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

Back to work

August 13, 2012 by Mike Casazza

WVU, which had yesterday off and sort of celebrated with a fan day over at the practice facility, returns to the practice field today. It’s the last week of the “preseason camp” deal for the Mountaineers and they’ll begin to scale back and narrow their focus in preparation for the regular season next week.

This is an interesting time that can be difficult to navigate because players are getting comfortable with, or at least acclimated to, what’s happening to and around them. Yet no one wants complacency because this week is a big week as the Mountaineers move forward.

Leadership is required, and while the offense has its known names, the opportunity to be someone and something on defense is there.

How one player indirectly keys offensive line’s leap

by Mike Casazza

Interesting concept right there that perhaps we never fully accounted for last season. The Mountaineers right now have a group of eight to 10 players they seem to really like and trust, which makes for better practices, better depth and a better push for starting spots and playing time.

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In which the player teaches the coach

by Mike Casazza

WVU has never been worried about Dustin Garrison this preseason. All the comments and projections have been dripping with confidence and even satisfaction. To hear the Mountaineers, including Garrison, tell it, there is no concern.

He’s been in a green jersey for limited participation and he’s been in the white for full participation in both days with and without hitting, but he’s never been in the red jersey. That’s a big, big plus.

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Farewell, onside kicks; Hello, craziness?

by Mike Casazza

You won’t be seeing plays like that anymore to hatch comebacks and fuel excitement at the end of games. Well, you could but it would not behoove the kicking team because the catching team can now signal a fair catch to field all of the high one-hop kicks like this.

It makes the play a lot safer for the crash test dummy camping out under the kick who used to get detonated as part of the play’s design. The dummy is now protected as college football continues to focus on safety, even on player that are inherently and inevitably dangerous.

That high, one-hop trick was the most reliable, most trusted way for a kicker to kick and a team to recover when it absolutely needed the ball back. The NCAA’s switch this this season sends kickers and special teams coaches back to the drawing board.

So say goodbye to the old way, but before you say goodbye to the anxious moments it once caused, realize we now have a new unknown to anticipate. Just imagine drama manufactured by new ideas or old ones that either never existed or were never used because of the way the rule once was.

“Now you have no control because you have no idea how the ball is going to bounce once you make it hit quickly to get that first bounce,” said kicker Tyler Bitancurt, who has been in charge of onside kicks throughout his career. “It could take a big hop. It could roll right into their hands. You’d like to have a little more control in what could be an important situation.”

The other rules that impact onside kicks remain the same and teams can’t have fewer than four players on either side of the kicker. DeForest said that while WVU hasn’t practiced any of them yet, he has ideas for how to have effective onside kicks. He said they involve shifting and motion, two or three kickers and even a holder who could end up kicking the ball.

“There will be more of a premium on that stuff because you lost what was almost a sure thing in the high one-hopper with the new rules,” Smith said.

Everything bad that you’ve heard or said …

August 11, 2012 by Mike Casazza

… about WVU’s defensive line? Yeah, well, WVU’s defensive linemen have heard all of that, too, either on their own or from equally attentive coach Erik Slaughter. And they’re taking it personally.

Who is WVU’s most popular player?

by Mike Casazza

Quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital, mighty popular in his own right, outlines the battle to be the backup quarterback. Interesting that Paul Millard’s “I can do that” attitude, popularized during his freshman year, continues as a sophomore.

Friday Feedback

August 10, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, working without a contract since 2007! Are you worried?

Look, I’ll admit it’s extraordinarily unusual to work 20 months without a contract, except that Dana Holgorsen wasn’t working without a contract. That terms and conditions sheet is a contract and covers what needs to be covered. There was also no need or desire to make something formal during last season.

So figure the process really begins in January.

Well, Dana and 10 touchdowns changed the thinking, which was already changing because of that whole Big 12 thing. There was bound to be some time involved. There was also a pecking order to be established and, quite frankly, locking up a football coach who wasn’t going anywhere, and wasn’t going to go public with frustrations that didn’t exist, wasn’t a priority.

Not above the baseball program. Not above the rest of the athletic department as it readied for the Big 12.

There was a goal line, though, and we were either past it or nearing it, depending on if the target as the start of camp or the start of the season — and I’d heard both. Doesn’t matter. It’s done. It doesn’t wipe away worries for the next six seasons, but it sure helps.

Especially Dana. Consider this: He can leave at any time for any job. There is no non-compete clause that you could previously find in other coaching contracts at WVU. He can go to a Big 12 job and use what he knows about the players and coaches at WVU to beat the Mountaineers several years in a row. It would cost him $2 million.

WVU could fire him at any point for unsatisfactory performance. It would owe Dana his total compensation (base plus supplemental pay) for the remaining years on his contract — ie, he has a third straight losing season in 2014, WVU fires him, WVU pays him $8.5 million ($2.7 million for 2015 and $2.9 million for 2016 and 2017).

Should WVU fire him at the latest point inside the contract, it would still owe him $900,000 more than he would ever have to pay WVU.

Not unusual, but notable.

The retention incentives are something else, too. The annual ones are fine, and very common, but the extra $50,000 in March 2013 and $300,000 in March 2o14 are new to me. There are explanations, and we’ll hit them later, but it’s still big for Dana. His “salary” will be $3.05 million if he coaches WVU in 2014.

Two more things: Isn’t Dana worth a whole lot more after a BCS game/win? And not just worth more to WVU, but to someone who might seek to hire him, right? Shouldn’t the buyout go up a little after a BCS game/win? It’s not entirely foreign. Coaches have escalators for a BCS win because, ahem, they’re worth more with that under their belts.

Lastly, Dana has separate bonuses for bowl appearances and wins and BCS appearances and wins. This will all probably change soon. There’s no language about the playoff. There’s no language about the Champions Bowl arrangement with the SEC.

A playoff appearance has to have a huge payday. So, too, must a Champions Bowl bid. It’s not a BCS game, but it sure isn’t a regular bowl either. If I’m coaching a team in that game, and I know the game is going to be worth $60 million or so — $30 million or so to each conference — I want some more money for it.

Onto the Feedback. Comments appear as posted. In other words, forever and ever, amen.

Mack said:

Reminds me of 2008. They started the year around #8 and were unranked by week 3 or 4. Amazing.

Haven’t been in the top 10 since, but there are parallels. Legendary quarterback returns. Young defense. Some new coaches and the unknown that comes with that. Uncertainty at running back. If there’s a hurricane floating around the northeast in a few weeks — never mind. Move along, nothing to see here.

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Love Shaq’s move to middle

by Mike Casazza

That’s an order, not opinion. Right now, it’s not been easy on Mr. Petteway, who kind of cringes when he wakes up in the morning, because the physical price is much steeper than it was before. Deep down, though, he’s a fan of that variety of football and fine with paying the fine, especially since he’s better able now to give as much and as well as he gets.

“You have to be nasty and you have to be able to bring it every day, every play,” he said.

The position tends to bring that out of players, even as one as smooth and collected as Petteway is off the field. On Monday, the first day in pads and with contact, Petteway slammed into a lineman for the umpteenth time and thought the 6 foot, 5 inch, 335-pound Spain pushed and pulled a little too long after the whistle.

So Petteway went back at Spain, never mind the 5 inches and 110 pounds Spain had on him. Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Keith Patterson certainly didn’t.

“He came up to me after the play and told me that linebackers don’t take that from anybody in his defense,” Petteway said.

Yet there is an issue here that we’re probably ignoring. WVU is asking a lot of people to do a lot of different things on defense this season. Petteway is making a move to a position where he could play, or start. That’s normal in the spring. We’re in August. Can someone pull it off in Joe DeForest’s 7? Linebacker Jared Barber says yes and you’ll love the explanation why.

Shawne Alston shares the secret

by Mike Casazza

Really, this isn’t a secret. Dana Holgorsen has always been obsessed with notching positive plays and avoiding negative ones. We got that impression when we first got to know him last year and those who have known him far longer thought that focus would really help in his first season at WVU.

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What I was expecting, but not what I hoped for

by Mike Casazza

Hey, Dana Holgorsen. You just signed a six-year, $20.5 million contract. What are you going to do next?

Oh.

“Watched a bunch of film all night,” he said. “We stayed here past 11 o’clock, had some fine dining in the back, went to the film room and sat there trying to get better.”

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