Despite all the coming and going at the Puskar Center, Tony Gibson and Jake Spavital had never been under the same roof at West Virginia before January. Spavital left the Mountaineers in December 2012 for Texas A&M and Gibson returned from Arizona the following month. A year later, Spvital was the Aggies’ offensive coordinator and Gibson was WVU’s defensive coordinator and they battled in the 2014 Liberty Bowl.

It did not go well for the Mountaineers, but things weren’t going well for Texas A&M, and that impressed at least one person at WVU. “Their offensive staff was in disarray at that point, and he took it over and they played well on offense,” WVU coach and Spavital mentor Dana Holgorsen said. “That grabbed my attention.”

Two years later, Holgorsen grabbed Spavital from Cal, and now Spavital and Gibson are compatible adversaries, one adjusting to the other, one learning from the other.

 “I like how aggressive Gibby is,” Spavital said. “He’s pressuring you, bluffing and dropping back and doing all of that. My conversations with the quarterbacks have increased because of how aggressive he’s been.”

The Mountaineers give themselves plenty of time to meet and talk. They practice three times a week for five weeks, and they’re not relaxing in the days between. They huddle in a room with coaches and teammates, with questions and answers.

And Gibson has quite literally pressured the offense into deeper discussions.

“The protection and the checks have to be more advanced,” Spavital said. “The first couple days out there, you try to block it regularly, but when they start doing things to force the ball out of your hand, you try to [block] as long as you possibly can. That’s where protection checks get involved, but they seem to be adjusting pretty well to it.”