Saturday’s snapshot of practice was more like an oil painting. We were allowed to watch the whole deal and build and refine impressions, and it was pretty obvious WVU’s offense is in a favorable position.

If you quizzed yourself before it all began and wondered who’d be first-team players, you’d have Skyler Howard at quarterback, Rushel Shell at running back, Shelton Gibson and Ka’Raun White at wide receiver and Daikiel Shorts inside and then Yodny Cajuste and Marcell Lazard at tackle, Adam Pankey and Kyle Bosch at guard and Tyler Orlosky at center.

You would have been correct, if not for one exception: That’s 10, and you need 11. You never know how WVU will choose to get to 11. Is there a second running back? A tight end? A fourth receiver? No. 11 was Kennedy McKoy, the freshman running back who’s doing a Wendell Smallwood impression, and he promptly snapped off a long run on a simple draw play.

Now, is that WVU’s first game, first play first-team offense? There’s no way to guarantee that … but those are strong candidates, and maybe we won’t see a contested convention when the rest of the players arrive in the summer.

Defensively, it’s a different story for the Mountaineers. Not bad, mind you, bit different.

“I’m way, way far away from making a depth chart right now,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said when he was asked not about giving us a depth chart but about the lineup he decided to use. “There may be a couple positions secure and guys we know have done it and can do it.”

Those are easy: Noble Nwachukwu and Christian Brown on the defensive line and Jeremy Tyler and Dravon Henry at safety. “After that,” Gibson said, “it’s dealer’s choice.”

On that day, Darrien Howard was the nose guard, which is no surprise. The linebackers were interesting: Al-Rasheed Benton in the middle, Sean Walters (who is huge) at Will and Justin Arndt at Sam. I think if you quizzed yourself before practice about the defense, you would have likely nailed the line and put David Long at Will and Xavier Preston at Sam.

You would have only been sort of wrong.

“David Long right now is playing as good as anybody we have on defense,” Gibson said. “He’s making plays. Xavier is doing a really good job right now. He’s in a good battle with Arndt.”

Preston has been Next for a while, and Long has so much promise, including his scout team defensive player of the year award last season. They’re backups for the moment, in part because Arndt and Walters have been around for so long, and they earned and so far deserved this

“I want to create competition,” Gibson said. “I don’t want to give anything to anybody. Justin’s a senior. He’d been through it. I like the way he plays. I like the way he studies the game and I like his attention to detail. I means a lot to him, not that it doesn’t to the other guys, but right now, at this point we’re at right now, he deserves an opportunity.”

Gibson feels the same about Walters.

“He’s been a guy who’s had a great offseason, probably as good an offseason anyone has had in the program, and he deserves a shot, and he’s not done anything at this point to lose that spot,” he said.

Starters don’t matter as much to Gibson right now. He wants quality, to be sure, but he needs quantity, too. This, if nothing else, is a way to develop depth and encourage people, whether on campus now or in a couple of months, to believe they’ll get an opportunity if they work for it.

And Gibson needs bodies.

“We’re at the point right now where I feel really good about the two Sams we have and I feel good Wills we have with Sean and David,” he said. “We have to get another Mike. Right now, if we had to start playing, I’d be afraid we’re a ‘backer short at this time. We need to get somebody developed and get him in there.”

Tyler played Bandit safety and Dravon Henry was the free safety. The other safety was Marvin Gross, and the starting cornerbacks were Rasul Douglas and Nana Kyeremeh, though Antonio Crawford was mixed into some first-team lineups throughout practice and was party to this.

Retweet to see this on @SportsCenter later. This is certainly #SCTop10 worthy. pic.twitter.com/EXCRLVHLuL

— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) April 2, 2016