West Virginia began fall camp on Wednesday, just one month ahead of their week one matchup against Penn State.
Head coach Neal Brown talked after the opening practice on topics ranging from injuries, to filling roles, and about where his team is at after practice number one.
Day One
Brown said the first two practices are meant to solidify the basics. Brown said they had organized team activity which help do this, but while they are just in helmets, they focus on the small things.
“Making sure we know our signals, our alignments, our assignments,” Brown said. “More mental days than anything. It’s hard to really evaluate guys when we’re just in helmets.
Injuries
There are no real surprises or changes from the spring injury report to the fall injury report. The biggest news is probably Zach Frazier is fully back after he was limited during spring practice.
Brayden Dudley – Limited
Josiah Trotter – In Rehab
Asian Redwood – Brown: “Ahead of schedule. pleased where he’s at. He’s doing some non-contact stuff.”
Cortez Braham – Sick
Davis Mallinger – Limited, Brown: “Not full go yet”
Zach Frazier – Full participant
New Year, New Energy
Brown liked how his team approached the first day of camp. While it is to be expected that this younger group will have fresh legs and be excited, Brown says he is picking up on the energy in practice.
“This teams kind of got a youthful energy about it. They’re excited, they’re a confident group. They’re a group that’s really hungry right now, they’ve got a chip on their shoulder, they’re fun to coach,” Brown said.
Brown did caution this going forward saying, “we’ll see how it goes once it gets a little warmer and there’s some contact.”
Taking the next step
“What I’m really wanting to see is the guys that played for us last year, but were maybe in lesser roles or maybe they were really young. I want to see how big a jump those guys are going to make,” Brown said.
“I want to see those guys and the jump they make from playing kind of minor roles or lesser roles last year to now being pressed into duty. Because that’s what’s going to make our football team.”
Chip on the shoulder
West Virginia was picked to finish last in the Big 12 Preseason Poll. Brown expressed his frustration with that at media days. That along with how last year ended with the Mountaineers going 5-7 and having chances to win multiple games, makes this group one ready to prove people wrong, according to Brown.
“I think the fact that sour taste really in the whole program from a year ago,” Brown said. “We underachieved, we had some opportunities to get bowl eligible and we didn’t do that. I think that burn and maybe the lack of respect we’re getting in the preseason, that contributes to it. But I think the biggest piece of that is last year.”
