WVU football has a drone, and this would be really useful, to say nothing of more subtle, if the Mountaineers were still playing Marshall, but I digress. The team will have some fun with this and put out videos useful for marketing and recruiting, but there’s a practical football aspect to it, too.

“When it’s a receiver blocking a defensive back or a lineman blocking a linebacker in a pass-rush drill or a double-team drill, you can see when they slip off and when you don’t get the right leverage or the right fit,” Wickline said.

“You can see what they’re doing. It’s really unique. I do think if you’re not going to watch it or use it, you’re wasting your time. It’s only as good as what you use it for. I believe because of the fact we have certain uses for it, it’s unbelievable.”

The footage comes from heights and angles the Mountaineers aren’t used to, and the truth is, they’re not quite sure what they have yet. Like, what do you do with this?

If we’re being honest, WVU probably wouldn’t tell us all of its secrets just yet. The Mountaineers will know more weeks and months from now, but there’s incentive to do this story now, because it’s a great unknown and no one really knows what not to share. And as far as they’re concerned, experimenting is important, and this trial-and-error phase is already proved purposeful.

“We’re still trying to find out what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes I’ll shoot something, and right away I’ll think, ‘Coach is going to love this.’ ” video coordinator and drone pilot Kyle Butler said.

New office toy pic.twitter.com/nJtnTxbabx

— Saltus (@waytooSalty) March 17, 2016

That’s Mr. Butler (@Kyle__Butler if you want to keep up with the experimentation), and that’s the drone. A few things you should know.

• He networked with colleagues at the Collegiate Sports Video Association, first on Facebook and then over the phone, to find the drone that the Mountaineers needed. Then he found the drone in town at Best Buy.
• The controller is interesting. There are two joy sticks. The left controls elevation and rotation. The right handles moving forward, backward, left and right. A small wheel controls the camera’s zoom level. A button tells the drone when to record, and the footage feeds directly to an iPad positioned on the controller. The camera doesn’t move, so you have to move the drone to move the shot.
• Butler was not deterred. “I’ve played video games my whole life, so I don’t think it was anything too crazy.”
• WVU had to register it with the FAA — or the FFA, as coach Dana Holgorsen said, which is a simple and funny slip — and Butler has to clear his flight plan with the Morgantown airport every day he plans to use the drone. This is a well-regulated hobby.
• The battery lasts 15 or 20 minutes. WVU has two, and one charges while the other flies.

This is a ball security drill, and though Butler didn’t mention it as something he believes has a future with the drone, you do see the height/angle aspect. Interestingly, inside drills when the offensive and defensive lines square off, don’t really benefit from the drone. A lot of the footwork and hand placement is lost in the shots from above. Plus, WVU has cameramen right there to film it, and that proximity works better. But in addition to what Wickline references, Butler is happy with what the drone does for field goals and the Mountaineer Drill.

You know the Mountaineer Drill. It’s the Oklahoma Drill, but you don’t say Oklahoma in front of the Mountaineers. Watch Daikiel Shorts v. Rasul Douglas. You can tell a lot about footwork and leverage and positioning, and the camera is safe from the crowd.

Now, there are three elevated cameras at practice — one on a tower behind one end zone, another on a lift behind the opposite end one and a third on a tower behind the sideline on a road outside the field — and those are safe from the crowd, but none of those cameras are getting this view, so imagine the benefits in similar drills involving close quarters.

(Aside: The media used to get to watch this, and surely you saw footage in the past, but we haven’t seen that this spring. There were times in the past WVU coaches would watch practice film and groan because of reporters with cameras and cellphones were crowding the drills and blocking the view the coaches wanted. No more of that.)