Bowl prep provides valuable time for West Virginia developmental group

You’ve likely heard about the developmental group when it comes to the West Virginia football team.

That is the group of players, often younger in class standing, that are separated from the team positional meetings and instead focus on cultivating their bodies and building strength by lifting weights.

It’s the pathway for many of the younger players on the roster when they first enter the program in order to get them up to speed physically to compete for time on the actual roster.

As part of that the Mountaineers hold what they refer to as Monday night football once a week during the season. It is a non-tackling scrimmage that allows the younger players on the roster the opportunity to compete and showcase how they have improved.

During the bye week that ramps up to three times a week and over the bowl season the West Virginia coaches try to increase that to around eight opportunities depending on how the calendar falls.

“We make it fun. We score it and we have an award. I think the defense won during the bye week. We do three consecutive days and we score the whole thing,” head coach Neal Brown said.

The coaching staff also makes it a point to spend about ten minutes every Tuesday and Wednesday to focus on fundamentals. It’s an avenue for those players to be coached by their position coaches instead of being on the scout team which is important for their mental health.

The buildup is by design and the goal is for the players to make strides to put themselves in position to have a larger role on the team the following year. Essentially, they get all of that time in the weight room coupled with the Monday night football and other things to help them improve.

And the results are obvious.

“That’s a lot of work and you can see them getting better,” Brown said.

Among those players that have made some significant strides this year are defensive lineman Hammond Russell, cornerback Andrew Wilson-Lamp, safety Davis Mallinger, offensive lineman Tomas Rimac, quarterback Will Crowder and more.

That’s how it’s supposed to go as the younger players start to change their bodies and feel more comfortable in their new surroundings. And in Morgantown that is no different and the developmental program plays a major role in that.

“These guys got a lot better as we worked through the season,” he said.

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