MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One of the traits of a good football team is having some give and take on both sides of the football.
 
West Virginia coach Neal Brown said he saw some of that during this morning's fully padded practice inside Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
The first and second offensive groups were effective moving the football, made some explosive plays once again in the passing game, and emerging sophomore tailback Jahiem White demonstrated this morning why the coaching staff has been so high on him during the offseason.
 
Brown said the defense performed well during this morning's goal-line work.
 
"We did a drive-starter session where I really thought the defense was ready to go; we did six plays, and I think it was like five to one," the coach said afterward. "That's a point of emphasis, defensively, so I was pleased with that.
 
"Then, we played a true first quarter where we tackled the whole quarter and during that, the offense got off to a really good start. Jahiem got going, which we need him to, and defensively, we didn't respond as well," Brown observed. "As we segmented it out, I thought goal-line defense did a better job than the goal-line offense, and coming off, I thought the defense did better."
 
He continued.
 
"We did a blitz pickup, and I thought the offense really improved, so there was some give and take," he said. "I think we've got to do a better job when we get back into the stadium on Saturday of making plays in space and tackling in space. That's the hard part. That's what you don't get when you are thudding (wrapping up ball carriers but not taking them to the ground). You've got to be able to make people miss in space, and you've got to be able to tackle in space."
 
That happened once when Oklahoma State transfer Jaden Bray caught a pass on one side of the field, changed direction and came across to the other side making tacklers miss during a long gainer that was evenutally wiped out by an illegal block down field.
 
Later, White caught a long pass from Greene for a touchdown, demonstrating the duo's explosive, play-making abilities. Overall, it's becoming clear that Brown has more skill options at his disposal than he's had in his prior five years here.
 
"It's about can we be consistent?" he explained. "I think we've recruited well, and we've got good skill. We've got more depth up front, but we've got to get that figured out and that's why going in the stadium on Saturday and next Tuesday and putting them in game-type atmospheres to see who responds (is important)."
 
Brown has talked in length about the importance of improving the passing game, and it appeared strides were made this morning, particularly during the team passing periods.
 
Starter Garrett Greene and backup Nicco Marchiol continue to operate their units confidently and effectively.
 
"We're better," Brown admitted. "You try to create timing in the summer when the guys are by themselves, but it's hard because you don't have a pass rush and things like that. That's always longer developing, and our drop-back game is probably ahead of our play action stuff right now just because we need more live reps on it.
 
"We were better than we were yesterday, and hopefully a week from now, it will be where it needs to be," he said.
 
Conditions inside the stadium on Tuesday morning were warm and muggy, which affected some of the guys.
 
"I think the guys that we have that are mentally tough did a good job. Some of the ones that need to grow up, they didn't handle it as well," Brown pointed out. "All you do is you try and grow them a little bit each time, and I hope it stays hot. That's an evaluation, and we're evaluating every day. Can you be mentally tough? Heat has a lot to do with that."
 
Former Bobby Bowden era players Gary Lombard and Andy Peters were in the stadium watching today's practice, as was former Mountaineer basketball standout Nate Adrian, a former Morgantown High teammate of tight ends coach Blaine Stewart.
 
Veteran play-by-play man Tony Caridi, one of the regular practice observers so far, was here today as well.
 
The team has a light practice scheduled for early Wednesday afternoon that will include an hour window for media to watch. Assistant head coach and offensive line coach Matt Moore and Neal Brown will be made available afterward for interviews.
 
The remainder of the week includes a day off on Thursday and a moderate practice slated for Friday leading into Saturday morning's closed scrimmage inside the stadium.
 
"On Saturday, we're going to line up and play 11-on-11 football and see where we're at," Brown said.
 
Briefly:
 
* There have been a steady stream preseason awards candidates compiled by the Athletics Communications Office recently. Here is the list so far:

* Quarterback Garrett Greene (Walter Camp Player of the Year and Wuerffel Trophy)
* Punter Oliver Straw (Ray Guy Award)
* Wide receiver Preston Fox (Paul Hornung Award)
* Wyatt Milum (Outland Trophy)
* Long snapper Austin Brinkman (Patrick Mannelly Award)
* Running back Jahiem White (Doak Walker Award)
* Running back CJ Donaldson Jr. (Doak Walker Award)
 
* Five of West Virginia's first eight grid opponents are ranked in the preseason coaches' poll, released earlier this week.
 
WVU opens with No. 9 Penn State, and then three weeks later, kicks off Big 12 play on Saturday, Sept. 21 against No. 24 Kansas. Conference games follow against No. 18 Oklahoma State on Oct. 5, against No. 17 Kansas State on Oct. 19 and against No. 21 Arizona on Oct. 26.
 
* Two offensive positions that look dramatically different this year from a physical standpoint are tight end and wide receiver. The tight ends look the part now with senior Kole Taylor standing 6-feet-7 and weighing 255 pounds, junior college transfer Greg Genross standing 6-feet-6 and freshman Jack Sammarco listed at 6-feet-5.
 
Among the receivers, Jaden Bray is up to 205 pounds. Hudson Clement weighs nearly 200 and Mississippi State transfer Justin Robinson offers the biggest catch radius of the group at 6-feet-4 and 220 pounds. And, Robinson has been catching most of the passes coming his way through six practices so far.
 
Overall, there are currently 18 players on this fall's roster standing 6-feet-5 or taller.
 
* Standout two-way lineman Gene "Beef" Lamone, one of only a handful of surviving members from the 1954 Sugar Bowl team, will be in town on Thursday afternoon to tour the football complex. Lamone, a 1995 WVU Sports Hall of Fame inductee, is currently retired and living in Fort Myers, Florida. He is originally from Wellsburg, West Virginia.
 
Wheeling's Bob Dunlevy, who scored the winning touchdown catch to defeat No. 9 Syracuse in 1964, will be taking part in the facility tour as well.
 
* I am told season tickets sales are approaching 28,000, which is nearly 4,000 more than were sold for the entire season last year. This is the most season tickets sold since 2016 and could be the highest since 2015 when all sales are completed.
 
The current mini-season ticket sales total of nearly 8,600 ranks second to last year's record total of 8,911 and is out-pacing mini-sales for the 1998 campaign when WVU opened with No. 1-ranked Ohio State and in 2021 when rival Virginia Tech made its return to Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
Season and mini-season tickets remain on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by calling 1-800-WVU GAME, or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
 
WVU's season opener against Penn State is now just 25 days away.