Neal Brown and West Virginia are through their second and final scrimmage of fall camp and are less than two weeks away from their week one opener.
Brown spoke on Monday about the scrimmage and what he expects over the final two weeks of camp.
“We worked every special teams phase, we went live on special teams,” Brown said. “We went approximately around 46 snaps with the one’s and just a few under that with the two’s and then our three’s got 20 snaps. Everybody that’s on the roster played on Saturday night.”
Special Teams
“Special teams, I thought our specialists had a really good day. Pleased with where they are at,” Brown said.
As for the kicking battle, Brown said both Michael Hayes and Danny King continue to vie for the kickoff role.
“Danny King and Michael Hayes both were really good. Got a real battle there for our kickoff job and both are more than capable of field goals too,” Brown said.
Despite the punting position being held down by Oliver Straw, Brown has been
“We punted the ball well,” Brown said. “Leighton Bechdel has probably had as good of a camp as any of those specialists. He’s really came on and so happy to see that. We continue this week special teams wise, we’ll continue to work some stuff.”
Defense
Brown said that the defense started slow, but they began to figure things out as the scrimmage progressed.
“Defensively we started slow, not pleased about that. But I thought we picked it up,” Brown said.
“Had success in our two-minute situational work that we did defensively. We created three takeaways which is something that’s been a real emphasis for us.”
Brown mentioned the following players as guys who played well during the scrimmage, along with having impressed during fall camp:
- Lance Dixon
- Hershey McLaurin
- Beanie Bishop
- Malachi Ruffin
- Trey Lathan
- Tirek Austin-Cave
- Hammond Russell
- Corey McIntyre
Brown said for precautionary reasons, Aubrey Burks, Lee Kpogba, and Sean Martin.
“They all went but they were really limited,” Brown said. “And that was by us, not by them.”
Offense
Brown said the offense was a mixed bag of results. He said he liked that the defense forced turnovers, but sometimes that can be confusing to draw as did the offense play poorly or did the defense play well.
Overall though, Brown seemed to like where West Virginia was at in how they improved from the first scrimmage seven days prior.
“Offensively, got off to a really fast start. Had several explosives. Reduced penalties, which has been a point of emphasis too,” Brown said.
“Turnovers were not good. It’s one of those where you’re the head coach, you’re like, ‘we had some takeaways, pretty excited about that. On the offensive end, you’re like, ‘ah, we had turnovers.'”
Brown mentioned receivers Preston Fox and Traylon Ray, along with tight end Kole Taylor as standing out after the scrimmage. Brown added that running back CJ Donaldson got live carries, and “he’s in a good spot.”
Brown said they held out Cortez Braham and Devin Carter to keep them healthy.
Week Ahead
The week ahead will be different from last week, but will also be different than next week, according to Brown. The Mountaineers are going to do a mock game week, but the focus is still to prepare for the overall season rather than Penn State by itself.
“We got a mock week,” Brown said. “Everything from doing the press conference on Monday, to how we practice on Monday. The only thing we’re doing off a normal schedule is Wednesday evening.”
Brown said the full ramp up period for Penn State will happen beginning Sunday.
“Work a little bit of Penn State this week but more kind of getting ready for the season in totality,” Brown said. “Then full throttle on Sunday with Penn State.”
