Neal Brown is set to take his football team up to Pittsburgh in exactly 50 days. After an offseason which included adding a new offensive coordinator, a new five-star quarterback transfer, and a complete roster makeover, Brown spoke publicly for the first time since spring football on Wednesday at the 2022 Big 12 Media Days.
“We’re 50 days away from the return of the Backyard Brawl, 19 days until we have our first practice,” Brown said.
Roster Makeup
West Virginia has used the transfer portal and the addition of many junior college players to their advantage Brown said. After failing to compete near the top of the Big 12 in the first three years of his tenure, Brown spoke about how his team is coming together.
“We remade our roster to mirror the type of football we want to be and that gives us the best opportunity to win in this league. We’ve had 33 additions to our roster since January. Our work ethic, our leadership, and our team chemistry are much improved,” Brown said.
Brown then spoke about the returners on his roster, highlighting the experience he has on the offensive side of the ball.
“Offensively, we return our top seven offensive lineman, two of our top receiver in Sam James and Bryce Ford-Wheaton, two experienced tight ends, and then we have a competition at the quarterback position,” Brown said.
That quarterback battle is more likely just smoke thrown in the air. The Mountaineers welcomed former five-star recruit JT Daniels to the quarterback room this spring, and have freshman Nicco Marchiol to go along with returners Garrett Greene and Will Crowder.
On the defensive side of the ball, Brown said he recognizes his group is young, but is excited about the guys who are returning and who are coming in through the transfer portal.
“I like our group,” Brown said of his defense. “It’s a group that has had unique paths. If you look at a guy like Lee Kpogba who came in during spring ball, who will be our starting mike-linebacker. Not a traditional path, but here he is, and we think he’s got a chance to be one of the better linebackers in our league.”
New Offense?
This season, West Virginia will have a new offensive coordinator calling the plays. Graham Harrell who comes from USC will bring a new type of offense to WVU that has not been seen since Brown got to WVU.
“He’s brought a different energy about him. He’s confident without being arrogant. He’s extremely humble,” Brown said of Harrell. “I think we’re going to see the benefits and the biggest for me is he has a great feel on game day and that’s something that I think’s going to be a huge positive not only for our players but for me.”
As for the installation of Harrell’s offense, Brown said they implemented most of it during the spring.
“We basically put everything we have in the spring,” Brown said. “Where we’re going to be different is our preparation and our practice habits and in our ability to probably be more prepared going into each and every game. But from a schematic standpoint, everything we’re going to do we installed in spring ball,” Brown said.
NIL
Name image and likeness has been around for over a year now, and Brown has voiced his support for it. Brown thinks it is good for student-athletes, but believes there needs to be better standards for it.
I think we live in an era now that there’s a lot of pulls on our players’ times. The ability to manage time not only for the student-athlete, but for staff and myself gets harder and harder. I’m for name image and likeness.,” Brown said. “We’ve got to figure out some guardrails on it, where we can still help student athletes, but it’s not necessarily used as an inducement.”
Return of the Backyard Brawl
For the first time since 2011, West Virginia will be playing their biggest rival — Pitt. The Mountaineers and the Panthers are set to partake in the Backyard Brawl on Sept. 1, and Brown said he thinks it is super important to keep this rivalry alive.
“Well, it’s an important rivalry,” Brown said. “It’s really important to us to play regional rivalries. The Backyard Brawl, will be my first opportunity to be a part of it. Our fan base is extremely passionate about that game and so it’s a game that I would be in favor of playing each year.”
Conference Realignment
With the move made by USC and UCLA to depart for the Big Ten earlier this month, talks of super-conferences being formed are higher than ever. Brown said he is not worried about the current state of the conference and trusts new conference commissioner Brett Yormark.
“The good thing about it is I’ve got a lot of worries and a lot of concerns, but conference realignment is way down on the list for me,” Brown said. “Those decisions are not getting made by football coaches, those decisions are getting made at a much higher level. I’m really excited about the direction of the Big 12 Conference. I think some things over the last few weeks have created a great opportunity for our league.”
Brown and the Mountaineers will begin prep for the 2022 season in less than three weeks, with their season beginning on Sept. 1.
