're competing offense versus defense, or giving looks verses a special teams unit, but you are competing with and trying to get the person across from you better," he said. "We were just sloppy with some of our practice habits today, and for an older team, we should be better."
As was the case with both practices earlier this week, there were some noteworthy individual efforts, however.
The first defensive group performed solidly during the inside run period, and there were some nice individual plays made during the team pass period by safeties Ayden Garnes and Israel Boyce breaking up passes.
Later in the practice, linebacker Caden Biser and safety Avery Wilcox turned in interceptions during the team passing period.
On the other side of the ball, receiver Preston Fox came up with another acrobatic, sliding catch over his inside shoulder during one-on-one drills – something he seemingly does each practice now. And BYU transfer Ryder Burton connected on a long touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Brandon Rehmann late in the team period.
Today's session concluded with some two-point-conversion work.
"We have a light practice tomorrow, non-practice day on Sunday and then, Monday and Tuesday will be physical days," Brown said. "We will be in shells on Monday and full pads in the stadium on Tuesday, so we've just got to get better. We know where we're at after today. It wasn't good enough, and we've got to be better on Monday and considerably better on Tuesday."
Saturday's practice will follow Fan Day activities taking place up on the stadium concourse and beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Brown views Saturday morning as an opportunity for the fans to meet the players and for the players to connect with the fans.
"I always think about it through the eyes of my nine-year-old son (Dax)," he said. "It's an opportunity to come out and meet the guys they are going to watch on TV on Saturdays. There is no charge. It's a chance to get autographs, and I think it's a great opportunity for our players to connect with the fans.
"We spend a lot of time talking to (the players) about what it means to be a Mountaineer and how you represent the state of West Virginia, and this is an opportunity for them to see that," he said.
Brown believes they have found a sweet spot on the calendar with Fan Day becoming an annual event on the first Saturday of fall training camp.
"We try and be pretty consistent with it. The first Saturday in August is always going to be our Fan Day," he explained. "It's a light practice, but fans are going to see some of our new players and the transfers run around for the first time. Our guys like practicing in front of people so they look forward to practicing in front of people as well."
After hitting the pause button on Sunday, heavy work begins on Monday and Tuesday. Brown has indicated that he plans on having more physical practices this fall to get his team prepared for what it's going to face during the early portion of the schedule with lots of run-oriented teams, starting with Penn State.
Last year, the Nittany Lions had a run rate of close to 55%, and with Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki now overseeing Penn State's attack, not to mention the Lions boasting two terrific returning running backs in Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, stopping the run must be a priority.
All three non-conference opponents leading into the Big 12 opener against Kansas on Sept. 21 ran the ball at either a 50% or better clip last season. Kansas, with quarterback Jalon Daniels and running back Devin Neal returning, ran the ball 60% of the time last season, including 70% of the time on first down.
"Our out of conference games, we are facing a team that finished in the top 10 in the country, we are facing an Albany team on the FCS level that played in the semifinals a year ago and then we're playing a Pitt team that two years ago won an ACC championship," Brown noted.
Coordinators Jordan Lesley and Chad Scott will be made available to the media following Saturday's practice.
It was the Mountaineers' first practice in shells and at times it showed, according to coach Neal Brown.
"Some of it is to be expected because we practice football with the offseason OTAs and some of that, but we haven't put pads on since the spring game," he said afterward.
"From a coaching perspective, you don't expect it to be super clean," he explained. "The difference is we spend a lot of time planning how we are going to build up to this, and we use a lot of technology, but it's still each individual's responsibility to take care of their bodies.
"You've got to hydrate, and you've got to eat right and when you are competing at this level against elite athletes … if you're off – if you don't sleep, if you don't hydrate and you are not eating the right things – then your body can't go through what we're asking them to go through, and we just had some guys today that weren't physically prepared," he said.
Brown spent some extra time talking to his players about some of these things once practice concluded around noon today.
"This was the first day we were trying to be physical in practice, and you're competing offense versus defense, or giving looks verses a special teams unit, but you are competing with and trying to get the person across from you better," he said. "We were just sloppy with some of our practice habits today, and for an older team, we should be better."
As was the case with both practices earlier this week, there were some noteworthy individual efforts, however.
The first defensive group performed solidly during the inside run period, and there were some nice individual plays made during the team pass period by safeties Ayden Garnes and Israel Boyce breaking up passes.
Later in the practice, linebacker Caden Biser and safety Avery Wilcox turned in interceptions during the team passing period.
On the other side of the ball, receiver Preston Fox came up with another acrobatic, sliding catch over his inside shoulder during one-on-one drills – something he seemingly does each practice now. And BYU transfer Ryder Burton connected on a long touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Brandon Rehmann late in the team period.
Today's session concluded with some two-point-conversion work.
"We have a light practice tomorrow, non-practice day on Sunday and then, Monday and Tuesday will be physical days," Brown said. "We will be in shells on Monday and full pads in the stadium on Tuesday, so we've just got to get better. We know where we're at after today. It wasn't good enough, and we've got to be better on Monday and considerably better on Tuesday."
Saturday's practice will follow Fan Day activities taking place up on the stadium concourse and beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Brown views Saturday morning as an opportunity for the fans to meet the players and for the players to connect with the fans.
"I always think about it through the eyes of my nine-year-old son (Dax)," he said. "It's an opportunity to come out and meet the guys they are going to watch on TV on Saturdays. There is no charge. It's a chance to get autographs, and I think it's a great opportunity for our players to connect with the fans.
"We spend a lot of time talking to (the players) about what it means to be a Mountaineer and how you represent the state of West Virginia, and this is an opportunity for them to see that," he said.
Brown believes they have found a sweet spot on the calendar with Fan Day becoming an annual event on the first Saturday of fall training camp.
"We try and be pretty consistent with it. The first Saturday in August is always going to be our Fan Day," he explained. "It's a light practice, but fans are going to see some of our new players and the transfers run around for the first time. Our guys like practicing in front of people so they look forward to practicing in front of people as well."
After hitting the pause button on Sunday, heavy work begins on Monday and Tuesday. Brown has indicated that he plans on having more physical practices this fall to get his team prepared for what it's going to face during the early portion of the schedule with lots of run-oriented teams, starting with Penn State.
Last year, the Nittany Lions had a run rate of close to 55%, and with Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki now overseeing Penn State's attack, not to mention the Lions boasting two terrific returning running backs in Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, stopping the run must be a priority.
All three non-conference opponents leading into the Big 12 opener against Kansas on Sept. 21 ran the ball at either a 50% or better clip last season. Kansas, with quarterback Jalon Daniels and running back Devin Neal returning, ran the ball 60% of the time last season, including 70% of the time on first down.
"Our out of conference games, we are facing a team that finished in the top 10 in the country, we are facing an Albany team on the FCS level that played in the semifinals a year ago and then we're playing a Pitt team that two years ago won an ACC championship," Brown noted.
Coordinators Jordan Lesley and Chad Scott will be made available to the media following Saturday's practice.
Players Mentioned
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S
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