Football’s starting five
August 1, 2013 by Mike Casazza
This sort of stuff is always fun because it gives you a narrow focus when things are so broadly discussed, but you’ll remember upon ending spring football last year that Dana Holgorsen was, by his own admission, only looking for two players to complete his offense.
We have a similar discussion for the start of preseason practice a year later. Holgorsen is looking for his five best offensive skill players who can handle more than one position so that the Mountaineers may play like neither they nor Holgorsen have played before.
“The nature of the offense is to not do that,” Holgorsen said. “The nature of the offense is to get guys into a position they feel good about and are comfortable with and not move guys around. Catching a fade route over the left shoulder is a different skill than catching a fade route over the right shoulder.
“You’re trying to get guys into a position to do the same skill over and over and get good at it. That’s the backbone of the offense.
“With that said, I think the future of offense is more personnel related. It’s more of what we did with Tavon. It’s getting guys like Cody Clay, who can play slot, tight end and backfield stuff, to try to do something different and try to gain an advantage on the defense from a matchup or tempo standpoint.”