… but maybe Rasheed Marshall has a better idea than most. It’s been 11 years — sheesh — since Rasheed came from that high school in Pittsburgh that earlier gave WVU Major Harris and Marshall studied Don Nehlen’s pro style offense so he’d be ready a year later.

A year later, Nehlen was gone and Rich Rodriguez arrived with the antithesis of Nehlen’s offense. Marshall wanted to be the quarterback, and he probably would have had he not broken his wrist in the season opener, but getting there took a ton or work and research. He learned to speak one language one year and then had to learn another the next year.

Pat White didn’t have quite as dramatic a change to endure when he went from the Rodriguez offense to the Jeff Mullen Version 1.0 offense and Jarrett Brown had been around long enough to grasp JM V 1.1, which was kind of wrapped around Brown’s abilities, too. Geno Smith is a junior already, but he’s really been the guy for just one season. The Mullen offenses he encountered, a grab bag of formations and packages and ideas, aren’t the same as what he’s had to grasp since Dana Holgorsen arrived in December. It’s a significant shift and one Marshall can relate to through experience.

After Smith learns the offense and what he’s supposed to do, Marshall said the next task is to figure out how the defense will align and attack. If the Mountaineers pass more and run less frequently, the defenses will look and act different. There may be, for example, more defensive backs on the field than Smith was used to last year. There may be fewer situations when the safeties approach the line of scrimmage to stop the run.

Smith has to be aware of that as he becomes familiar with Holgorsen’s approach, Marshall said.

“Say the cornerbacks are playing Cover 2, you have to know that cornerback’s job is to funnel everything inside,” Marshall said. “You may think the corner is supposed to take an outside release, but nine times out of 10, that’s not going to happen because that cornerback’s only job is to make sure he goes inside. The cardinal sin is to let a guy get outside in Cover 2, so you don’t want to get caught waiting on that. Understanding what the defense is going to do is as important as anything else.”