You don’t have to tell Matt Wells what and who he is not working with this season. As WVU’s associate athletic director for sports marketing, Wells knows of the unknowns and embraces the trouble that arises when people don’t embrace the football season.

The 2013 team, as we sit here today, is a team without stars and without buzz. It’s coming off a bowl blowout that capped an underwhelming debut in a league that may require more time to get used to, and that time might not pass so swiftly if the Mountaineers can’t identify some players to move the ball and a few more to stop the opponents from moving the ball.

Seriously, has it been nine years since WVU started a season with such a void of preseason stars and expectations?

Wells still draws a paycheck, though, and still has to work in unison with other arms of the athletic department to make sure the best foot goes forward.

“When you have three guys like Geno, Tavon and Stedman, it becomes pretty apparent who you can hang your hat on and who you can put out front,” he said. “Maybe this is more of a blue-collar team that doesn’t have as many established stars, so to speak, but has players who combine to do some of the things people are accustomed to seeing. Then we can capitalize on having some marquee names.

“Or maybe you pull back and do something more team oriented and you have something unique, like our new set of uniforms. Maybe those are the things that become the new things we hang our hat on and what drives our marketing and promotional campaigns.”