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

Head coach no longer offensive coordinator …

April 11, 2012 by Mike Casazza

… so what does Dana Holgorsen do with WVU’s defense?

What does the guy who once said he just needed to keep Jeff Casteel happy to keep the defense humming now do on that side of the three-sided ball? Casteel is gone. Holgorsen hired two people to share the duties atop the defensive flow chart. He handed the official reigns of his offense to Shannon Dawson.

Dana stepped back and … well, he lets his coaches coach.

“It’s probably hard to find guys like that, but it definitely frees you up to be able to interject and to be sure you’re headed in the right direction,” said linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Keith Patterson.

DeForest and Patterson were the offeseason additions. Patterson is a 10-year college coaching veteran who last worked at Pitt with Todd Graham, who was a defensive coordinator when he was at WVU, but became deeply involved in offense as he progressed as a head coach.

Patterson finds Holgorsen’s approach unique, but effective.

“Sometimes a head coach can be too involved,” Patterson said. “Dana knows what he wants defensively and he laid out a blueprint and said, ‘Here’s what I want,’ and he hired a group of people and entrusted them to do what he wants. He’s not a hands-on-every-day, in-every-meeting coach, but he’s definitely the head coach and he knows what he wants on defense.”

Josh Jenkins: Right place, right time?

by Mike Casazza

hershy112 said:

Mike,

How has Jenkins looked so far in practice? How has his transition been with Bedenbaugh’s style? I feel like he had the talent coming in as a freshman, but wasn’t well coached. I’m anxioius to see how he does with the new staff.

Honestly, I don’t know. We really only get to see a stripped-down part of practice. It’s busy and it’s good for video and photography, but not too useful for my steno pad. Hard to draw many conclusions from the same drills you see every other day.

That said, Jenkins seems like a certain first-teamer who’s repping with that top five every time we see him. I think he limps from time to time when he’s walking in and out of interviews, but what’s that mean?

Continue reading…

Doug Rigg doesn’t give a rip

April 10, 2012 by Mike Casazza

WVU’s junior linebacker played so well and made so many meaningful plays with one good hand and one hand in a cast last season that the question had to be asked: Would a healthy Rigg keep playing with the cast this coming season?

“I love it off and I’m keeping it off,” he said. “It’s so much better and so much easier to go through it with two functional hands without the pain I had last year.”

After the loss to the Tigers, Rigg had surgery that sat him down for three weeks and kept him from playing in wins against Bowling Green and Connecticut. He returned in time to play in reserve in the loss at Syracuse.

Rigg wore the brace the rest of the way and started three of the final four games while playing at a pretty high level given the circumstances.

“I was playing linebacker with one arm for a good amount of it,” he said. “I was using my left, but not like I needed to. I didn’t want to injure it more than it was.”

Still, he had 16 of his 30 tackles and his only sack with one arm. When the Mountaineers absolutely needed something to happen on defense, Rigg was the one to do it.

Practice 10 depth chart

by Mike Casazza

A few notes:

– J.D Woods remains the guy inside and Ryan Nehlen remains the guy outside.

– Pat Eger is still the starting right tackle, but coaches really like Curtis Feigt this spring and Marquis Lucas has been solid, too. Good competition there. Wonder if there’s a backup guard somewhere there.

– Shawne Alston and Ryan Clarke are being rewarded for their work to date.

– I really thought Tyler Anderson was having a good spring. Every time I saw him it was because he was blowing somebody up in a drill. Coaches were similarly impressed and he’s split practice time as a Buck and as a defensive end. Right now, he’s your No. 1 DE.

– Not that that has to do with this, but WVU could be really thin on the defensive line.

– Ditto the secondary. I see a lot of corners and safeties who have never played a meaningful snap in college. Good luck, Daron Roberts and Joe DeForest.

Away we go to start the final five practices before the Gold Blue Game.

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Wanted: Fighters, talkers and, perhaps, players

April 9, 2012 by Mike Casazza

A 72-play scrimmage saw the media see only a few things, but the talk afterward had a lot to do with the talk during it.

There was a ring leader and there were little circuses here and there among players, but there was just enough that it was never too much. There was just enough that it was never discouraged and actually seemed encouraged. There was just enough that it was just enough.

“That has to exist if you are going to get better,” Holgorsen said.

A scrimmage such as the one that was held Sunday and two others that are scheduled prior to the spring game serves that purpose.

“Who wins and loses isn’t necessarily the point,” Holgorsen said. “It’s not a competition. It’s done to make yourself and your team better. We are just looking for progress.”

That’s the coaches’ viewpoint.

The players see it differently. They are competing, trying to win, not the game but each individual battle. Jobs depend on it.

Hence, tempers flare from time to time and the coaches understand and accept that.

“Obviously, unless they waste too much time or carry it into the locker room, it’s fine. Then we tell them to quit it, but normally it’s good, wholesome, healthy fun,” Holgorsen said.

LB likes football, dislikes running, was track champ

by Mike Casazza

Meet Isaiah Bruce, a redshirt freshman from Jacksonville, Fla., who used a well-rounded prep experience to set a little history at Providence  School.

Never before had a Stallion turned a football career into a scholarship at a BCS school. Bruce was the first, though, after time spent as a hurdler and a basketball player, as well as an inside linebacker and an outside linebacker.

Now the 6 foot, 1 inch, 225-pound Bruce is, er, running behind Doug Rigg and Jared Barber in the middle and looks to have precisely what WVU wants from its second-level players in this attacking 3-4 scheme. He’s able in space and he’s been called an “explosive blitzer” and, truth be told, he might have a greater potential that some around him.

“As a defense, you have to have guys on the field who can make plays in space,” Patterson said. “Teams are doing these negative-yardage routes that all of a sudden turn into a 9-yard gain and it’s nothing but a long handoff. You have to have guys who can move and make plays.

“Honestly, I like recruiting the multi-sport athletes. I think sometimes it’s not always about what you see because their ceiling for improvement maybe is higher.”

Friday Feedback

April 6, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which has explored hiring an outside consultant to spice up things. Recent events have convinced me otherwise. But I had to try after a previous plan fell to pieces when some kid’s dad insisted I seek assistance from esteemed J-schools in the ACC.

I guess the best move for my career right now is to hop on my bike and take a long ride to clear my mind. What could possibly go wrong?

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words … sheesh, just stay away from motorcycles, OK?

Drew said:

Interesting article about the Big Ten’s gentleman’s agreemet. It’s true the SEC doesn’t have such an agreement. Their agreemet is with the NCAA to look the other way.

And we are off!

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Dana Holgorsen coaches special teams, too

April 5, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Whoa! Don’t allow the limitations others seek to place upon your head coach as merely an offensive wizard. Watch, after Jordon Thompson finds a crease in a kickoff return drill, as Dana Holgorsen seeks out and instructs William Marable.

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Well, maybe this is it after all

by Mike Casazza

Late last month Bob Huggins told his radio show audience not to believe rumors about players leaving, for one reason or another, and said everyone who was scheduled to be back would be coming back for the 2012-13 season.

After Tom McCune decided to change scenery, WVU was left with 10 returning scholarship players and three incoming freshmen recruits and was maxed out for scholarships for the upcoming season.

Yet before that there were whispers and even facts WVU was looking at players to be a part of the incoming class. One such player, we were led to believe, is Mark McLaughlin. Well, make that “was” because the top scorer in junior college is staying on the left half of the country and will play at Washington.

So maybe this 13 will be that 13. Then again, I’ve heard ears remain open with regard to possible players, one at a school WVU is getting to know and one a junior college player who would give WVU that upperclassman’s mentality and that maturity on the perimeter. And then again, again, I’ve heard Huggins say what he has now is what he’ll have next year.

Presented to you without comment

by Mike Casazza

Marshall Coach Doc Holliday contracted someone to evaluate his “anemic offense.” You might recognize the man’s name_. I won’t even try to stop the reaction.