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

Catch-pass combo?

July 5, 2017 by Mike Casazza

(Edit: Something’s up with the blog. I can’t embed videos, and you’ll see that all the old Hudl video are gone. Here are some Sam James highlights.)

West Virginia’s frenzied recruiting season merely paused for the weekend and the holiday, but it’s possible it picks up again here soon. One of the team’s top remaining targets is Sam James, another receiver, and he’s going announce his plan on Friday.

The coveted wide receiver trimmed his list of over a dozen schools down to just four, including West Virginia, Mississippi State and Cincinnati. Those three schools are considered the serious contenders at the moment, with each program feeling confident in their chances.

James recently visited Morgantown, camping in front of the coaching staff and wowing everyone in attendance. The 247Sports three-star recruit was equally impressed with what WVU had to offer, getting first-class treatment from the staff, including a personal ride on Dana Holgorsen’s golf cart and a tour of the facilities.

Key detail with the golf cart there. Who’s throwing James passes? Well, if he picks the Mountaineers, it’s possible he’ll be paired with Woodrow Lowe, who we’ve met before. He hasn’t said when he’ll pick his school, but it could be any day now, and he’s down to WVU, Illinois and Arkansas State, but note that “a couple other programs have offered him the opportunity to play baseball in college, as well.”

‘Go make a play, and I’ll make everything else right.’

June 30, 2017 by Mike Casazza
Middle linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton (17) sizes up the play before the snap. I said it before, and I'll say it again: He's frightening.

 

That guy still frightens me. West Virginia linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton is one my of very favorites to talk to — of course — but also one of those guys I would not want to see when I look across the line of scrimmage, which I suppose is the point.

He’s one of three returning starters on defense, and that total grows if and when you consider Dravon Askew-Henry started for three seasons before last summer’s ACL injury.

The free safety keeps the roof on the defense. The spur safety, where 220-pound Kyzir White returns, is the most involved position. The weak side linebacker is where tackling machine David Long starts. Those are all important jobs, so while the Mountaineers are indeed replacing any starters, they’re nevertheless all right when it comes to experience in key positions.

And then there’s Benton.

Continue reading…

Slim kin picks

by Mike Casazza

West Virginia football is recruiting at a pace that’s hard to trace, but say hello to Ralph Davis III. He is the late Chris Henry’s cousin.

“It’s my dream school and my family attended school there,” said Davis. “And I feel like I’m a great fit to the West Virginia receiving corps.”

That’s nine commitments already for the 2018 class, and the Mountaineers have somehow covered seven states: Ohio (two), Illinois (two), Delaware, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and now Texas. Receivers coach Tyron Carrier, who remains a name in Houston, got this one done, and that’s two all-in-the-family out-of-state receivers in the last few days for WVU. Davis follows Bryce Wheaton.

Names and affiliations

June 29, 2017 by Mike Casazza
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Here are the latest newcomers to West Virginia football, and you’ll note three transfers on the list.

In no particular order, Luke Hogan is kicker who used to be bigger and was nevertheless a regarded prospect in 2016. He walked on at Houston and never played. Rashon Lusane played at Morgan State and was actually one of the top wrestling recruits in the nation last year. He chose football and was in 11 games and made 16 tackles for the Bears last year.

And then there’s Nate German, a postgraduate transfer who was a useful multipurpose player for Rice the past few seasons. Who knows what he’ll be asked and allowed to do here, but he was a well-known high school athlete and a quarterback whose star was dulled when he was injured early in his senior year. Think Great American Nate Sowers. (Did anybody get that?)

(Also, Mac Christy did a whole bunch on offense for his high school, where he played for his father, former all-pro center Jeff Christy. Henry Cook had 152 tackles as a senior, his parents are from West Virginia and his mom is a WVU graduate. And Connor Barwis is indeed related to Mike Barwis. The latter is the former’s uncle.)

Transfers, what they’ve meant and what’s next

by Mike Casazza
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Here’s some interesting work by the … please hold … the Division I Council Transfer Group that seeks to modernize the transfer culture in college athletics.

There are some bold and not-so-bold ideas. Getting rid of the extremely petty ability of a school to say where a player can and cannot transfer to is not-so-bold. Counting postgraduate transfers toward a scholarship limit for two years is approaching the southernmost border of bold. Providing a set of circumstances that would make any transfer immediately eligible is bold.

Establishing uniform transfer rules — which would require everyone to follow the same rules regardless of the sport they play — was a topic that the group agrees will likely take longer to resolve. While most members agreed the concept of uniformity would be positive, what the specific rules would be is less clear.

Members discussed two models: One model would require every transfer student to sit out a year to acclimate to a new school; the other would allow all transfers to play immediately provided they present academic credentials that predict graduation at the new institution.

Continue reading…

Hello and goodbye

by Mike Casazza

That’d be now-former West Virginia left fielder Kyle Davis. He signed with the Houston Astros and debuted last week, and he’s playing third base for the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League. Junior college All-American Christian Young has not yet signed with the Cincinnati Reds and has until July 15.

In bigger news, former Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano will join the Mountaineers staff and be the pitching coach. Not long ago, Serrano was a College World Series coach who took on the challenge with the Volunteers. It did not go extraordinarily well. He was 157-163 in six seasons and 55-120 in the SEC.

That said, Serrano had offers to filter through, and he was reportedly wanted as an assistant at Alabama and Arizona State. He chose the Mountaineers, and that’s about as splashy a hire as the program could make coming off its first NCAA regional appearance since 1996.

‘There have been a few times when I’ve seen some things.’

June 26, 2017 by Mike Casazza

Teammates were understandably reluctant to about Will Grier in the spring. For starters, they weren’t sure he’d be the starter. True, most of them had known they known him for going on a year, and man of them really liked him, but they had only seen him play as a scout team quarterback and never in charge of West Virginia’s offense, which is to say West Virginia’s fate.

The spring has come and gone, and Grier starred as optimists expected, and last week the NCAA approved his reinstatement request. He’s able to play the first game of the season and onward, and all indications are he’ll be the starter. It’s weird, but a whole lot has changed for Grier in 12 months, but he nevertheless enrolled as the heir apparent and now seems poised to be just that.

On the field and in the eyes of his teammates, who are now ready to rave, Grier has shown himself to be basically untouchable.

“I’m not going to be able to put my hands on him,” defensive end Reese Donahue said.

Grier was the team’s top quarterback throughout the spring, and head coach Dana Holgorsen treated him that way by using him with the first team as often as possible and preventing anyone from hitting him. The Mountaineers have many expectations for a future with Grier and how it might be different from their past, but they’re convinced that safeguard will not change.

“I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get a finger on him,” middle linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton said. “Even if I could, I probably wouldn’t do it, just for the simple fact he gives us the best chance to do what we want to do this year to get to the goals we want to get to.”

Then again, there’s no guaranteeing anyone could get to Grier to shiver his shoulder pads on a regular basis, either. He was protected in the spring, but the way Grier plays can keep him out of trouble, too.

“He has an ability to get the ball out of his hands and make simple, routine plays,” running back Justin Crawford said. “He doesn’t always try to go for the big plays. When he gets a chance, he does take it, but mostly it’s just the routine plays.”

In the meantime, the Mountaineers acquired many players over the weekend, and three of them catch passes.

Chicago tight end T.J. Ivy

Former Miami tight end Jovani Haskins and former Alabama receiver T.J. Simmons

Ohio linebacker Josh Chandler

Friday Feedback

June 23, 2017 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which wants to start with a serious tone today. Earlier this week, we commemorated the state’s birthday, and while celebrations were elevated by the Will Grier news, they were also tapered a day later by the budget. Today, we note that we’re a year removed from the rain and the flooding that wiped out parts of West Virginia. Things are better. Things are not great. Things can still improve.

If you can, spend some time today reading through the stories we put together for today’s Gazette-Mail. There are sports, which is where we became involved last year, but there’s more. These are good stories about people and about society, about working together and about needing to do more.

No joke here today. Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted.

The 25314 said:

Congrats on the invite to the bachelor party.

That’s more like it.

Continue reading…

Clear some space?

June 22, 2017 by Mike Casazza

 

“It’s an honor to be nominated…” but Kadeisha Buchanan, who wins just about every award for which she is nominated, has a chance here. I don’t know where this would rank in her vast trophy case — somewhere between Herman and Hardman, no? — but it’s a national award. Too bad Kelsey Plum is in the mix. This one won’t be easy.

By the way, Buchanan played in 16 matches for her professional club that went 21-1-0 and made a mockery of the league. Look at the goal differential!

Every little bit helps

by Mike Casazza

Mike Martin was once the director of baseball operations at West Virginia and now works on the production side of Scott Van Pelt’s SportsCenter. He and SVP did the Mountaineers an estimable service Tuesday with this bit, which brought a bottom-of-the-screen college football transaction in June to a much greater platform. To review: WVU will exceed expectations and has a player with superstar potential.

That’s worth a lot of money and much more, and that’s important. The Mountaineers have something going with quarterback transfers, and if they are intentionally doing it, then they ought to continue collecting high-value assets this way. Doing so means maintaining a position out front in this particular and lucrative marketplace.

Through junior college, FBS and postgraduate transfers at various positions, the Mountaineers entered the lucrative marketplace for players in search of a new situation. With Clint Trickett and Skyler Howard before Grier and Allison, the Mountaineers have now branded themselves as a destination for transfer quarterbacks.

Seemingly everything in college football is about recruiting, and everything in recruiting is about marketing. Anyone can sell facilities, uniforms, the relationship between the coaches and the players and whatever other trinkets, because everyone has them or can finance them.

The Mountaineers have a unique selling point that can’t be bought. They have a specific opportunity for a narrow segment of the college football population. Through their recent past, they’ve produced an image that presents WVU as a destination for quarterback transfers — and let’s remember the highest ratio of high-profile transfers is at quarterback.