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

An offense by any other name …

August 16, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Dana Holgorsen doesn’t have a moniker for his offense. Nothing like a run and shoot or an option spread or the veer or the wishbone. Not even Air Raid. He just has theories.

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Here’s an idea

by Mike Casazza

… and, no, it’s not to stop the obsessive behavior about conference realignment. From what I’ve gathered, here are a few things you need you to know and concern yourselves with as it relates to WVU.

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Greetings, from Midvale

August 15, 2011 by Mike Casazza

I got away for the weekend and my friend served me coffee in this mug Saturday. Please do not tell Bob Huggins.

Robert Gillespie looking for very few good men

by Mike Casazza

WVU’s backfield has only a few players right now and not a lot of experience, but Vernard Roberts, Trey Johnson, Dustin Garrison and Andrew Buie all seem to give Dana Holgorsen and Robert Gillespie some diversity and flexibility. Fast guys and twitchy guys. Bigger and smaller. Inside and outside. Receivers and carriers. Since Holgorsen wants three guys ready to go in a game, it could be argued they have a good thing going with backs with different ability, which then gives the Mountaineers the power to adapt within the game.

So, running back committee, you think. And you think wrong.

“We would like a guy we could strap the team on his back and go,” he said.

How Paul Millard found home away from home

by Mike Casazza

There’s something pretty interesting about Paul Millard. The freshman quarterback walks around with a poise that defies his age, but this far defines his time at WVU. He tells Dana Holgorsen and Geno Smith he’ll be the starting quarterback. He’s kidding, of course, but it seems like he’s wired that way, too.

Consider this: He was asked why he felt fit to stay when Jeremy Johnson and Barry Brunetti and Brian Athey and others had not. Very good question and The point was those guys knew Geno wasn’t going anywhere and wasn’t going to be beaten, yet Millard had stayed even though he wasn’t going to be playing for two years.

Millard didn’t necessarily agree with that statement.

Then there’s his friendship with Smith. The established star says they are “good friends.” The freshman says it was he who first suggested they hang out and get to know one another. Maybe it’s inevitable they become friends, but this fast? And with Millard being so bold as to push for it? It doesn’t happen that way at that position in college. There are guys who share a spot or battle for a role and they can’t stand one another, sometimes because of the nature of their relationship.

Perhaps Smith and Millard watch film together and work out together and throw passes together, but Xbox and television and pizza and stuff like that? So soon? That’s kind of neat.

And that’s what has helped Millard feel so comfortable in a time that would not be as accommodating for many others.

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Friday Feedback

August 12, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is heading out of town for a festive occasion and will be leaving you without live and on-site coverage of practice today and tomorrow — and those are the last two days open to the media. As a token of my sorrow, I offer this text message exchange from last night:

Friend: Ok, I’m in San Antonio at a conference. There is a social mixer 4 the conf and a band. The band is trying to tell everyone how to do the cotton eye Joe.

Friend: Apparently it is a dance. I immediately thought of you.

Me: I need more details. Are people furious about the song or oddly excited?

Friend: Oddly excited. There are a lot of boots and cowboy hats here. Mostly on middle aged women.

Words can’t express how much I want this Joe guy to go away fast and forever. I feel like our day is coming …

One more piece of business, and it’s a bit of a stunner. Freshman point guard Gary Browne didn’t make the Italy trip because of an eligibility question. I haven’t gotten return calls or email yet, but I’d imagine the NCAA’s Eligibility Center tapped the breaks here. I saw Browne at practice Saturday and he and Bob Huggins had a very informal, very normal talk about things to be done before the team left Monday. Now I’m told he isn’t even on campus and either back in Jacksonville or Puerto Rico.

And the this is where I really goofed up. I was looking at the reports from the first two games overseas and saw Brown hadn’t scored. I couldn’t tell he hadn’t played. I thought, “Wow, kid’s trying to make a point here.” Treadmill for me. If you haven’t already, cross your fingers Jabarie Hinds isn’t in some sort of peril. If you have, then cross your toes.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, watch your back(side).

Josh24601 said:

URGENT QUESTION: How many of the following items can be found in Mt Pleasant, IA: (a) stoplights; (b) bars; (c) trucks without rearview mirrors?

Road trip? Anyone?

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Day Six: “Not the time to run. Not the time to run.”

August 11, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Hey! New faces in the crowd. In the foreground is a walk-on running back named D.J. Izon, from Severna, Md., just  south of BWI, I believe. In the background, the third quarterback, Ian Loy. You remember him. Good news for Eu and Paul Millard, though we didn’t see Loy throw at all. Still, they don’t have to wait until the Aug. 22 walk-on tryout to get relief — and, honestly, that tryout is a regular thing and just advertised with a little more organization and aggression this year. New regime and all …

Thursday was Izon’s second day, Loy’s first. They’re both in the five-day acclimatization period. No one I know knows much about Izon — that includes Dana Holgorsen, who was asked about No. 34 Wednesday and admitted as much — and Loy had an anonymous existence previously at WVU, but at least he knows what he signed up for here. And it looks like his arm can handle it …

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Coaches none too happy with offensive line

by Mike Casazza

It’s still early, to the point Bill Bedenbaugh isn’t making any declarations, or even any decision, about who is going where. Things are still new to players, even older players like Jeff Braun, who is back from shoulder surgery after missing the spring, and Jeff Braun, who had the same surgery and recovery as did Barclay, but who has also moved from right tackle to left guard. Quinton Spain has gone from left tackle to right tackle and Tyler Rader is getting his first extended opportunity at right guard.

So, yeah, “Let’s not rush ourselves here,” seems to be the theme for now, but with this sense of reservation comes opportunity and neither Bedenbaugh nor Dana Holgorsen is content with the second group of linemen.

“A lot of them are playing hesitant,” he said. “Whether they get beat or win, they’re still hesitant. You’ve got to play confident all the time and go out there and understand your assignment and your technique and do it in a way that’s physical. That’s what they have to do right now. At times, they’re hesitant and can’t get movement on the run or they’re hesitant in pass protection and can’t get back fast enough.”

Good news! Your social network of WVU football players is safe

by Mike Casazza

Dana Holgorsen will place no prohibitions on the way his players use Facebook, Twitter or all the other social media sites. Oh, there are watchdogs and guidelines, expectations and, when applicable, punishment, but Holgorsen believes in giving his guys a little liberty.

“If they want to use if for, ‘This is what I’m doing now,’ and positive things, or ‘I’m going to the grocery story. I saw this specific movie. Good team victory last night,’ that sort of stuff, that’s fine,” Holgorsen said. “But they’ve got to understand what’s right and wrong. We’re monitoring it. We’re not preventing them from doing it. It’s part of maturing, I guess.”

Day Four: “Nothing like starting with a little contact.”

August 10, 2011 by Mike Casazza

So said Dana Holgorsen to Troy Vincent at the beginning of Wednesday’s practice. And I don’t know if the kids care or not, especially after they listened to him speak at a meeting today, but Troy Vincent, a five-time Pro Bowl player and one of the genuinely good guys in sports, is just walking around football practice.

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