We begin the third edition of the exceedingly popular All-Camp Team with a disclaimer…

This is not a depth chart. If you present this as a depth chart, I’m done with you. If you see someone presenting this as a depth chart, you should be done with that person — and I might be done with you simply because your eyeballs associated with that person.

For some reason I will never be able to explain, people see the listing of players that follows and then scurry to whatever platform they can get to the fastest and say something ridiculous.

Yo, Casazza has a depth chart.

Man, he predicted a depth chart, and it stinks. 

We’re not going to have a depth chart for a while still. As always, my hunch is we won’t get one until WVU has to give us one, and WVU doesn’t have to give us one until the Tuesday of the first game week. When reporters walk into the weekly Dana Holgorsen news conference, they pick up notes packets for WVU, the Big 12, the opponent and the opponent’s conference. Early on in the WVU notes is a depth chart. That wouldn’t happen until Sept. 1. Holgorsen suggested late last week he might publish a depth chart this week based off of post-camp evaluations and conversations with his staff. He has a news conference Aug. 25, and there might WVU notes there. But he also said that a depth chart either soon or a week from tomorrow might not be worth much because WVU doesn’t play until Sept. 5.

In any event, this is not a depth chart. This is my list of players who made the most out of the 13 days of camp. They don’t have to be stars or starters, but they must be players who came out of camp with a much better, much more certain situation than they had before it began Aug. 3. These are the players who helped themselves and/or who helped the team the most. And it was hard. I puzzled over a handful of positions. You’ll find there are some “No kidding, Caz” picks here, but it’s indicative of the situation WVU has with its roster. There are players you won’t be surprised to see but who also deserve to be included. This is what’s called working from a position of strength, and it’s something Holgorsen has not yet enjoyed.

If you’re curious or into history, here’s how it looked in 2013 and 2014. If you’re tired of my lecture, here’s how it looks in 2015 based on my observations and my (mostly anonymous) conversations with players, coaches and staffers.

QB: William Crest
Overall, maybe the biggest development of the 13 days was Crest not only returning to full-time quarterback reps but also taking control of the backup spot. It’s good news for the running backs and the wide receivers and also for him. Crest may well be an athlete, but he’s not near the best at either of those experimental positions, and the players at either spot made sure that was the case. That’s not a slight against Crest. It’s a good thing for those other positions and for Crest. I’m really not sure what he was going to do at either spot or in a shared role. I’m not sure how that would have helped or hurt him, but he’s able now to concentrate his time and energy at his natural position. His teammates say he’s never looked better than he has the past week. Further, the end of Crest’s experiment and his surge at quarterback all but guarantees WVU won’t have true freshman backup quarterback. When was the last time WVU didn’t need its backup? (It was really difficult not to go with Sykler Howard here. The hardest call, in fact. What stands out about all the praise is how teammates have fallen in line behind him. He’s the unquestioned head of the offense, but I feel like Crest affecting three positions by focusing on one was a bigger development.)

RB: Wendell Smallwood
He keeps outrunning competition and criticism. Ask around and you’ll discover he’s the best “running back” and that he might also be the best route-runner among backs and receivers. Nobody — not Jordan Thompson, not Daikiel Shorts — understands the passing concepts throughout the entire offense better. His hands? Also among the best, if not the best. Speed? Line him up with all the other top racers and you’d be surprised. He might not win, but he’s not finishing last, either. After one practice last week, Smallwood was in a bad mood, and he was mad at himself that no matter how hard he’d been trying he wasn’t breaking the long runs running backs coach JaJuan Seider was prescribing. Seider walked over to Smallwood, asked what was the matter, chuckled and told the junior he’d just had one of his best practices ever. Only one other player on offense was mentioned as much as Smallwood, and nobody was said to have done better from start to finish. He was already good, but he got better. I’m wildly intrigued about how (often) the offense uses him this year.

OT: Yodny Cajuste
Here’s the name that was mentioned most often, whether by coaches or players on offense or defense. Despite the dialogue that started the moment Kyle Bosch was ruled eligible, Cajuste isn’t going anywhere. That’s not to say that WVU didn’t try. There were daily experiments. But there was No. 50 with the first team again and again, and you wonder what gaining 27 pounds over the summer did for him. His pass block is so good — save one bad day at the beginning of camp that’s a distant memory now — that he’s actually an asset at left tackle. Already, there are whispers about NFL potential, though he could and should improve dramatically as a run blocker. This is a tall and long 300-pound kid who’s probably the most athletic player up front, and he sports a frame that could ably carry 315 or 320 pounds. True, true, he’s a redshirt freshman, and we know well the concerns about that, but it’s fun to imagine where he might be in a year or two or even in a few months.

OG: Adam Pankey
So I really wondered about this move when it happened. I don’t know nearly enough about the position to confidently say a player is better at one spot than another, but it always seemed Pankey was a pretty good tackle, first on the right side and then on the left. Moving the guy who started all 13 games and played more snaps than anyone else to a new position seemed odd, especially when that move invited a redshirt freshman into the mix at left tackle. Now, though, I suppose it makes a bit more sense. Cajuste might be good. Pankey looks and sounds great at left guard. If Cajuste is a concern, he’s next to a very good guard who knows all there is to know about tackle. What I do know is that offensive line coach Ron Crook can’t say enough about how good Pankey has been, and that means WVU’s power plays with Pankey leading the way could be dynamic in the fall. 

C: Tyler Orlosky
This started over the summer when I first heard stories about how Orlosky was the strongest guy on the team and might leave here in two years as the best center the school has seen. Those are some serious plaudits. You’d spend more time convincing me either is wrong than you would convincing me either is right. He’s an ideal fit at center, a strong, stout technician who is firm with is feet and sound with his hands, and I was stunned fellow Big 12 centers were so eager to praise Orlosky. What people closer to him say and marvel about most is how he doesn’t mess up despite all the things he has to know and anticipate as the central nervous system of the offense. He’s in line for a big season and some major honors at the end.

OG: Kyle Bosch
I don’t know what to make of right guard, except that junior Tony Matteo is there above sophomore Grant Lingafelter while senior Stone Underwood is set as the backup center. But this isn’t a left-to-right listing, and Bosch was solid at left guard when he could practice. He missed a few days with a minor concussion but made it back and then made up for some lost time with a nice finish to the 13 days. Crook did Bosch a great favor by practicing him during the spring, and Bosch returned the favor by giving Crook essentially two backups — he can spell Pankey and it sounds like Pankey could move to left tackle, though in-game changes like this are things Crook will sometimes try to avoid. But if Pankey’s good enough to do it, it’s because Bosch is good enough to handle left guard. 

OT: Marquis Lucas
Marcell Lazard got some pub late in camp, but I didn’t see him play enough and I didn’t hear his name enough. Even if Lazard’s improvements began earlier and I’d heard more people talk about him, it’s unlikely he supplants Lucas here. He was described as the most improved lineman, and defensive ends said his pass rush blocking was something they struggled against. In the past, that had been problematic for Lucas. 

WR: Jovon Durante
Put it this way: People weren’t talking about Tavon Austin the way they’re talking about Durante — and this kid missed three days. When people are using words like special, scary and next big thing after fewer than two weeks, you pay attention. Wait until you see Durante.

IR: Jacky Marcellus
The urge is to go with Jordan Thompson, and there’s really no reason to keep the spot from him, but that Marcellus earned such equal praise as a running back and inside receiver and even a possibility on kickoff return made the difference — and remember, this is a “multiple” offense. Marcellus is often mentioned among the faster players on the team, and his friendship and familiarity with Howard can’t be dismissed. But he’s a different piece in the offense, a deviation from the running backs as well as the inside receivers. In Smallwood, the Mountaineers have a running back who can play receiver. In Marcellus, the Mountaineers have a receiver who can play running back, mostly because he was running back in his prep days.  

WR: K.J. Myers
How much he plays and produces remains to seen. It feels like we’ve heard this about Myers before, no? Heck, where he plays is probably something of a mystery because he can play inside and outside. But that’s part of the appeal. He’s an old hand who knows what he’s doing, and he’s put that to good use. The coaches like his versatility, but they’re also talking about how proud they are of him while teammates say he’s especially good with the new receivers. The Mountaineers either do not have two ultra-reliable outside receivers or they have plenty (more on that in a second), but either outcome figures to give Myers a chance to do something different this season. 

Etc: Daikiel Shorts
Underrated development of camp that we probably can’t accurately classify just yet: Shorts is neither a wide receiver nor an inside receiver. “Where he ends up is probably going to depend on where we need him,” Holgorsen said. I don’t know what that means. Did Shorts not transition optimally to wide receiver? Did someone (Durante, Myers, Gary Jennings, Ka’Raun White) play well enough to create this flexibility? Are the inside receivers lacking and Shorts is needed there? Those are questions we’ll have answers to in time, but Shorts is the most well-rounded of the receivers, and he can give Holgorsen a lot of answers.

DE: Noble Nwachukwu
For the second straight season, he’s the most-mentioned player on defense. And again, it didn’t matter if it was offensive linemen he combats in practice, defensive linemen who stand by and admire, running backs who have to help him or a quarterback who has to keep an eye out for him. They all mentioned how good he’s been. There’s a bit of buzz about his swim move and the hope he can turn into a very powerful, very effective pass rusher in his third season. But he’s not limited to that one skill the Mountaineers desperately need. He’s going to play three downs in this defense, which is a luxury against those rapid passing offenses that, by the way, WVU often forces into third-and-long. 

NG: Kyle Rose
I think in a perfect world, WVU would rather not see Rose here because they’d love to give him a break knowing an improved Darrien Howard, redshirt freshman Jaleel Fields or even true freshman Adam Shuler can lend a hand. But Rose does what he does so well that there’s no other choice. The nose is supposed to control the A gap (the alley on either side of the center’s shoulders) and ideally he reacts and attacks so that he’s on the front side of the play. But the center and oftentimes a guard knows that, and that can make life miserable and quite sore for Rose. Yet he keeps knocking out snaps and creating alleys for the middle linebacker to come through to make plays. The combination of Rose and Jared Barber, who didn’t play last year, was a little rusty in the spring, and Rose was used to Nick Kwiatkoski, who’s a different middle linebacker. But Rose and Barber looked so connected in camp that it was like they we never apart.

DE: Larry Jefferson
Unlike Nwachukwu, Jefferson is not a three-down player. With the exception of blowouts, ends of halves or opponent comebacks when passes are obviously coming, you won’t see much of Jefferson on first and second downs. Not early on, at least. But multiple teammates likened his first step to Bruce Irvin’s — you have to think a coach or player said, “Hey, does that remind you of Bruce?” and someone else agreed and it took off from there — and many hope and believe he’ll one day have a similar impact.  

Spur: Jeremy Tyler
There’s no way to know this for sure, but Tyler might be one of the best backups in the country. He could start on five special teams (punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return and field goal block). He had been and remains the backup free safety and has added backup spur to his repertoire. Remember, too, that those are totally different positions. The free safety has to stand on the roof and make sure nothing gets by. There’s a lot of responsibility and coverages in pass defense, but he has to come up and play the run, too. The spur is the most important part of the defense and the most complicated because of the mandatory chores with blitzes and against the pass and run. There are ton of techniques and coverages. It’s so complex that starting spur K.J. Dillon, who can do anything, has never played another position. Tyler is good enough to play spur and free.

Sam: Shaq Petteway
Here’s one angry young man, intent on making up for time lost and, he says, wasted. Since he returned from his ACL surgery and decided to buy what defensive coordinator Tony Gibson was selling after a bumpy ride with Gibson’s predecessor, his arrow has pointed up. It’s been, like, nine months now and there’s no sign of that stopping. His teammates were raving about how hard he was hitting people — days before the Mountaineers went to full pads. He’s not big like you’d expect, but he plays bigger. This is the position he was brought here to play years ago, and the combination of Petteway and similarly physical Karl Joseph together on the same side for a full season ought to be fun to watch.

Mike: Jared Barber
The duties for the two cornerbacks, the two defensive ends, the Spur and Bandit safeties and the two outside linebackers have a lot in common. The nose and the middle linebacker are separate species. The defensive ends are nothing like the nose. The outside linebackers are nothing like the middle linebacker. They’re also surrounded whereas the others can work in space. The nose and Mike rely on one another, and the Rose-Barber combination has to be really good for the defense to be really good. All indications so far suggest that’s the case. True, Barber gets some time off because coaches know he gets sore, but they know he doesn’t need all those reps. Sure, Nick Kwiatkoski led the team in tackles at this position last year, but Barber was always the no-doubt-about-it pick to play here so long as he was healthy. And he’s been healthy for a long time, going as far back as late last season.  

Will: Xavier Preston
No offense to Kwiatkoski, who’s still great, and let’s not pretend for a moment Gibson isn’t smitten with the fact he’ll start three fifth-year seniors at linebacker, but people talk about Preston in different tones. He’s the biggest and probably the fastest, and the veterans don’t hold his age against him because Preston’s play has fit in among the experienced group. I don’t know how Gibson gets him on the field, but I think the better question is how Gibson keeps him off the field. Circle it!

Bandit: Jarrod Harper
Dillon, Joseph and Dravon Askew-Henry get the ink, but where WVU’s backup safeties were at the end of camp is massively underplayed. Gibson has no hesitation putting Tyler or Harper into a game. First quarter, second play, third down, whatever. The confidence is way up there. This is significant for a few reasons, namely the amount of football Joseph has played and that Dillon plays such a physically demanding position, but behind Tyler and Harper are some true and redshirt freshmen who aren’t quite ready yet. That Harper came along as quickly and decisively as he did after missing the spring was a wonderful development for safeties coach Joe DeForest. When and how much these backups play is something to track, but bigger than that is the security WVU has if either one is on the field.

CB: Ricky Ruph
One of Rumph’s teammates said he was the team’s third starting cornerback, and all this time we thought it was Darly Worley, Terrell Chestnut and some other guys. Rumph has started before. He’s played nickel back and safety at times during his career. He’s at his best now, though, and WVU is going to need three and four cornerbacks throughout the year. The Mountaineers aren’t terribly deep, and that’s where Rasul Douglas is missed and why there still nay be room for Tyrek Cole or Khairi Sharif. But Rumph’s physical development — he’s stronger, but also faster and has cut his 40-yard dash from 4.65 to 4.5 — and overall improvement makes this position better than what it was before.

FS: Dravon Askew-Henry
I guess the weird part here is that he was a pretty good player last year and only now knows what he’s doing. That has to bode well for the season, and he again was said to be one of the top play-makers when the offense faced the defense. More importantly, teammates said he was Dillon and Joseph’s equal in the secondary, surely brought up to their level with their help but able to stay there on his own.

CB: Nana Kyeremeh 
Kyeremeh did a 180 in camp and was at or above his potential day after day. This, alongside Rumph’s rise, does wonders for the secondary. Kyeremeh’s been around long enough to understand the position, but he’s also been down with injuries and a spot on a sideline. There are actually a few players like this on the roster and on this list, and Kyeremeh has responded like Petteway and Barber to thrive. And, again, he’s just in time because WVU needs bodies there. “I’m not just pleased. I’m giddy, because it gives me another young man to count on in this scheme,” cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchel said. Giddy.

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