West Virginia football opened their football spring practice schedule on Tuesday. The Mountaineers participated in day one of practice. West Virginia offensive coordinator Chad Scott defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley then spoke about day one of practice.
Chad Scott
Scott is obviously new to the offensive coordinator position and he will have a quarterback battle on his hands. While the decision will be made most likely during fall camp, it is important to keep an eye on what he and other coaches say about Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol.
Scott referenced multiple times him having to begin to view the offense as a whole and not just focus on the running backs. His first challenge will be to figure out his play-calling duties. Past coordinators such as Graham Harrell last season, was up in the box calling plays. Scott said he prefers the emotional connection with his players on the sideline and is still figuring out where he is going to be and how he will manage that.
“I’ve always had the ability to be able to connect with all the guys, every position, since I’ve been here,” Scott said. “If you ask me right now, I don’t want to go up.”
As for the quarterback battle, Scott is happy about how both guys looked on day one. Scott said there is a huge advantage having two guys who have similar skills. Both being mobile quarterbacks, added another element to Scott he has not seen in past years.
“I think the biggest difference you guys will see is the fact we have two mobile quarterbacks,” Scott said. “We can do some different things in the run game with the zone reads, taking advantage of their mobility.”
Scott said WVU is strongest on offense right now on their offensive line unit and their running back room. He said he will look to value those guys and use them to West Virginia’s advantage.
“We got to play to our strength. Our strength right now is our guys up front and our guys behind them,” Scott said. “Overall, you got to play towards your strength.”
Jordan Lesley
For West Virginia’s defense, they want to get back to the basics.
“Number one thing is fundamentals,” Lesley said. “That’s the number one thing is getting back to basic, fundamentally sound football.”
The Mountaineers had a lot of youth on that side of the ball. Lesley hopes to use that experience — although it didn’t go over too well — to his advantage. Lesley said even though there were multiple guys who played in the secondary and struggled last season, that experience will only help them in 2023 and beyond.
“Whether it’s injury or youth, you start trying to plug holes,” Lesley said of the 2022 season. “The intent is always good. A lot of times you create issues when you do that.”
“Experience is the best teacher,” Lesley added. “Those reps last year where they didn’t look like anybody wanted them to look, they’re still valuable.”
Lesley also said his defensive line will look different. Dante Stills ran out of eligibility, Taijh Alston and Jordan Jefferson hit the transfer portal, leaving West Virginia with a unit who is searching for guys to step up. Lesley will turn to Sean Martin to be the backbone of that group, but is excited to see a new type of look from his defensive front.
“We’ve got a group that I’m really excited about, they’re just different than what we have been,” Lesley said of the defensive line. “So we’ll have to use them different.”
What’s Next?
West Virginia is off tomorrow on Wednesday and will have their second practice on Thursday.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
