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

“Holy Hot Rod Hundley! Heavens to Bimbo Coles!”

April 18, 2012 by Mike Casazza

It’s WVU v. Virginia Tech inside the Coliseum next season and then, presumably, in Blacksburg, Va., in the following season. That, I say, fulfills the “mysterious high-major” and does so better than Kent State satisfied “mysterious mid-major” a season ago. It’s a home game/non-conference series and next season it gives WVU high-majors at home, on the road and on a neutral floor.

And there’s more history to the series than the recent past suggests, as chronicled by JackBo. He’s covered both sides of the deal and knows the history both ways … but then there’s this nugget submerged in the entertainment.

This coming season, those would be the Hokies at home, at Purdue on national TV – perhaps in the midst of the Big 12 Conference season – and against Coach John Beilein and Michigan in mid-December at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

WVU goes to Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center to meet Duquesne, and faces Marshall in the Charleston Civic Center in a game likely to be moved from its recent mid-January, State Legislature-in-town time to early to mid-December.

That won’t go over very well.

Hey, it’s working!

April 17, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Sorry for the delay … out of my control. Things are going to move fast today because the technological errors shortened the day, but, to review …

– WVU is going to lose and perhaps promptly gain an assistant basketball coach.

– WVU is going to finish its basketball schedule and fill that “mysterious high-major.”

As for football, practice is open this afternoon and we’ll see if Andrew Buie is healthy and full-go again. Or was he jinxed when someone wrote this?

“I feel real good, to be honest,” the Jacksonville, Fla., native said. “I probably haven’t felt this good physically since last camp -since I first got here. My body just feels so fresh.”

There’s a good explanation. The Mountaineers are in the final third of spring practice and the Mountaineers really don’t tackle a lot in spring practice. Buie’s biggest bugaboo as a freshman was getting tackled.

Actually, getting whacked. Tackling Buie was oftentimes more of an event than a statistic for a defender.

“I’ve been in some wars, I took some big shots, I got some bruises,” the 5 foot, 9 inch, 185-pound Buie said.

Said this before, but pretty impressive that Buie owned the fact he got hit hard and got hit hard a lot last season. Even better that he’s determined to learn from those instances.

Holgorsen has hired hornets

April 16, 2012 by Mike Casazza

The secret of WVU’s success is succinctly explained by the head coach as Dana Holgorsen’s second Mountaineers team prepares for its first season in the Big 12. “We probably know a lot more about the Big 12 than the Big 12 knows about us.”

OK, that won’t always be true, but that’s probably the best preparation for a debut like the one WVU is about to make. Holgorsen knew what he knew about the Big 12 from his prior stops and when it came time to really put his thumb print on things during this offseason, he knew exactly who and what he wanted.

“We invaded some of the Big 12 schools and Conference USA schools out that way, to bring that type of culture here to West Virginia,” said Holgorsen, coming off a 10-3 season and a Big East championship in his first year. “We’re not going to go into a hornet’s nest without knowing about it. Now that in itself isn’t going to win you any games, but I do think it will be beneficial in the long run.”

Tyler Anderson is going to play, plus this one nugget

by Mike Casazza

I’ve been tracking Tyler Anderson throughout the spring — and actually longer. He was a signing day story in 2009 when he decided to pursue his potential and walk on at WVU rather than take a scholarship at Bowling Green. People at Morgantown High told me the kid would play for WVU, as opposed to could.

Looks like everyone was right. He’s still a walk on, though that could be just a matter of time, and he’s made the most of the coaching changes and the fluid depth chart. He’s listed as the No. 1 defensive end but is really going to play the Buck linebacker position most of the time.

And why is that? How is it that a smallish defensive end and a walk on linebacker has such definitive plans?

Versatility, quickness and leverage are key ingredients for Holgorsen’s defensive staff as the Mountaineers head toward the speed drill that is Big 12 Conference football. Anderson isn’t worried about having to wrestle 300-pound offensive linemen … mostly because he won’t be put into that position very often.

“We’re going to blitz a lot, and try to bring in a fourth, or a fifth, or a sixth guy 80 percent of the time,” DeForest said. “What that does is hopefully get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand quicker.

“When you attack the quarterback, he has to react quicker, and hopefully that will give us the chance to create more turnovers.”

Friday Feedback

April 13, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which found the mysterious missing quarterback. Geno Smith showed up shortly after the media left Thursday and went through the rest of the day’s practice. I’m told he had a school thing to deal with and it held him up for an hour or so. Whatever. We’re grasping at stories now, but spring practice is nearly over and, really, very little has happened.

Not a lot of movement on the depth chart. Most of the “movement” is actually setting order at positions. I think some stuff is experimental (defensive line) or temporary (cornerbacks) and at some places the deck will be shuffled in preseason camp (receiver).

Only two injuries, too, and you usually see a whole lot more red in the spring than this. Ryan Clarke is slowed by a walking boot and a lower extremity injury, but it’s perhaps fortuitous because Donovan Miles gets more action. Ivan McCartney has apparently been very good this week since returning from injury. Everything else is geared toward simply installing the defense and mastering situations on offense. I guess it beats the alternative, which you saw last year.

I now have my eyes on the spring game and, specifically, the crowd. WVU wants 30,000, but I really have to wonder. It seems to me, in talking to so many of the people I’ve met in the past few weeks, in answering email and Tweets, in trying to run this blog, there are a lot of unknowns and a lot of questions about this team this spring.

Honestly, there just hasn’t been a lot of information let or put out there and the general point of the spring game has been downplayed so much —  “It’s just a practice.” — that it all might conspire to discourage. It doesn’t seem like the sort of curiosity that will inspire a big crowd, but timing is everything, right? And WVU rolled out a royal red carpet this week and got a lot of valuable exposure and probably generated some excitement about next Saturday.

Speaking of, show of hands: Who’s going to the spring game?  Why or why not? Maybe I’ll clean out my garage and invite everyone over for some sweet tea. Maybe I have a mini-book tour to pull off that morning and night.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, keep it clean.

Jeff in Akron said:

Off topic. if a person wanted to listen to a WVU sports talk radio station during morning drive, or any other time, what station would someone that lived in WV set there radio dial to?

No such program or platform exists. No, seriously.

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Something’s missing

April 12, 2012 by Mike Casazza

This is a quarterback drill Thursday and those are WVU’s quarterbacks going through the footwork preparations. Those quarterbacks are Paul Millard and Ford Childress. Geno Smith was missing in action and no one I talked to knew that he was gone, or why. Later we were told he was not injured and would be out on the field later — though we never saw him before we had to leave.

It’s highly irrelevant, but it did put practice in a pinch because you need at least three arms to get through WVU’s practice plan.

Millard, Childress … Holgorsen!

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The “what if?” that comes with Dana Holgorsen

by Mike Casazza

Long and  impressive is the WVU head coach’s track record with college quarterbacks, but long and impressive is his list of mailing addresses, too. This is his seventh place from where he’s drawn a paycheck since 1993, which, with apologies to Valdosta State, Mississippi College and the like, isn’t really a commentary on character or wandering eyes, but on climbing a ladder to reach a point — and sometimes taking a step to the side or a step down in order to move up.

But here he is, if not established in residency, than in reputation as a skilled offensive mentor with a knack for tutoring passers. Yet he’s done it without dropping an anchor more than once in his career, though that one eight-year spell in west Texas has a lot to do with the street cred he’s since developed.

No matter his tenure at one spot, it is brow-arching to see what his quarterbacks have done in one or two years. He’s had a bunch of seniors, but very rarely has that player been his starter for more than a year before that. There’s something to be said for being in the system for years and listening and practicing for years, but it’s very different before you play. Every time, though, those veteran players/first-year starters have played beyond their experience, though not beyond their years.

The position has been successful, though cyclical, which we’ve talked about here. Holgorsen is fortunate to have a wunderkind like Eu on campus, but you do wonder what might be for Paul Millard, Ford Childress and the names that might follow if Holgorsen digs in at WVU.

“At Texas Tech we did. I was there for a long time, and we had a bunch of guys coming back that understood, and I think we started four senior quarterbacks in a row, which made things easier and better,” he said.

And then he went to Houston and met up with Keenum.

“Year two at Houston with Case was a lot easier but again, the thing that got better wasn’t like the production aspect of things but it was the success of the situations and stuff. We are just trying to become a better, more explosive offense. A ‘get more yards’ offense, a smarter offense that is good in situations and understands first downs, and I feel like that is where we are going.”

He’s no dummy: Light comes on for Lageman

by Mike Casazza

Three seasons, 11 games and finally a break for J.B. Lageman, the now former walk-on defensive lineman from Huntington.

And I don’t want to alarm you, but a kid who played three games his first two years and eight last season is the backup defensive tackle behind Will Clarke — and Clarke is going to play all over the line in 2012.

The good news is that Lageman, who’s not going to short you on effort or desire, believes he’s a good fit for the way this defensive line will align and acquit itself. Good story and you can’t hold his sticktoitiveness or his right-place, right-time good fortunate against him.

“Yeah, I mean there were times in my career, to be honest, where I didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” said Lageman, who has played only in 11 career games, eight of those last season. “It was tough taking my blows, keep coming back and being a scout team guy, kind of being a tackling dummy every day.

“But now it’s really paying off huge, the possibility of maybe being a starter or at least a mainstay player. It’s a huge accomplishment for me.”

Karl Joseph answers, and rings, the bell

by Mike Casazza

This is Karl Joseph and this is the guy who has people talking late in spring football at WVU. At a time when and at a position where the defense clearly needed a player, Joseph has stepped forward as the one true freshman who has really made something of his opportunity … and he doesn’t understand why that surprises you.

Watch the film and see No. 8 slice into the backfield or angle through the blocking to knock people down and make impacting plays. Certainly you can begin to understand why he was regarded as one  of the nation’s best safety prospects and one  of Florida’s best players last season. Just don’t judge his game by his highlights.

“I’m very physical and that’s what a lot of coaches liked about me, but I played in the box a lot in high school and was used on the field to make plays,” he said. “I did more than just come downhill and hit somebody.”

It’s not easy convincing those just getting to know him. There are highlight clips online that show him running through opponents and playing in a way that might encourage other teams to stay away from him.

However, Joseph and his coaches didn’t allow that. He played close to the line of scrimmage in high school, either as a linebacker or a safety given permission to freelance, and developed a reputation.

He says it’s not entirely accurate.

“A lot of people don’t know I was recruited as a cornerback a whole lot,” Joseph said. “I’ve got pretty good coverage skills.”

Ryan Clarke is hanging on this senior season

April 11, 2012 by Mike Casazza

And I mean that literally. According to the tested fullback, he hasn’t fumbled the ball in close to a year — could be more, could be less, but he’s not entirely sure … and I’ll get to why that matters.

As best as he can remember, he had a few bobbles early in the 2011 spring practice and those preceded Dana Holgorsen’s very public, very covered “or else” warning, and that came before a Robert Gillespie-coerced fumble in a subsequent practice.

Since then? Nothing.

Well, nothing, except an asterisk.

“I don’t feel like I got the ball again after that,” he said.

I’m going to believe that. He didn’t carry once last season, so I’m inclined to believe they didn’t practice giving him carries he was never going to get in a game. And on top of that, it seemed to be big news whenever Clarke did fumble, so if it happened during a regular-season practice, it probably would have been mentioned in a press conference.

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