Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which — CHANGE!
Whispers about defensive line depth are swirling around whichever practice field WVU is on for a given day, and while I think it’s a bit of a reach to say the Mountaineers can roll three-deep, I do think parts can be arranged so that they function similarly. And I’m positive WVU looks better there than it has in years and that Erik Slaughter has better cards to play in his second season than he did in his first.
What does that mean? Literal line changes during the course of play.
This could happen at just about any point of any series in any game, so long as the players stoke Slaughter’s confidence.
There are some restrictions. If a play goes out of bounds on the opponent’s sideline, WVU can’t sub. If the play stops in the middle of the field, WVU can’t sub.
“There’s no way to do it,” Slaughter said. “You couldn’t get off and on the field and lined up in time.”
If a play goes out of bounds on WVU’s sideline, WVU can sub. If there’s an incomplete pass, WVU can sub. If the opponent subs, WVU can sub. If there’s a long gain by the offense, or if a long gain is called back by a penalty, and the pursuit has wiped out the defensive line, WVU can sub.
“They’ll just make eye contact and point and somebody will run in,” Slaughter said. “They’ll know when to go in and when we can sub. But it’s got to be quick.”
That’s what depth looks like and that’s a luxury WVU needs in the Big 12. Will it work? Well, you need three things. The Mountaineers have the bodies. Slaughter has confidence in the plan. They just need competence to make it effective and not destructive.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, know what you want.
(By the way, thanks for all the nice things you said this week. My job isn’t hard, but that sort of stuff makes it easier. And it makes my bosses happy. We’re adding to the audience here and your input, and the way you spread the word, is especially inviting. That has a lot to do with that.)
Mack said:
I was hoping Mike would address the polarizing topic known as Texts from Gameday.
Yeah, that’s not going anywhere. People would be mad as hell if I got rid of it. I was stunned some said they could do without it. Not that there’s something wrong with that, mind you, but that’s the one feature I thought people felt most strongly about. I mean, there are people who compete among a circle of friends to see who gets the most texts into the post. Some hurry to name the song I alter for the intro. Others plan their Monday lunch around it. It’s strong. It’s staying put.
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