Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which will not change. Not sure what to tell you about the new blog. For those of you who like it, I wish I could say I had some say in what’s transpired. For those of you who do not approve, hey, I had nothing to do with it!

It was as much of an out-of-the-blue surprise to you as it was to me. I woke up Tuesday, went to work, checked back on the blog and the comments and saw some grumbling. I had no idea what you were talking about, because I work in the blog’s dashboard and the preview function doesn’t often lead me to the main page.

Anyhow, they’re trying make all the blogs uniform, and we were using a template here that predated the July merger of the two newspapers. So on a Tuesday morning eight months later, things changed. They’re still working through some kinks and knots and have cured a few already — like updating the RSS feeds on the side menu so you can quickly find WVU stories and my columns for the first time since the merger. Progress!

Keep the constructive commentary going. They’re reading, and they’ve spotted a few complaints and explained the issues to me. I believe they’re working on a fixes for the obvious stuff and then the subtle stuff, so give it some time and understand I want it to work for everyone.

Case in point: Blog title and subhead. You’ll notice “WVU Sports with Mike Casazza” up top and then some space below it before the headline of the latest entry. WVUSwMC is the title and the space beneath is for a subhead. Here’s where I need you.

• Do we keep the title or replace it with something different? (I feel weird changing a title after almost — yikes — nine years, but I can change. I wouldn’t mind if they just fixed the presentation so “WVU Sports with Mike” isn’t one one line and “Casazza” is alone on another). If so, suggestions, please.

• We do need a subhead, which is just a line to complement the title. It can be a quote, a phrase, a saying, an idiom, a haiku, you name it, but I think it should be part of our fabric here. I know you’ll have ideas, so this should be fun, but I’m already partial to “Felt good when I let it go…” It’s a leader, but by no means does that make it the winner.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, keep it moving.

The 25314 said:

The NFL.com scouting report on Karl Joseph says, “Doesn’t have desired thickness of frame for the ruckus he likes to bring as a hitter.”

It’s the greatest scouting report ever. “Desire to assail leads to occasional technique breakdowns as a tackler.” It’s also been updated recently. I attempted to settle our quasi-controversy at pro day when I talked to some personnel people. No one said he was small. A few said he could be bigger. “Guys smaller than 5-10, 210 and who aren’t as good have played in the league.” So, that settled nothing.

Clarence Oveur said:

According to WVIllustrated, Durante was on the field next to Holgorsen at the same practice after Dana announced his suspension: http://www.wvillustrated.com/story/31628498/quick-hits-wvu-football-kicks-off-spring-practice.

That tells me he’s probably going to be back.

Pretty easy to connect the dots on this one, no?

Mack said:

Durante looked great against Georgia Southern – and that was the first game of the season as a true freshman. I hope he pans out bc he could be REALLY really good.

He’s costing himself a lot of time here. I believe WVU had nine practices before the Cactus Bowl and will have 15 in the spring. That’s equal to eight weeks of the regular-season. Durante misses all of that. Meanwhile, Ka’Raun’s coming, y’all.

jtmountaineer said:

All right, I will finally ask: What was so bad/wrong about Jennifer Hudson’s version? It is often referenced here, mostly by you, Mike, as though it were Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem. I’m not defending it; I truly don’t remember it one way or another.

I go back and forth on this but only about who to blame. Don’t get me wrong: This is terrible. But it wasn’t her decision to show her seven times and show Evan Turner or John Wall no times. The packaging was not good, because it’s a tribute to the tournament and not the artist. This felt like a music video from a movie soundtrack and they splice together clips of the movie and the artist. More and more though, I just think she can’t sing this song. There are two signature parts of the song: The build that starts at the 1:43 mark and is supposed to peak 10 seconds later and the crescendo that begins at 2:15. Tell me that was enjoyable. 

Mack said:

There’s no question that the greatest moment in Mountaineer history was when Geno completed every pass on his pro day and thus guaranteed himself to be the number one overall pick in the draft.

Halcyon.

Matt said:

How can you have 2 losses in 1 ncaa tournament?

Easy. The officials jobbed Robert Morris out of a first-round win — the famous anecdote there is during a timeout in the second half an official broke up a Colonials huddle and said, “Let’s go, girls.” — and then Villanova lost for real to St. Mary’s two days later.

Mike Schultz said:

I can assure you there was more excitement shown at the end of that game in my apartment than there was by Jay Wright. At least from what he showed on the court anyway.

Thanks for the stellar blog Mike. Because of it and the bracket challenge associated with it, I’m going to feel pretty good about myself for a few days.

On the other hand, I’m not sure how I feel about using the remaining sports luck I had for this year on a bunch of teams I don’t really care about. I’ll take what I can get I suppose.

Winner!

Mack said:

*In most serious voice possible*

I think today will be the day that we look back on as the beginnings of our national championship.

Very excited about the Tyron Carrier hire. Or the Will Grier transfer. Not sure which.

Oklahoma Mountaineer said:

I guess a Grad Student becoming a first time coach is the best you can expect when you are on the ropes yourself and Spring Practice is ongoing or over at most places.

Lemonade, man. And it’s a G.A. at Baylor — he was recruited by Art Briles when Briles was the head coach at Houston — which knows a thing or two about offense. Given that and his time at Houston with Briles, Holgorsen and Kevin Sumlin, it’s a pretty decent pedigree for someone with no full-time experience.

Clarence Oveur said:

(Dana holds a presser)

*cough, clear throat* OKAY… *cough, clear throat* Lot of activity today. *cough* Got us a transfer QB *cough* Will Grier. Lot of potential, has some work to do with getting…uh…NCAA clearance. *cough* Kid’s a player, got a good arm. Won some games for the Gators *cough*. He won’t be ready til 2017, but glad to have him here.

Also *cough* Tyron Carrier is our new receivers coach. *cough* Tyron was a grad assistant at Baylor under…uh…Coach Briles. Worked with receivers there and *cough* played at Houston. I coached him before. *cough* Good kid, brings a lot of enthusiasm…uh…he’ll help us out a bunch on the field. I’ll have a hand in the receivers too. *cough* That…uh…about rounds out the coaches.

With that *cough* I’ll take some questions…

I would rather open my email and see this than a press release. 

ffejbboc said:

Where are Tyron’s stomping grounds? WVU took a serious hit in recruiting when Lonnie left. Would be nice to have someone pick up the slack in DC, Md, NC and Georgia.

No one knows, but it’s folly to expect him to plug in those holes, but maybe he started to get familiar with some of those areas. He’s a big name in Houston, so maybe there? It’s all new for him.

Double Gator said:

Two cents from a Florida gator. By the time Grier hit his stride as starter, we were steamrolling toward national contention, including making #3 Ole Miss look like an unranked opponent. Without Grier, we needed luck to beat Florida Atlantic and Vanderbilt. Expect success.

Florida fans had to experience Treon Harris on his wake, but they’re sad to see Will Grier go

Curey said:

Grier’s ability to show up on the big stage has to put him up there. Few quarterbacks can say their undefeated in sec competition. Especially the win against ole miss, who just beat the tide, in a stellar fashion. Just the throws in the above video shows a poised and mature player. Not a redshirt freshman that was solidifying the starting job, that he was. His play eventually led to his team competing for a championship. That’s college. Before that he set national records for a single game against the second best team in his state. That shows his ability to play on the big stage. He’s a competitor and performer and if he shows up to wvu like he did at uf in ’15, than wvu will be in contention, for the their conference at least. On top of the intangibles that can’t be measured, his resume is airtight except he played high school for a 2a program. But that goes both ways, he played against less talented players (based off size of schools) but he had the same situation on his team.

More from a Florida fan, and good background for this conversation. Really, when was the last time a WVU quarterback came to town with that in his back pocket?

Kem Sutphin said:

I ‘ve had a number of people call me from the Charlotte area that are very familiar with Will. They all said he is the real deal…a football stud. “A real get for Holgs”. Just watch the six games he played in at Florida. This guy is one tough football player. Also, he seems to be a pretty good kid that needed to grow up a bit.

Seemingly contrite and honest about his error, too. 

mountiefan3 said:

So does Grier’s hype/resume/potential in this offense buy Dana more time regardless of what happens on the field this fall?

No. Just can’t see an AD pinning everything on a kid who hasn’t played in 23 months.

Karl said:

Good question mountiefan. Another question is, would having this kid waiting in the wings make the WVU job more attractive to a big name coach of its open

Yes. Much easier to succeed with a talent like that on the roster at quarterback. Worked well for Dana. Figure a lot of the coaches who might be looking at WVU wanted Grier before and couldn’t have him.

Oklahoma Mountaineer said:

I think I’d agree on the greatest high school hype for sure — this guy plays the most critical position on the field as the game is played today……so I’d agree.

He had some early success at an elite program…..but there is a QB transfer of the early 80s……believe his name is Hostetler……..Jeff Hostetler…….who may give him a run for his money.

Hostetler was “merely” Parade Magazine All-America, but, yes, touted. 

Mr M said:

Not sure of his resume prior to WVU but there sure was a lot of hype with the arrival of Major Harris. The assistant coaches and Nehlen were obviously giddy with anticipation before we ever saw him on the field.

That’s true. And he lived up to it all. Harris was a two-time player of the year in Pennsylvania and a top 100 player nationally, but there were no national awards. 

JAL said:

If you add his college resume to his high school resume I would say yes. If you just go on high school he also could be. Oliver Luck was a top high school QB, not sure about Marc Bulger. Rasheed Marshall was also highly thought of, at least in the area. Also not sure how Major Harris was viewed in HS

Have to think Grier trumps all of them on credentials.

smeer said:

You know which WVU quarterback had equal or better HS stats? J.R. House. Unfortunately, by the time he got to WVU his body was shot and he was playing in a system that didn’t exactly suit his skillset.

Good call there. Silly numbers. Lesser competition, though.

ccteam said:

Looks like the best credentials to me. Maybe Jake Kelchner could rival it, I don’t have good enough recollection to remember. He transferred in from ND I believe.

That’s a good one, too. Big-time talent at Berwick High, in Pennsylvania, and he had scholarship offers everywhere. Mike Gottfried said he was the best high school quarterback prospect he’d ever seen. Can’t find a mention of any national prizes, but I don’t know that we should be keeping and using a tally here. 

Karl said:

It’s not a good sign if Crest can’t find a position to play by this season. This will be his third season in the program. If you can’t beat out a noodle-armed, short, inaccurate, poor decision-making QB, it’s probably not in the cards for you to be a QB. Crest is lucky he got a redshirt for his first year — he should be a rising junior by now.

Don’t be so vague, Karl.

Loopy Hoopy said:

Braxton Miller-type player on the horizon?

That’s the player Crest mentions as proof this can work.

Mack said:

Literally no one expects Crest to do anything meaningful in a meaningful game any more, right? He’s the greatest player ever who can’t seem to crack the starting lineup at any position on a team that is expected to be somewhere around 6-6. He’s a quarterback who can’t start on a team that sees quarterback as one of its big weaknesses.

“Literally” is a bit much, but I don’t see him mauling defensive backs in Austin or slanting through the secondary and sprinting past Oklahoma defenders, maybe only because it hasn’t happened. I think this is the most time he’s devoted to this experiment, though, so perhaps it goes from here.

smeer said:

what keeps a guy from breaking into the rotation at a power five school at RB or WR – positions he didn’t play in high school? lack of technique, better athletes who have been at it a lot longer. that all makes sense until we see Sills getting into the rotation at WR

what’s keep him from breaking in at QB

bad timing? a RS frosh coming off surgery seeking to beat out a junior transfer (Skyler) who played in and new the system and had (some) game experience from the previous year that would have been Crest’s were he healthy. now the separation is even greater after a full year of SH

bad arrm? strength or accuracy? – the strength looks to be there, but we’ve all seen the throws in limited action

mental part of the game? – it hasn’t slowed down for him – a steep learning curve from playing lesser competition in HS, reading Ds and setting up the team – film study but more so practice reps (BUT – this is Spring ball – you know what Skyler can do – rep the hell out of Crest or giving up on him?)

HCDH’s hot seat? coach on hot seat can’t afford to groom him (last year) – has to win now – SH provided that

lack of drive? want to read between the lines in an article like this – laid back guy willing to play where ever. slight difference between “I’m willing to help the team” to “I want to get on the field anyway I can.” the game expects a little bit of selfishness

all of the above?

(and please fix the freaking comment box – 2 1/2 lines?)

Probably a little bit of everything (except he never had surgery) and maybe more of one than others, depending on the person. But time is a commodity, and when you’re young and spread thin, it can be a struggle. I almost feel like this is the starting point for this Crest, because I can’t see him playing QB above Chugunov.

I love you, Doug! said:

Maybe I’m football-dumb (add it to the list), but I don’t see what Crest does that’s special, in his limited playing time. I keep reading about his “athleticism,” but what does that mean? I’ve never seen him outrun anyone. He’s got a strong arm, sure, but I only recall incompletions on those option-passes and short completions when he’s at QB. To me, he seems like a not especially fast guy with some strength. Maybe a blocking FB or TE.

There’s no public proof he can do anything. I get that. I’ve seen him run and catch in practice, and, like many players, he looks different there than he does in a game. I don’t think he’s played fast, except when he’s been a QB, and that probably sours some people on his ability and/or agility. He can run, though, and it was fun watching him take handoffs and play running back Saturday. I wasn’t sure he could get to a spot and get downhill, but he did it a few times. And he doesn’t drop passes, either. Is he Shelton Gibson or Wendell Smallwood? Nope. But he can be another part of the offense. I think what’s quietly happened is the ceiling has been lowered, and though that’s not necessarily permanent, no one wants to acknowledge it.

The 25314 said:

Just put him at safety and call him Jerry Porter.

Enjoy the weekend!