We’re several strides into the next phase of the offseason, and coaches will spend time reviewing snippets of film from spring practices to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their respective positions and sides of the three-sided ball. It’s not easy work, and defensive coordinator Tony Gibson is going to need and take some time to sort out what happened on his watch.
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West Virginia’s coaches made a decision early on to handle No. 10 cautiously and constructively during his first spring. Skyler Howard, Chris Chugunov, William Crest and David Sills were, without question, ahead of him on a depth chart, and Saunders was on campus when he could have been getting ready for prom and high school graduation.
In short, the Mountaineers didn’t need him, which is not to say Saunders didn’t need the spring. He was there, and WVU would use him, but only in ways to benefit him. Mike Burchett, the graduate assistant who’s coaching the quarterbacks, explained the plan following the ninth practice. “We feel like we’ve got pretty good depth, so this is really an ideal situation. We can bring him in and we don’t have to rush him. That can ruin a kid’s confidence when you bring him in early and throw him into the fire before he’s ready.”
Saunders had taken a few live reps here and there, and he’d also missed a Saturday practice to go to prom, but Burchett was mostly pleased with what he saw. The expectations were realistic. Saunders knew what to do, but everything was happening really fast.
Turns out the last two weeks went even better for Saunders, who played and played pretty well late in the Gold-Blue Game.
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Previously on Whatever This Place is Called, we discussed the potential pitfalls of a spring game on the road and what that would mean to recruiting. If your game is during a quiet period, which forbids off-campus contact, you’re handcuffed by an off-campus event.
The Mountaineers, winners of many appeals these days, made the best of the situation.
The off-the-beaten-path location and “no off-campus contact” rule had recruitniks cringing. As it turned out, though, it was quite a successful weekend that included several current signees and a handful of prime targets.
The positive turn began when West Virginia was able to secure a waiver from the NCAA that allowed the coaches to interact with visiting recruits. The schools was given the waiver because of the ongoing construction at Mountaineer Field, allowing the coaching staff to treat the event as if it were being held on campus. Instead of awkwardly avoiding infraction-inducing conversations, coaches spent hours talking with recruits and their families prior to the game.
Gary Jennings broke his wrist late in the regular season last year. When or even how, he’s not sure. The whole thing is a little weird, because Dana Holgorsen said Jennings had surgery in the offseason and a pin was inserted to assist in healing. Jennings, though, said he did not have surgery, and the urge is be to believe him or at least admire his refusal to admit that the game got one over on him.
One day during spring football, which began with the sophomore receiver wearing a green jersey and a white wrap on his wrist, Jennings was granted approval to resume full participation.
That was fleeting.
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A crowd of about 6,000 attended the Gold-Blue Game Saturday at The Greenbrier. Our Christian Tyler Randolph was there to shoot and share some photographs.
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Highlights from Saturday's Gold-Blue Spring Game at @The_Greenbrier. #HailWV https://t.co/DfggEIOEfS
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) April 23, 2016
Technically speaking, the game ended when David Sills threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Rogers, that ending a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was backups against backups. The offense erased a 46-36 deficit in the fourth quarter, scoring twice in the final 4:07 to get away with a 49-46 win.
Your stats, scoring summary and Dana Holgorsen’s news conference follow:
A simple assignment for you for both before kickoff and after the game: Fill in these blanks that pertain to the spring game.
Best offensive performance:
Most reassuring offensive performance:
Offensive player most likely to be overhyped because of his performance:
Best defensive performance:
Most reassuring defensive performance:
Defensive player most likely to be overhyped because of his performance:
I suggest we do this both before and after because the predictions and the reality might tell us something, but we’ll also keep these in our pocket, particularly the overhyped answer, for the next stage of the offseason.
I’m still not sure what I’m getting into in White Sulphur Springs as far as game day accommodations and what we can and can’t do here during the game, but I’ll let you know.
https://twitter.com/WVUfootball/status/718225309871534081
This has been Mike Molina’s spring. At some point, presumably last month, before the start of the 15 practices, he was made aware of Josh Lambert’s suspension. The kid who came to campus to replace Tyler Bitancurt and “didn’t know how good Josh was until I got here” was bumped up to the No. 1 spot. He even got to don a GoPro.
But things change.
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Blah, I don’t want to do anything else today but listen to people tell stories about Prince and watch old videos. I’ve been doing it for an hour or so now, and I’m pretty sure I’m nowhere near finished. I was a big David Bowie fan, and that stunk, but, man, this sucks so bad. I won’t tell you I’m the biggest fan or that I went to a ton of his concerts and have all his albums. It’s not true. But I liked, like, everything he did. Not just music. Movies. Style. Swagger. Pancakes. Iconic stuff.
By now you know, I’m a sucker for national anthems. I used to say that Whitney Houston’s Star Spangled Banner was the standard. I’m still entrenched. I used to say, maybe half seriously, it should be played before all sporting events.
I won’t argue this: Prince’s halftime show at Super Bowl XLI was the greatest, and there’s an amazing background story to go with it.
But watch the video at the top. I’ll never forget this. That’s a cool song, so I perked up right away, but then Prince appears — literally appears, out of nowhere — at the 3:25 mark. I remember thinking, “Huh?” and then not blinking the rest of the way. Look who he’s with, and look at them. They’re stunned, I think, and he knows it. Then the just throws his guitar into space. How cool is that guy? The coolest guy in the room.
Back tomorrow. No F Double, but otherwise an ordinary day.
