Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which does this because you like it. Can’t say that Keith Patterson has the same M.O.

But that’s good news for you and for WVU’s defense.

In some 30 minutes of conversation yesterday evening, Patterson answered some questions and then later shared some details about the particulars of his defense. He was eventually drawn out of his seat to act out certain defensive line alignments and defensive back tactics. Coaches aren’t prone to demonstrate things like this too often and, to be honest, my impression of Patterson in the still brief time I’ve known him is that he’d be reluctant to say too much — and we would all understand that.

This is not to say he told us everything, but it was more than the handful of us could have expected. It was great, to be perfectly honest. I might write a new book. I wrote a little about it today, but I have plenty more to share.

What stuck with me was how one seemingly logical and certainly useful way Patterson has developed his defense through the years, beginning in 2000 when Clemson’s young offensive coordinator visited Texas’s Allen High, where Patterson as an assistant. Would you believe The Product was making a deposit in WVU’s future?

“He absolutely changed the way I coached,” Patterson said. “He changed the way I played defense.”

Patterson believed what others still do, that what Rodriguez got going at Glenville State and brought to Tulane and Clemson revolutionized college football offenses. This was option football with wing-T principles and just enough misdirection to screw up every defense.

“We brought him in for three days and I just listened to him,” Patterson said. “I sat there and just took notes.”

If Rodriguez was going to change offense, he was going to make a defensive coach’s life miserable. Right there, Patterson began to understand that to flip the script he needed to know what made Rodriguez miserable.

Patterson climbed the proverbial professional ladder, reaching Tulsa and then Pitt before a brief stop at Arkansas State preceded his job at WVU. He remembered the Rodriguez offense and when he was building game plans for the opponent, he would focus not on what the offense liked, but on what the offense didn’t like or sought to avoid.

On and on it went and Patterson was successful, but also fortunate. While he was with the Golden Hurricane, he witnessed some other dynamic minds up close and worked with offensive coordinators Gus Malzahn and Chad Morris. They were, in essence, Rodriguez in different times, innovators who were going to affect college offense. That meant Patterson would again find the things they didn’t like and he’d accomplish that by just listening.

“I’d sit there and listen to those guys and listen to them talk about what they tell their quarterback,” Patterson said. “Whatever they’d tell their quarterback, I’d say, ‘OK, I’m going to do the opposite.’ Over the course of time, a long period of time, I’ve tried to develop everything they don’t want.”

What strikes me most is that while I was impressed by Patterson’s ingenuity, it seems pretty obvious. How does a defense disturb an offense? Discover what disturbs the offense. Brilliant! Brilliant?

Onto the Feedback? Onto the Feedback! As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, if you don’t read the label, you might get poisoned. (Anybody grasp that one?)

(Also, thanks for the submission tips for the “Greatest Blog Ever” award. I found five and now we’re going to win. Then we’ll have subs. It’ll be crazy. And, I promise, that’s as Beilein as I’ll get. Go Blue.)

Mack said:

Mike, in the video blog, how about you give some dap to a guy who accurately predicted three of the four Final Four teams… including two of which that were 4 seeds that very few people were talking about pre-tournament. On top of that, said person’s fourth Final Four team was eliminated in the Elite 8. That’s about as good as it gets.

Oh no … Mackstradamus!

Shoot4Show said:

You know what… enough of this quibbling over radio rights, vlogging about Spring football, and all the I-told-you-so’s about player defections/ dismissals! When is somebody going to cover the real story here? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE INTERNET SERVICE IN MORGANTOWN? Every other time I read the blog there’s some mention of poor internet service. I get that WiFi can be tough in arenas around the country, but this World Wide Web thing has been around a while. This should not be an onging problem. It is not befitting a university city or Tier 4.

In a word? Comcast. They sent a signal to my router. They somehow reset my router. They wanted to charge me for the help I needed re-configuring the router. We later discovered, through Linksys, my router was shot. Needless to say, I’m highly dubious.

Jeff in Akron said:

Mike, does Pankey get a medical redshirt this year? Plus, on the o-line those guys are huge this year by my count they average 6’5″, 314lbs.

They’ll pursue it, I’m sure. No reason to think he wouldn’t get a sixth year.

(Let’s update this, because I’m a dummy. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I kicked this one and I know better. The sixth year comes when an injury costs a player two years. A voluntary redshirt doesn’t count toward that. Bad job by me. Good catch by Wayne in the comments. I think I got caught up in what is and isn’t a medical redshirt.)

SheikYbuti said:

Yep, the conventional wisdom seemed to be leaning toward Hinds staying, with Miles and Murray leaving. I suppose those latter two moves could still occur, but I wonder whether Hinds’s departure will factor into the ongoing decision-making process.

I’ll debate the convention on that. I don’t think Murray wants to leave because he knows as well as anyone else — and admits as much — how ill-prepared he is. Miles has some personal attachments he probably won’t be comfortable leaving. I wondered if Miles’s lack of PT maybe stemmed from telling Huggins he was leaving, but people told me that wasn’t true and that he really likes his life at WVU. I don’t know, but I didn’t see them departing — but would I have been surprised if Murray didn’t return? No. Hinds just didn’t seem plugged in during the final month. I sat by the bench a lot for those final few road games and he wasn’t happy. Then again, who was?

WVMANIAC said:

Why do people have a negative opinion of Aaric Murray?
Has he spouted out on Twitter? Yes, but have you seen any other college kids twitter it looks the about the same; full of negative and selfish comments and baseless statements…..

Does he get hot headed in a game and argue with the ref? Yes but at least he didn’t roll over like I have seen some of our players do….

The biggest problem with Aaric last year was he was out of shape. Why? because he was hurt and couldn’t condition in the preseason.

Did you ever see Deniz push anybody? Make anybody play better this year? I don’t think so

That’s the debate about Murray, but he had destructive moments this season that changed multiple games. You can be emotional and you can care without getting Ts and giving the other team points … in a postseason game you lose on a last-second shot. And Murray had all summer to get in shape, a summer he said after the Big 12 tourney loss that he knows he didn’t take seriously. 

ccteam said:

I don’t remember what game it was, but Hinds had just pulled one of his out of control off balance floating 10 ft shots that had no chance of going in and there was a time out. Huggins was riding him as he came to the bench and he just looked away and shook his head. I thought then he was a lost cause. I began to doubt myself when others said he was coming back, but he just never turned the corner and he is too short and not strong enough to make up for an inability to shoot it. Maybe somewhere else he can regain his confidence. I hope so, but he is making the right decision for himself and the team in Morgantown.

You can’t remember which game because there were multiple games. I thought throughout the season, as opponents learned not to respect his jumper, they backed up and made it harder for him to drive and finish. He’s muscular, but light and still slight and he has to concoct shots near the rim. He’s probably better suited in a smaller league where the pace is faster and the opponents aren’t as quick and thick to combat his drives. There are plenty of good options for him, including ones around NYC.

JMann said:

The biggest problem with Hinds failing is Huggins had Ryan Boatright first and then lost him after pursuing Hinds too in the same class. Boatright did improve between his freshmen and sophomore years:http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/56634/ryan-boatright

Correct. That’s recruiting and that’s another mistake. Have to know players better than that, especially when his feelings are seemingly apparent. Boatright’s exit necessitated Gary Browne’s addition. But the counter to this is would you feel comfortable with a player with Boatright’s “competitive streak?”

Peyton said:

Chase Connor would be a great addition to the mountaineers squad

Probably so, because they need shooters, but he’s going to have to walk on.

WVUMotown said:

I enjoy how everyone has comments. Would anyone be willing to change jobs for with Huggins with a year. Go recruiting for a couple months, make sure these guys are going to class, have grades. Coach for 3 hrs a day, then do some more recruiting and watch film to prepare for opponents. Throw in having to schedule for upcoming future seasons. Make appearance around the state and manage to get to these kids that don’t have any work effort or pride. Easy to back seat coach. What if was Huggins posting on these sites about the job you do every day and criticizing. If you never been a collegiate head coach or can’t do a better job, give the guy a break. Kentucky didn’t have a great year this year.

RELAX. People are supposed to have comments. That’s how this functions. And good luck finding folks who feel deep sorrow for one of the country’s 10 highest-paid at his chosen profession. Is there understanding? Certainly. Pity? I doubt that.

JP said:

I don’t know much about Grantham other than he led Martinsburg to the AAA championship over a very good Beckley team. It would be nice for the best player from the best AAA team in the state to go to WVU. Maybe he has the drive to compete for the gold and blue.

He’d be a wing who attacks the basket. Name the last one of those WVU had. 

I love you, Doug! said:

And the departing Brown fires back at the Turk:

“It wasn’t like he didn’t have a part in what was going on. He’s a senior, he’s supposed to lead and he didn’t lead at all.”

Brown’s best shot of the season.

Lets see where this goes said:

I’m really glad to see that miles is staying. Despite his offense not being the greatest, he does play defense and, even though he didn’t get much playing time, hustled when he was on the floor. Harris and Henderson both fit into this mold, though they actually got playing time this year. Hopefully Staten and Murray take things a little more seriously next year.

As for the guys transferring…Hinds can play and will hopefully be happy wherever he decides to go. I never figured out why Brown wasn’t playing more because he showed promise (3 point shooting) as a freshman.

Also, one bad season isn’t a reason to bash Huggins. I think a lot of this is just due to a culmination of bad recruiting years that were out of his hands (player with a heart issue and another dismissed for personal issues). Let’s give him next year before we criticize too much.

I’m probably in the minority, but I think Miles has potential. I don’t think it’s on offense, though. He’s a complimentary piece who can do good things on defense, in rebounding and with hustle and at times scrap together some baskets. Think Wellington Smith, but not playing center.

Jeff in Akron said:

One final note, for all the grief that Truck Bryant took last year he had a higher shooting percentage across the board than Hinds did this year. Think about that…

Yeah, let’s be honest with one another here: Look where Hinds ranked on the team in some valuable categories: Minutes (third), shots (first), free throws (seventh), points (sixth), turnovers (second) and rebounds (10th). Good things didn’t happen when he was on the floor. Look at not merely his plus-minus, but at his off-the-floor plus-minus. His plus-minus was minus-53 for the year. Only once this season was his SEASON plus-minus a positive at the end of a game (plus-five). The team was 28 points better across the season with him on the bench.

JC said:

Wow…..so what does that say about Staten and Murray staying?

 Murray has no business or interest in leaving. And what’s the issue with Staten? He fell apart at the end of the Baylor game, but he had a 39-9 assist-turnover ratio the final 10 games, that after he’d been pressed about ball security. He is what he is — offensively limited, but otherwise able with the ball in his hands. He needs to pass into the post much better, but there are indications he can acquire that skill.

Rick said:

Better get Grantham from Martinsburg to make up for Chase Fieler.

He was here this week. I’d be surprised if it doesn’t happen, but others are going to make their play, too.

Josh24601 said:

Godspeed to all, especially Hinds, for whom 2013 was a rough go, but who at least had a prayer of finishing in traffic.

Jabarie Hinds?

JC said:

I have visions of grandeur of a mobile QB with a good arm running this style offense………..RGIII anyone??? Then again, a crappy defense kept that team from reaching their potential as well.

You know what I would like to see……Rawlins in the backfield running the two QB attack……..utilize his speed and pass enough just to keep the defense guessing. You think about that!!!

See, I can’t think about that. I love the idea, but if I think about it, I fixate and anything else is underwhelming. I mean, LOOK AT THIS …

Dave said:

I would think Millard would stay, but Rawlins is the wild card. I respected Geno’s reluctance to run, just too much risk.

I just can’t see 3 QB’s in waiting, because they’re probably going to recruit another for next year. When I played (baseball – not a high level, don’t misunderstand), I wanted to play and not sit. I understand if you are the second guy, but below that, what’s the point? Especially in college, you have only a few years to play.

I would agree because that’s college and that’s what competitors do and nowhere is that more true than at quarterback, but one would think Rawlins might hold on because of his possible usefulness. One might say the game is trending his way, so why get out of the way?

overtheSEC said:

So wait, we’re concerned that a QB who’s down on the depth chart would transfer? Why? If he’s not good enough to beat out our 1st string QB and not willing to be able to step up should our #1 guy go down or go through a slump that’s not anyone I’d be losing sleep over losing.

From http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/spring-football-25-ole-miss-rebels-130644574–ncaaf.html

“Quarterback Bo Wallace is out this spring after offseason shoulder surgery, which will give coaches a chance to evaluate a backup quarterback. Senior Barry Brunetti and sophomore Maikhail Miller are the team’s only two options and neither of them are very good. Miller played in two games last year and completed two passes on six attempts. If Miller is ready to step into the backup role, Brunetti could move to another position.”

I believe there’s a Jeremy Johnson quip to he made.

hershy112 said:

Mike,

Pay heed? I’ve seen this on your blog a couple times now. I think you spent too much time at Allen Fieldhouse. What’s next? Beware of the Phog?

Eh, I think it was Derek Rae, actually. But the Phog probably rekindled it. I tend to repeat things I hear and like. Basically, I’m a small child.

jtmountaineer said:

American Athletic Conference, I have made a donation in your name to the Human Fund.

Almost got it, jt!

Dave said:

Both fans of the football conference are disappointed.

And they didn’t even finish coloring their books.

Dave! Enjoy the weekend!