Spring football goes on at West Virginia as injured players return, positions take shape and recruiting reflects future initiatives. Head coach Dana Holgorsen likes what he sees and what he anticipates, but he knows there’s a lot left to do to actualize that vision.
More live reps — the read sends the action one way, the quarterback sends the ball the other way, and the receiver is about as far from the ball as possible, so good luck covering all of that — and if we’re being honest, there were only minor differences Tuesday. That’s fine.
We’re near the end of spring football at West Virginia, and it would seem the coaches have things figured out for now. It is by no means a finished product or close to it, but given who’s healthy and on campus, the Mountaineers narrowed their focus fairly early and went from there.
And where are they? Let’s have a look at the for-what-it’s-worth first-team offense and defense.
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Maybe one day we rank the playing career of West Virginia’s coaches, but for now, have a look at Doug Belk. Two wholly different Carson-Newman offenses, and the Mountaineers’ new cornerbacks coach is integral in both, catching passes and blocking defenders in a spread game and triggering a separate scheme as the under-center quarterback. (He’d be below Tyron Carrier and above Dana Holgorsen, right?)
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West Virginia’s spring game is Saturday at 1 p.m. at Mountaineer Field. Some Big 12 teams have already had theirs. Either way, the spring season is striding toward the conclusion, so this is as good a time as ever to spin around the conference and check storylines at the other nine schools: New coaches, new quarterbacks, new defensive looks, new recruiting powers!
This is becoming the question of the offseason, and the offseason is only a week old now: What’s the deal with Derek Culver? You remember him. Top recruit in Ohio, kicked off his high school team in the January, part of a West Virginia recruiting class with five players coming in and four players going out and a subsequent problem therein.
So, what’s the deal with Derek Culver? Apparently nothing at all.
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That’s the Kansas skipper, and consider him impressed by what he saw Saturday. Sophomore Michael Grove mowed down the Jayhawks and was four outs away from a perfect game before he allowed a two-out single on a 2-0 count in the eighth inning. He nevertheless pitched a tidy eight innings, allowing one hit and striking out 12 batters.
Another day, another headline for baseball.
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The voice you hear at the end of the clip, after West Virginia quarterback Will Grier makes a check, fakes a handoff, progresses left to right and from near to far and then whips a pass from the left hash to the right sideline, is head coach Dana Holgorsen. Hoo, ho, ho, ho ho. Good ball.
What’s so funny, you ask?
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Despite all the coming and going at the Puskar Center, Tony Gibson and Jake Spavital had never been under the same roof at West Virginia before January. Spavital left the Mountaineers in December 2012 for Texas A&M and Gibson returned from Arizona the following month. A year later, Spvital was the Aggies’ offensive coordinator and Gibson was WVU’s defensive coordinator and they battled in the 2014 Liberty Bowl.
It did not go well for the Mountaineers, but things weren’t going well for Texas A&M, and that impressed at least one person at WVU. “Their offensive staff was in disarray at that point, and he took it over and they played well on offense,” WVU coach and Spavital mentor Dana Holgorsen said. “That grabbed my attention.”
Two years later, Holgorsen grabbed Spavital from Cal, and now Spavital and Gibson are compatible adversaries, one adjusting to the other, one learning from the other.
“I like how aggressive Gibby is,” Spavital said. “He’s pressuring you, bluffing and dropping back and doing all of that. My conversations with the quarterbacks have increased because of how aggressive he’s been.”
The Mountaineers give themselves plenty of time to meet and talk. They practice three times a week for five weeks, and they’re not relaxing in the days between. They huddle in a room with coaches and teammates, with questions and answers.
And Gibson has quite literally pressured the offense into deeper discussions.
“The protection and the checks have to be more advanced,” Spavital said. “The first couple days out there, you try to block it regularly, but when they start doing things to force the ball out of your hand, you try to [block] as long as you possibly can. That’s where protection checks get involved, but they seem to be adjusting pretty well to it.”
AAC votes to add Wichita State starting with 2017–18 season, @SIPeteThamel reports https://t.co/zngDYuHWIO pic.twitter.com/4a2ZEWQUPZ
— SI College Hoops (@si_ncaabb) April 7, 2017
This is cheeky, because the AAC exists for football. It took all the pigskin and left the Big East … and it’s now adding the best non-Gonzaga from a Group of Five conference. Pity the Missouri Valley Conference, which lost Creighton to the Big East four years ago.
So, what now? The AAC is stronger, but are 12 teams enough? The Valley might (have to) add, but other G5 conferences could poach the MVC. Does a savvy G5 commissioner make a move to bolster its membership? We don’t yet know, but if we know nothing else about conference shuffling, we know this: This is not the end.
