The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Isaiah Bruce’s backward steps

July 14, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Once upon a time, the Jacksonville native was a starting linebacker, an explosive blitzer and a certain star in the making who finished second to only Karl Joseph in tackles.

Time has passed and Bruce hasn’t been quite as good since then. I mean, he finished with 16 tackles in his first college game and 15 tackles in his third college season. I have to think he’s still a good college football player — I also think he missed Keith Patterson last year, so maybe with a year of Tony Gibson under his shoulder pads he’s due for a rebound — and the sum of this conversation is equal parts the players around him being (and getting) better than him and Bruce being wrongly evaluated early on with inflated statistics on a bad defense.

I don’t want to put too much into the latter — Bruce did make all those plays, his experience not withstanding — but the former matters. Wes Tonkery, Shaq Petteway, Brandon Golson, Ed Muldrow, etc., weren’t obstacles in 2012. They are now or have been since.

Still, you can’t help but wonder wonder why he hasn’t grown as was once predicted. Well, actually, Bruce is shrinking!

(P.S. Two guys I’ve heard about in recent conversations: Al-Rasheed Benton, who already was a wall before, and DTW, who’s slimmed down and added muscle.)

Big 12 preview: Iowa State

July 13, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Feels a little like it’s now or never for Paul Rhoads, but he does have some punch on offense and the defense just can’t be that bad again.

Big 12 preview: Baylor

by Mike Casazza

Baylor might also be No. 1 in the coaches poll, but alphabetically the Bears have the top sport in this preview order.

One of these authors is smarter than the other

by Mike Casazza

Sizable development right here, and I can’t endorse it strongly enough. If you’ve got a beach week or a weekend getaway or just a commute that gives your some free time, this is time and money well spent. It’s like Rosetta Stone for football, and just in time for the 2015 season.

While you wait, let’s peek at WVU’s receivers. It’s an interesting mix.

Continue reading…

Break

July 10, 2015 by Mike Casazza

I’m gone for a bachelor party this weekend. The wife and beagle will be near the bat signal. I thought about a F Double this week, because we’ve been on a little roll — little. Then I realized most of it would have been about expansion, and I didn’t want to do that, not because the topic doesn’t interest me but because the comments impressed me. I feel like addressing and discussing them closes the door on the topic. If nothing else, the topic shouldn’t be closed. I’ve gone in six different directions on expansion/realignment, and some things I or you thought that didn’t make sense before seem relevant now.

But also I don’t want to talk too much about something that won’t happen for years.

As for next week, that’s when the fun begins. The Big 12 will unveil its preseason poll, all-conference teams and superlatives. We’ll push through the rest of the team previews, and when that ends the Tier 4 WVU preview begins. I’ll leave the morning of the 19th for Big 12 media days. That’s also the first day of the 15-part season preview that ends Aug. 3, the first day of camp. It’s a big commitment from the studio, so I ask that you watch them as they happen, share them on your platforms and get the word out to those around you in advance.

It’s going to be bold, too, not only in the length but also in the topics. We’re not doing position previews or player features, and anything that looks like that actually isn’t because it’ll have a T4 slant. The things we talk and think and wonder about are the things we’re covering. Instead of a look at quarterbacks, we’ll ask if the situation is in fact settled. Instead of a prediction, we’ll examine the mechanics of the schedule. That sort of stuff. Many of your ideas matched up with mine, but I’ll admit I made some changes, too. The studio execs are excited. I trust you are too.

As always, thanks. You’re all Nate Sowers in my mind.

Big 12 Preview: The actual Big 12

July 9, 2015 by Mike Casazza

We’ve got 11 of these. We’ll roll them out alphabetically. Sorry for the wait.

I don’t want to have this talk, either

by Mike Casazza

Believe me, gang. Very few things interest me less than forward-thinking conversations about college conference expansion and realignment. We’ve done that dance, and my feet still hurt. I know it’s out there and it’s being covered and discussed, but I’m not completely sure why that is.

Or maybe I wasn’t completely sure.

That it’s so far off, to say nothing of so involved, so complex, so based on variables and so hard to predict, just zaps my interest. My eighth anniversary is coming up. I’m not worried about the platinum anniversary (then again, I only have a dozen years to save up for something special).

Typically — and you’ve heard this here before — I don’t worry about the problem as much as the solution. But in this case, the solution is just unattainable. What works today doesn’t work a decade from now. The focus then shifts to the problem, which in this case is the topic of more maneuverings. I don’t know that this is as much about the Big 12 collapsing as it is about the league growing. Can it grow? Should it grow? Will it grow?

Those are all important questions that feature separate deliberations and answers.

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Skyler Howard would prefer to play

July 8, 2015 by Mike Casazza

It seems funny, but for as sure a thing as Clint Tricket was at the start of last season, when he was firmly entrenched as the starter and there was no concern about a competition or controversy, Skyler Howard has actually been the leader at quarterback for a longer period of time now. Dana Holgorsen didn’t name Trickett his No. 1 until last June. Howard’s been the guy since the spring, and the praise keeps growing.

Now, Trickett did everything he could to validate his bona fides in his first eight games. Howard has yet to do that, and he lacks the experience Trickett had, which is why there is doubt he can be as effective or efficient, doubt that swelled after the bowl game.

That said, Howard has to play, right? I can’t listen to Holgorsen or the teammates glow about Howard and think he’s not best for the offense — and, sure, that might change over time if the offense sputters and passes sail or bounce to avoid the target. But right now, on the cusp of camp, it’s Howard, a gap and then William Crest, which might worry you. Howard knows that — all of that, I would imagine — which is why he’s working on himself to make sure he stays in the game and on task during games this season.

“I’ve been thinking about maybe not taking as many shots as Clint did,” said Howard, who is 6 feet tall and 208 pounds. “I’ve been working on the slide a little bit. It’s going to be an area of emphasis.”

Howard’s a more willing and more able runner than Trickett was. Holgorsen will call plays that ask Howard to run or give him the option to keep the ball. Howard will also sometimes run out of a pass play and try to gain yards with his legs that he couldn’t get with his arm.

With his value now increased, there will likely be fewer personalized running plays. With Howard much more familiar with the offense and all its plays and parts, he probably won’t bail on plays and scramble on his own as much, either.

When he hasn’t been working on his degree in communication studies, Howard has been shoring up his footwork and his positioning in the pocket so he’s plugged into plays for longer.

“My drop had been kind of closed off a little bit,” he said, “but I’m opening that up to where I can see the whole field more.”

Chase Harler continues to impress

by Mike Casazza

The Wheeling Central basketball star has long been hanging up silly numbers and raking in awards, but he’s really gotten our attention and earned our approval in other arenas. I can’t describe how much I endorse this:

So he can ball, he’s studious and he has the best deliquency imaginable. It also seems he’s turning into one of WVU’s best off-campus assets. He’s an ambassador outside the border.

Continue reading…

I guess it’s WVU day over at SB Nation

July 7, 2015 by Mike Casazza

On the estimable heels of the ever- informative Bill Connolly preview is this Q&A with WVU President E. Gordon Gee. He dips his bow tie into the expansion waters just a little bit.

Would I like to have maybe another member of our conference in this part of the world? Probably so, but those are discussions that are going to take place, and certainly that is part of the consideration.

The Mountaineers athletic department has a leadership void. Has since Oliver Luck departed in the winter. He was arguably the most visible and/or accessible athletic director around, and that did wonders for WVU in many ways.

Shane Lyons is not that — at least not yet. Oh, he’s seemingly fine at his job, and his job is leadership, but he’s not often in the lens. That’s what I mean when I reference a leadership void — an issue arises and a figure jumps to the forefront, if not in practice, then in the minds of others…and possibly even peers.

He’s busy being busy and getting acclimated, and the sense I get from people around or interacting with him is he’ll do his job behind the desk more than in front of reporters. That’s fine. The cat still gets skinned. But it’s a nice feature when an administrator has and uses clout, too, and let’s not ignore the fact every school better have a voice if expansion and realignment happens again.

But maybe that void is being filled.

Gee is in the midst of a wonderfully playful, self-deprecating, purposeful, likeable phase now, when he’s visible and accessible through various forms of media, either on his own of by way of invitation. It’s hard not to lean toward him and his shtick, which works favorably for his school. For all we know, Lyons may have that shot in his bag, but for now he can worry about staying in the fairway.