Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which recants, to some extent, the  previous “spring game doesn’t really matter” message. I used to think that. I still do, but not as much after talking to Connor Arlia.

You remember him from the New Year’s Eve Jet Ski accident. Well, he’d really like to change that and it’s fitting that Saturday’s Gold-Blue Game is where it could all begin because the spring game is where Arlia got his start last season.

THIS IS WHAT he’s been waiting for. Arlia came to WVU because he wanted to make a name for himself. He was a straight A student at Madonna, the MVP of the North-South Game in 2011 and the winner of West Virginia’s 2010 Wendy’s High School Heisman. He talked to Harvard and Penn about playing in the Ivy League. Robert Morris, Carnegie Mellon and Davidson had partial scholarships to offer.

Arlia was invited to WVU’s spring game last year and talked with Dawson afterward. On the drive home, Arlia told Mike and Mary Beth he wanted to go after his dream and play in Division I. He was eventually invited to WVU as a preferred walk-on and the Mountaineers thought enough of him last year that he didn’t redshirt.

He’s back to proving himself again, using his hands, routes and effort to become known as the walk-on who made it, as opposed to the walk-on from the Jet Ski accident.

“That’s absolutely what drives me,” he said. “The next big thing for me is performing in the spring game and making my family proud, making an impact for the team and making the players and the coaches proud by playing as hard as I can.”

Some housekeeping before we begin and end an abbreviated week:

> A bunch of book events are lined up for the weekend and it begins with an appearance at Barnes & Noble at University Town Center. Lots of books! Look, an end cap! And signage …

Good luck to Scott Appleton Saturday … you’re gonna need it!

From there, it’s off to Morgantown Brewing Company for the Alumni Association University Chapter’s Books for Brews shindig. Bring a new children’s book and get a free beer. Bring $15 and get a copy of “Waiting for the Fall.”

For some reason, the Alumni Association asked me to speak and do a Q&A session at 10 a.m. Saturday for the Alumni Leaders Institute meeting at the alumni center. I’ll chase that with the Fishbowl from 1-3 p.m. and then Town Hill from 3-5 p.m. Then comes the actual spring game at 6 p.m., if they’ll have me.

I hope to catch some of you at some of those events. If not, I’m going to float around the parking lots for a bit after the ALI thing and after Town Hill and probably again after the “game.” At any point, you might see someone slinging copies of the book, too. Feel free to stop that person.

> If you can’t make it and if you’re interested in the actual football part of this, I have a suggestion. Remember last week we discussed radio options for out-of-towners? Set your ears on U92 and “Touchdown City Tailgate.”

WWVU-FM (U92) is excited to debut their new Mountaineer Football pregame show, The Touchdown City Tailgate before every WVU football game. Created by U92’s Football Beat Reporter, Greg Madia, the U92 Sports Staff is proud to have the next staple on game day in Morgantown.

The show will debut prior to the annual Gold-Blue game, starting at 2 PM. During the regular season, the show will be live outside the WVU Erickson Alumni Center. The “TCT” will air three hours prior to kickoff and go off the air an hour before game time. The show will bring fans extensive Mountaineer Football coverage – it’ll include full breakdown of the day’s game, analysis of the Big 12 conference, interviews with players, coaches and special live guests who will appear on site. The biggest difference between the “TCT” and other Mountaineer football coverage is that it will get the fans involved. Fans can ask host Joe Mitchin, beat reporter Greg Madia and their panel of experts different questions related to WVU, the Big 12 or the national landscape in college football. There also will be some fan trivia. The bottom line the “TCT” is a product for the fans before they head into Milan Puskar Stadium.

Fans can listen to the show on 91.7 FM in Morgantown or online at u92.wvu.edu. Right now fans can follow the show @TouchdownCityTG on Twitter and “Like” the Touchdown City Tailgate on Facebook.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t be a dope.

glibglub said:

Speaking of the spring game, I saw where it’s going to be available on ESPN3.

Tis. I have no idea how one calls this “game,” though. Good luck.

Wayne said:

Maybe Mike could use his influence at the Brew Pub and get some of their new IPA there for the game. I do hope that we see it at the stadium this fall. I really enjoyed it at the book launch.

That stuff was terrific, wasn’t it? I’ll ask. Art (the owner) is in business to do business. And Oliver would be lucky to have it on tap. You really can’t drink a lot of those brews. It’s good for the crowd and the behavior goal.

overtheSEC said:

Urban has inspired me.
WVU Spring Game event suggestions:
-Red bull/Hot potato relay – Chug a Sugar-Free Red Bull then catch a hot potato pass and tag your next teammate in line
-Geno needs to read plays from Dana and relay them to the team while “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” is blasted at 140 db – Texas prep
-Punt the ball more than 30 yards 5 times in a row – Self explanatory
-Drinking contest between two fans, two current players, two former players (McAfee and Pacman are my suggestions), and Huggs and Holgo – cancelled due to current alleged social media reports
-A “Guess Major Harris’s weight” contest – Hosted ironically by a very svelte Kevin Koken

See? It’s fun if you try.

Spatial Angel said:

Hey…a Jeremy Johnson update…now what about Barry Brunetti?…I’ll hang up and listen.

Still lingering at Ole Miss and engaged in a derby with a juco the new coaching staff really likes. Of course, it seems everyone else isn’t a fan of Bo Wallace.

Tully Bascombe said:

“The Mouse that Roared?” West Virginia really is a reasonable analogy for the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, you know, with the Q-bomb playing left tackle.

Q! My guy and my bomb. (Anybody?)

Jeff in Akron said:

Not to take anything away from Anderson, or Nehlen for that matter, I am sure they are working as hard or harder than everyone else on the team. I just get the idea that Holgorsen and Co. are trying hard to find a player from WV that can make a big splash. Both for recruiting the players that do come from the Mountain State and good will for the fan base. There is an overall good feel about Mike’s article.

For the second spring in a row WV native football players are getting a lot of playing time and attention on the depth chart, I hope Anderson becomes that poster player. The idea that a local player can walk-on at WVU and through hard work and dedication become a starter, or heavy contributor, has to help recruiting in WV.

Maybe it is just me, I get the feeling that Holgorsen is trying to connect with the state. Then again, maybe I am just reading too much into a position battle and injuries.

I think he’s up to something because he wants to get the best players from the state and he wants to excite the base … but he wants to win. Anderson could be from Qatar and he’d be where he is right now. Good little player. That he’s from Morgantown and eschewed another school just adds to his story. I will say this about Dana: He tends to have an answer for the obscure or second-tier players. Good on him.

overtheSEC said:

JiA, I think you’re giving too much credit to motives behind the actions of Holgorsen and the staff. I don’t think it goes any deeper than building simply depth and establishing the depth chart. The law of averages just means that a WV native will figure into at least one or two position battles per season. Dana knows the best way to connect with the state is to win.

That.

hershy112 said:

I’m excited to hear about the amount of blitzing that this defense will potentially do. I hope it’s similar to the 1996 defense. Obviously this defense doesn’t have as much talent as that one did, but I think the final blitzing numbers that year were somewhere around 75%. I’ve always been a fan of heavy blitzing, so this is right up my alley.

Interesting word, alley. Speaking of alleys …

SheikYbuti said:

I used to be a staunch advocate of heavy blitzing. Kellen Winslow, Jr., cured me of that, however.

You blitz and you shrink the space you cover and you create openings for the offense, particularly those alleys early in the play. Those are your hot reads. Winslow’s play was made on the second level, but he got behind that first wave and, really, made a hell of a play. I think WVU walked off the field furious with the way the game ended, but at least aware it took THAT play to lose.

Dave said:

freak play … sometimes the dice don’t roll your way, but that doesn’t mean you abandon what might be fundamentally in your nature.

Hated the play btw.

That’s how it happens. I think of some of the more memorable moments in the Casteel Era — good and bad — and blitzing is often involved. Winslow, Louisville 2006, Fiesta Bowl, USF 2009, Pitt last year …

IrishBillATL said:

Somewhat off topic and certainly not news but I had an epiphany today….Do you realize that WVU left the smallest BCS conference….and joined the smallest BCS conference? You think about that.

And left one conference at a loss about expansion for a conference … at a loss about expansion? No clue what the league is going to do, but I know, for sure, before WVU arrived there was strong lean toward sticking with 10.

I love you, Doug! said:

Here’s something else I was thinking about the other day: Geno, Tavon, Stedman, Shawne — all Bill Stewart recruits.

2013 recruiting class? Now empty.

Back-stabber, to be sure, but Ol Stewart could recruit, son.

Eh, I’m not an expert on these things because I was never interested in becoming an expert. That said, it was something I researched and explored and wrote a bit about in my book. I found he wasn’t as involved in the failures of recruiting. We say he undersigned. Others — multiple people — tell me that wasn’t the goal, but the result. WVU just couldn’t sign guys. He chose to spin it rather than admit it. Conversely, he wasn’t too involved with the successes, either. I would say Stewart was along for the ride. That’s four good names you name, but that’s Doc, Beatty, Doc and Beatty. I’d also say Stewart, and his staff, whiffed on more than one full class in three years/four signing days. No less than two dozen players never made it. A few of those guys were recruited twice. Some either didn’t make, or have yet to make, any impact.

lowercase jeff said:

wow. this one is a bit ugly.

its not among espn.com’s articles on the NCAA MBB page.

yet.

oliver, you’re up.

OK, if you were waiting for some sort of comment, here goes because this is the only one I’m going to pull to address The Matter: Believe me, I’m on it. What it is, or was, I don’t yet know. I have pretty solid information. I’ve talked to a number of people who were there and people who are invested. It is not being ignored. Not by me and not by the sort of people you’d hope were not ignoring it. And understand this isn’t new territory for WVU. Delicate topic that has to be  handled carefully, as opposed to fluidly. Just as hard to prove guilt as it is to prove innocence. 

overtheSEC said:

Mike, would you be able to get Huggins to go on record about transferring restrictions? I’m very curious as to his take on these Bo Ryan-Jared Uthoff-type of situations. Part of me thinks Huggins would call it what it is and say that he couldn’t care less where a kid’s going to go–it’s not like a transfer is going to tell an opposing coach anything that coach doesn’t already know and he has to sit out a year anyways so why punish the kid more. The other part of me thinks though that with Huggins being a member of the coaching fraternity he wouldn’t want to call others out and perhaps likes the power of being able to tell a kid where he can’t go.

We’ve talked about it a few times before. He’s very attuned to what transfers feel and experience because, don’t forget, he was a transfer. He started at Ohio University and the Bobcats changed coaches, which encouraged Huggins to leave. He hasn’t blocked any transfer at WVU, he once told me, and he was disturbed this season when Noah Cottrill was going around saying Huggins was blocking his transfer. In reality, Cottrill was just having a hard time landing somewhere. Now, could he be encouraged to act differently? Of course. If he thinks a coach has tampered, I’d bet that he, like almost everyone else, would throw up a road block. On the whole, though, he’s understanding. If a kid doesn’t want to play for WVU, I doubt Huggins wants him. If a kid isn’t playing at WVU and wants a chance to play somewhere else, he won’t stop it. 

JP said:

Maybe it’s a news blackout on the basketball side of things, but what is going on?

First Billy Hahn is on Yahoo acting desperate for a job that Huggs won’t let him have (actual coaching vs. basketball operations). Now, Huggins disavows any knowledge of Hahn going anywhere. Why was Hahn moved? A demotion for poor recruiting or coaching?

Then Jarrod Calhoun is leaving … for Fairmont State? Is he leaving voluntarily or was he encouraged to leave? Is this fallout from the failure of the frosh to buy in to Huggs’ system last year that I heard rumblings about?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Yes, yes they do. Smaller, and thus tighter, inner circle on the basketball side and Huggins is extraordinarily loyal. If he has an issue with one of his guys — and let me underline if for this conversation — then he’s not sharing it. Sometimes what you see is what you get. And sometimes what you see is what it is.

SheikYbuti said:

Well, one can typically become a head basketball coach at a high major by being promoted from an assistant’s job at another high major, or by moving up as the head coach of a mid-major. On the way there, if one wants to be a head coach instead of an assistant coach, one generally needs to start at a lower level. The Calhoun departure could be (and probably is) nothing more than the natural progression of things, particularly for a very young coach. At least he’s going to a region with which he’s familiar, and Huggs may be able to funnel him some recruits now and then.

There seems to be something to the Hahn situation, however. The curtailment of his activities could have been initially rationalized as related to his wife’s health (a situation in which most spouses would appreciate more flexibility and fewer demands on their time), but now that he has come out publicly in search of a job similar to that from which he was relieved (and to which he evidently will not be returned), it is difficult to see how anyone can conclude that the situation hasn’t been performance-related from the get-go. And JP is right; we haven’t been apprised of any facts in that regard.

I think you’re right on Calhoun. He’s 30 and, realistically, he wasn’t going any higher up on the bench any time soon. It’s pretty difficult to go from Division II head coach to Division I head coach without making stops in between. He could, for instance, do a few successful seasons at FSU, take an assistant’s job in Division I and then knock out some time there or another stop before he hunts for a Division I head coaching job. Maybe he’s in his late 30s then, but he has a lot of experience at two levels and various capacities. And if he was, or was to be, some sort of a scapegoat, it’s a pretty nice landing. As for Hahn, who knows? You might be right, and the position change and salary cut would be evidence. But Huggins and his staff and Calhoun are meeting today to go over recruiting and a transition plan and, heck, Billy may get what he was looking for. That it hasn’t happened already suggests it won’t later, though.

Foul Shot said:

One of Catlett’s assistants was head coach at FSU in the 90s.
Maybe it is just the local tie, being right there, knowing people.
Strange how Huggs promotes him then he moves on.
FSU does not seem like a springboard, but who knows?
I was wondering if there was going to be a shakeup.
Recruiting did not seem to be a strong point the last couple of classes.
After Ebanks, the cupboard has been sort of bare.
Maybe shaking things up will help.

Real quick on FSU: It can be a great job. There’s a financial commitment now that wasn’t there before, but Jerrod is going to have to do a lot of work to sustain it, particularly with fundraising. It’s a big school, too, that draws from some populated areas. It can work. As for the shakeup idea: Very possible. Remember, Huggins is getting closer to his last go ’round. He has the present, the immediate future and a different future after that to consider. He might see, or desire, a fix.

Lee in Dayton said:

FWIW, you may recall Willie Millhouse scored a TD in the Orange Bowl running Tavon’s “hot potato” play. I think that’s the only time anyone but Tavon ran it in a game last year, and I kind of figured Dana let Willie run it just to give him a shot at a BCS bowl touchdown in his last game as a Mountaineer.

Perhaps I was too literal with what I wrote. Yes, Will did run it and did well with it. What I meant, of course, was that it was universally accepted as Tavon’s play.

JC said:

Tavon is no doubt great, but all the talk of Jordan Thompson makes it seem like the IR position is taylor made for a small, freakishly fast kid like those guys.

We’ll see because it seems like there is an abundance of those guys out there. More than the outside home run hitters, right? I’d even argue those inside guys are better to an offense like WVU’s.

jdwvu said:

How will we able to play Purdue in the middle of the conference season but not Marshall?

Apparently the Big 12 allows for one non-conference game in the midst of conference play.

Mike Switzer said:

Finally, WVU will play a basketball game that is only 2.5 hours away!

I know, right?

Anxiouseer97 said:

D1 sporting events should not be scheduled for the convenience of legislators. Legislators and their lobbyist benefactors can do like the rest of us and figure out ways to take time off from work and travel to see the Mountaineers.

Blasphemer!

Bobby Heenan said:

“Legislators and their lobbyist benefactors can do like the rest of us”

DOES. NOT. COMPUTE.

Enjoy the weekend!