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

Video blog: Day five

August 4, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Four things I didn’t get to, based on what I saw and have to believe:

1) Dustin Garrison looks great. He’s fit. He’s running sharp. He’s blocking well.

2) Tough guys who build the wall in front of Nick O’Toole: Mike Calicchio, Cody Clay, Jewone Snow.

3) Coaches and teammates really like Lamar Parker. They’re always congratulating him instead of encouraging him.

4) Brandon Golson would be where Wes Tonkery is if Golson were practicing and not in a green jersey. But don’t disregard Tonkery. A few guys have talked him up already.

One might call it a relaxed practice atmosphere

by Mike Casazza

Off to practice here soon, and well get a look at stretching and Oklahoma drills and special teams, oh my!

Then again, special teams is no small matter at WVU. The situation with the numbers on the roster and the wealth of veterans on offense and defense does not pass by special teams. The impact might be the best there because of the way the Mountaineers limit participation.

Put simply, Joe DeForest is loaded, loaded to the point he has the entire two-deep back on the punt team that led the Big 12 in net punting a year ago. He said he put together a three-deep for the various units for practice and had a hard time because it could have been a four-deep.

These are odd and useful scenarios and it stands to benefit the Mountaineers because they were, as DeForest said, “awful” on returns last season. But with so much continuity, with so many people who now know what the heck they’re doing, it ought to improve, especially with returners who aren’t doing it for the first time.

“I don’t want to put it all on them,” DeForest said. “Our return game, everywhere I’ve been, has been good. We’ve just got to plug away with what we’re doing. The guy with the ball in his hand is critical, but don’t forget the guys who had the ball in their hands last season were (first-year players). There’s something to be said about experience.

“It’s just like a running back. You get a feel for where the seams are going to be and where the holes are going to be. Kickoff return is no different. They’ll be better and the 10 guys in front of them will be better doing their jobs holding their guys up for the return.”

Dana Holgorsen: Camp day five

by Mike Casazza

Here’s the rest of the press conference, and I urge you to consider the discussion at the 9:25 mark. To me, that’s a significant shift from Dana as well as a sure sign that Crest is on his way.

He has a point, no?

by Mike Casazza

He’s not wrong.

Continue reading…

Quinton Spain gets down

by Mike Casazza

Quinton Spain weighs right around 335 pounds right now, and you can tell it’s good on him, it’s good for him. This is what happens when time and tactics merge lanes in the weight room and accelerate down the highway. Spain, now a fifth-year senior, looks right.

He’s always looked big, and sometimes maybe too big, but, hey, 6-foot-5 is 6-foot-5. At that elevation, at that size, at that position, you need weight and it tends to come quicker and go away slower.

But there was a time when Spain was over 370 pounds when he showed up on campus and he needed and took time to get into the 36os and then the 350s. Given how strength and conditioning is a 12 month gig and how the dietitian is so available and willing and above all else influential, a transformation was bound to happen.

Spain played in the 330s last season, but was in the 340s again at the end and in the spring. Now he’s in a good place and in great shape. That’s big, especially for a big guy. Remember, the first week or two of camp used to be spent getting guys into football shape. That stuff happens in June and July now.

Spain was ready for the summer, never mind the season, because he turned back the clock in the spring.

Quinton Spain, intramural power forward.

Continue reading…

The plot thickens!

August 2, 2014 by Mike Casazza

We met with assistant coaches today, and I had to ask deadpanning Joe DeForest … even though I knew there was nothing to it.

Or so I thought?

Swoll

August 1, 2014 by Mike Casazza

You’ll notice a bunch of things in this running backs drill, perhaps none more obvious than the fact there are a lot of running backs.

Then you’ll see that Dustin Garrison (29) has really done a nice job filling out his frame through the years. He’s not big, but he’s done a lot with what he has, and perhaps a better upper body is the result of injuries that have kept him off his feet.

Then you’ll see a more svelte Dreamius Smith (2), who was up at 228 pounds late last season, heavier than he’d ever been, and  is now right around 215.

Then there’s Wendell Smallwood (4), who’s practicing without any prohibitions.

Later you see enormous Rushel Shell (7) and diminutive Eric Pittman (25) before Andrew Buie (13) makes it through without getting splattered, and you get the idea WVU has the personnel and the potential to run inside zone and outside zone and power and probably even option plays out of who-knows-how-many formations.

But the closer wearing No. 8? That’s freshman Dontae Thomas-Williams and he looks like no one else in that group at 6 feet tall and 225 pounds. Who’s telling that guy he’s redshirting in the fall?

“Caz, Caz, Caz…how did Crest look?”

by Mike Casazza

Big. And not unlike this.

Also, +1 for punitive pushups!

Back in action, ideally not on his back

by Mike Casazza

Trickett-Millard-Howard-Crest. That was your drill order Thursday, and if you’re wondering, Dana Holgorsen pretty much pulled the plug on the Logan Moore Experiment later in the day.

He does everything for us. He’s got a role on this team. He’s an extra arm, he’s an emergency quarterback, he’s an inside receiver, and he’s a special teams player. He’s a guy who’s just a role player, and we’re glad he’s here.

I don’t believe any of that is a surprise, and we have to believe it’s long been a goal to have clear order at that position during this camp. That’s why Trickett was named the starter more than five weeks ago.

And now that the Mountaineers have their guy at the top of the depth chart, the top priority is to maintain that order. And that’s not easy because we also know Trickett is slight and the hits accumulate. That’s something the coaches circled back in April and that’s something Dana told me in June that WVU knows “isn’t going to change.”

So the Mountaineers won’t worry about the problem. They’ll worry about the solution, which is teaching Trickett self-preservation during hands-off camp.

“We’ll study the film for (Thursday), even with it being no-contact, so he can understand, ‘I didn’t trigger the ball here. I would have gotten hit. I worked out of the pocket here and tried to get away from the guy and didn’t throw it when he got within arm’s reach of me,’ ” Holgorsen said. “He’s got to work on it through all the reps. Even though we won’t touch him this camp, we will be able to say, ‘Look, man, you should have done this and not done that.’ ”

There’s no open portion of practice today or Holgorsen press conference. There are only five of each in camp and they’re on the same day — yesterday and Aug. 4, 7, 11 and 14. The player interviews were uneventful today, and I still can’t figure out the Original Recipe for who we are and are not allowed to talk to. One day, I suppose.

Nothing and no one was terribly exciting. Trickett said he’s healthy and he’s learned his Twitter lesson, and people will somehow write stories on both. He also talked about the topic we devoted this space to here and said he needs to be careful about being safe for the good of the team and, yeah, it wasn’t terribly exciting. Tomorrow: Assistant coaches!

Dana Holgorsen discusses opening day

by Mike Casazza

I’m still not at peace with the fact Clint Trickett is off Twitter, nor am I OK with touting Jacky Marcellus like two hours before we found out he’s out for the season. Nevertheless, Dana’s first get-together with the media was filled with discoveries. It’s time for us to speak to the players we’re allowed to speak to. If the event warrants such attention, I’ll share more discoveries.