No two cases are the same, especially when it concerns the whims and ways of the NCAA, and certainly there are facts and variables that serve to distinguish the predicaments of Kyle Bosch and Will Grier. But as far as we know, WVU has a decent track record of working with the NCAA and — let’s not way “winning” — securing a favorable judgment and thus reputation.
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Asked here last week and answered in Dana Holgorsen’s media briefing Saturday was what West Virginia will do about recruiting now that the staff is complete.
It’s one thing to have Blue Adams replacing Brian Mitchell with cornerbacks and Tyron Carrier replacing Lonnie Galloway with receivers, but you need to find players to coach, and the Mountaineers are working on that now.
“We’re going to put Blue in Georgia primarily,” Holgorsen said. “We’ll be able to hit North Carolina. We’ll be able to get Coach Tall involved with North Carolina a little bit, just because he has the familiarity of being there. Then it’s basically just Virginia and Maryland, is what we’ve got to do. We’ll probably end up hitting that by committee.
“It’d be silly not to have Coach Carrier in Houston a little bit seeing as if he grew up there, and he has a lot of resources there. He has a lot of familiarity and relationships with the high schools based on his past. So we’ll probably get into Houston a little bit as well.”
Freshman running back Kennedy McKoy, a bright spot so far this spring, is not at WVU's practice today. "He's at prom," Dana Holgorsen said.
— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) April 9, 2016
“I always let those guys go back for their prom,” the head coach continued. “A couple of them were gone for prom last week. A couple of them will be gone for their prom next week. The deal I make with our early enrollees is that they get to go home and do that.”
Of course, there’s a catch for the freshmen who enroll in January. “I make them bring back pictures. I want to know what their date looks like, and I want to know what they wore.”
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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.
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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.
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.
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It’s not clear what William Crest is doing this spring, except that he’s, like, the No. 3 quarterback, but perhaps that’s the ingenuity of it all. He’s still playing receiver and catching punts, but he’s also playing running back and learning to take those hits, and if you never know where he’s starting or going on a given play, then WVU has accomplished something.
It’s the continuation of this prolonged project, and that’s fine. The spring precedes the fall, and if all goes well now, he’ll be a factor then, and this all seems to be on track.
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That’s the most we’re going to see Will Grier play for about a year. I mean, he’ll practice in 2016, but we’re not going to see that, and his first consequential football with WVU won’t come until next spring. So, have a look, and remember he was completing 65.8 percent of his passes and was 5-0 as a starter — and 4-0 against SEC teams — as a redshirt freshman QB for a team that was unbeaten and ranked No. 8 after six games last season.
He’s not bad. He is, I have to think, the most-talented quarterback on the roster. His credentials are significant, too. But I wonder, just how significant are they?
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Former Florida quarterback Will Grier is transferring to West Virginia. (via @TravHaneyESPN) pic.twitter.com/OmaXJ9CCVq
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 6, 2016
This was later confirmed by a WVU press release. Grier, who visited March 2, was at WVU’s practice yesterday. He’s not at Florida anymore because he was suspended for a year in the middle of the 2015 season, and the Gators apparently wouldn’t guarantee Grier anything after his return.
The Mountaineers, though, are optimistic they can file a waiver on Grier’s behalf and have him eligible for the 2017 season-opener. If that doesn’t work, he sits next season (inevitable, no matter what) and the first six games of the 2017 season.
And that wasn’t the only news of the day.
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Rushel Shell, who has had two similar seasons at WVU, even if the numbers were slightly lower last season, went away from campus for spring break and gained a few pounds.
This was welcome news for the Mountaineers, and his coach says Shell is bigger and stronger but also faster now than ever before.
“I feel really comfortable at 230,” he said. “I feel like I’m still 215, but when I hit someone, it feels completely different.”
The fifth-year senior is indeed up 15 pounds from his playing weight last season, a “solid” and gradual addition to his frame. It’s been a goal for the Mountaineers for some time now as they try to get Shell to run to and through holes and replace the occasional finesse in his game with physicality.
If seven spring practices are to be trusted, Shell finally is who WVU thought he’d be when he transferred from Pitt in 2013 and sat out that season.
“This is the kid we were hoping we were going to see last year,” running backs coach JaJuan Seider said. “The light is on right now. If he continues what he’s doing, which I think he will, he’s going to be a happy man this time next year, because he’s going to be rich.”
