I don’t know that we’re going to top this anytime soon. We ran the gamut: Awkwardness, tension, laughter, revelations, philosophy. It was taxing. Kudos to both gentlemen involved. I like them both, so it pleases me to know they’re capable of light and professional moments like this.
In honor of Dana Holgorsen’s passing offense, I taped this with a slant. My bad if you don’t like it. And I forgot to mention one player who was at practice: Previously suspended defensive back Travis Bell.
(Nighttime update: Jacky Marcellus is out for the season with a knee injury, so he won’t be the guy I referenced as a possible inside receiver. Dana said K.J. Myers made the move inside, so I’d guess Gibson, who I used hypothetically, is a keeper outside. That’s not bad news.
There were only a few other injuries and the biggest is K.J. Dillon. He rolled an ankle during his break and will be out about a week. We knew Jared Barber would be slow to recover, and Dana said he’s about a month away as he rehabs a torn ACL, but that’s probably not abnormal since he got hurt in the Texas game.
Also, Walter Rauterkus left the team after a short time on campus.
Now, for the first-year players. These things are touchy every season, which is why I was so impressed and, frankly, excited about avoiding the drama last season. Anyhow, it’s difficult to get a straight answer on the first day and different people hear different things and then we ask people different things and get different answers. It’s ripe for misinformation.
I tweeted earlier that I was told Jacob McCrary was good to go. The same person later told me that was premature, and that was after Dana’s press conference, where he mentioned Dontae Angus and Jaylon Myers and said they were not yet cleared. He didn’t mention McCrary, who is on the roster, so it was probably safe to assume he was good to go.
But I’m going to say that’s not correct as of now, and Dana probably forgot about it, or wasn’t asked about it, and just didn’t mention the kid. He also left Justin Scott out of the conversation, likely for the same forgetfulness. I doubt he’s worried much about guys who aren’t here.
So, officially, none of those four guys are good to go, but we can assume, albeit dangerously, that McCrary is the best “bet” among those four since he’s on the roster and some thought had to go into that. I doubt Myers makes it. You might see one or two of the four make it. And remember, Darrien Howard went deep into camp last year before he was approved.
Hopefully that clears up the confusion and makes up for the time I left you in the lurch. I wanted to get a vlog to you fast and because I wouldn’t have time after Dana’s presser. Newspaper deadlines aren’t fun for readers, either.)
You can point out the problems at quarterback last season. You can remind viewers the defense was decimated by injuries. You can explain close games, wasted leads, overtime losses and toss-up plays that contribute to each. If you do it all properly, you can make the case WVU is due.
You can talk at length about the way the roster is tiered and arranged. You can say it hasn’t been this way in years and there’s been a price attached to that. You can recite the team has 55 players who have played in the Big 12 and that the program has visited every venue and been in the conference for two years and state confidently the surprises are over.
But you just can’t get past this: West Virginia University has to be a whole lot better on defense in 2014 … and maybe, based on the stuff from the first two paragraphs, ought to be a whole lot better on defense in 2014.
It’s not that easy, and the Mountaineers have ably proved that the past two season, but the variables are there to project some optimism moving forward, and that process begins today. Of course, it begins with another defensive coordinator, as well as a reimagined defensive staff, in what I think we can agree to call a notable season for Dana Holgorsen.
So, um, that’s a lot on Tony Gibson’s plate in his first year as a linebacker coach and defensive coordinator. He and I went over all of that, plus Tom Bradley, big plays, sneaky additions and changes on his defense as we get ready to begin preseason camp shortly.
The men’s basketball team’s non-conference schedule is out and it has some oddities. We already knew the Marshall game would be on a Sunday and we’re glad to see a second game in the Charleston Civic Center against always-entertaining VMI. There’s no Duquesne, which is rare, and there’s a road game against Northern Kentucky, which, you’ll remember, won an exhibition game inside the Coliseum as a Division II team in 2011.
And here’s where we argue the central point: Is it hard or has Bob Huggins taken a smaller bite?
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@mikecasazza First time I can ever remember reading something that was both mind numbing AND fascinating.
— steve p. (@SydneyCarton1) July 30, 2014
Yeah, reading what follows might drive you crazy, but in this time where we call NCAA enforcement “broken” and argue whether cheating pays or if that’s even a fair thing to say within intercollegiate athletics, we took a look at another part of the problem.
Schools and the NCAA devote a lot of resources to secondary violations. We took a look at 15 months at WVU and things the Mountaineers had to police in areas as severe as envelope size, Twitter feeds, when a recruit’s dad ate and billed a meal, so on and so forth.
It’s all sort of silly, but it’s also a drain on enforcement.
“The key question is, ‘Is all of it necessary?’” Luck said “Are we wasting time and resources because of a tweet or a phone call on the wrong day or a meal that was provided inappropriately? That’s really a legitimate question. With all the resources we have, does it make sense to spend all that energy and money doing all of that oversight stuff?”
Allow me to set your table today with a Tier 4 production. I’ll be back with more WVU and football stuff later, but I need to add this because I’ve only confirmed it after uploading the vlog:
No sign (yet) of Dontae Angus, Jacob McCrary, Jaylon Myers and Justin Scott. Dana Holgorsen will get into this with his 7:30 press conference this evening, but those four face odds right now.
And in addition to some additions we’ve previously discovered and discussed — Cullen Christian, Shaq Riddick, Demitrious and Chris Davis — get to know Darian Bryant. The Vanderbilt graduate walked after just three years and will be with WVU today. Formerly a defensive end, he’ll start out with the Mountaineers as that TE/FB type. Bryant will walk on and be immediately eligible with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
As long as it’s not yet July 31, I’m still on vacation as I recharge and reload for the upcoming season. We have our first practice Thursday and this thing won’t end for another five months. I expect a lot of fun here and there and everywhere in between.
I’ll leave you with this post as a way to get by until we get started. Surely things will happen in my absence, because we’re so close to the beginning and not because I’m away.
I also have a request for you.
Believe it or not, I have most of my camp coverage planned. I have the story ideas I want to pursue and the players and coaches I want to profile, and I even have some of the days set. The Tier 4 studio has been dusted and the camera charged.
But I know better and I built in wiggle room for things that will change my plans and stories that pop up and demand my attention. Which leads me to this: I don’t work or live in a vacuum. I’m here for a reason. Early on, tell me about something or someone you’ like to see covered here or in the newspaper … understanding those are different animals.
See you soon.
Dana Holgorsen says WR Shelton Gibson is back with team. Source says Davis twins will transfer from Kentucky and walk on at WVU.
— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) July 22, 2014
Let’s reset the Gibson situation, which I did in a few subsequent tweets I won’t stack here.
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Much was made this week, whether in Dallas or off in Greensboro, North Carolina, or even Bristol, Connecticut, of the Big 12’s scheduling nuances. It has nine regular-season games, but that means it has the high visibility’s only true round robin format.
That, though, doesn’t matter to some as it relates to crowning a conference champion. The other four highly visible leagues play eight or nine games, and this avoid some teams, often to a benefit, but settle it all in a conference championship game.
It’s a vivid variable right now as we begin to fret about and fixate upon the College Football Playoff. The Big 12 knows it and can’t and won’t hide behind the “One True Champion” sloga it paraded around the media days. Even Bob Bowlsby more or less admitted there was a method to “why we are promoting the difference between how we determine a champion and how other leagues determine their champions.”
That’s posture.
He knows and we all know push and shove will meet at one point and the conversation will occur: What does the selection committee make of the Big 12’s format when compared to another league’s format?
“From our perspective, we don’t care,” Hancock said. “We just take the champions the conference gives us. Conferences through the years have been helped by having championship games and have been hurt by having championship games. The Big 12 was helped some years and hurt some other years. It’s a conference decision and we stay on the sideline. They give us the teams they give us.
“Having said that, you can make a case for a championship game because it gives two teams another game against a quality opponent and a chance to enhance the quality of schedule. But I just don’t see it as being a big factor for the committee one way or the other.”
Naturally, right?
But as the backlash rises against the Big 12 commissioner — and I’m not sure which is getting more … the “cheating pays” or the “you’re going to hate” intercollegiate athletics — there are a few things we have to consider.
First and foremost, Bowlsby and the Big 12 support providing student-athletes the total cost of attendance … even as Bolsby concedes it will cause trouble. And that effect should not be overlooked. I don’t think it’s a media days talking point. Didn’t think that when we were talking about months ago.
Additionally, it seems clear that more often than not, Bowlsby is the smartest man in the room. He does not speak off the cuff. He prepares. He has things like data and precedent in his pocket. He worked at the mid-major level and also serves on the USOC’s board of directors, both important distinctions when the conversation includes dropping Olympic sports.
He’s also been spitting that line about cheating for a while now, and he told our Derek Redd the same thing last month when we did that series on reform. The idea that “enforcement is broken” is not new. It’s not. It’s easy to combat or attempt to dispel, but it’s not new. We’ve heard about this for years.
So the idea that budgets might bulge or burst while further accommodating these coming student-athlete welfare initiatives, that’s logical, right? And if that’s logical, and if we have merely a modicum of knowledge of expense vs. revenue, we can anticipate a pinch in the future, correct?
So why then is what Bowlsby predicts so obtuse? It really isn’t, and allow his compatriot in Morgantown to explain.