Neal Brown is fired up for 2024 edition of West Virginia football team
Neal Brown has been in the coaching profession for 22 years and a head coach for 10 but this West Virginia team has him as excited as he’s ever been during that time.
“I’m fired up about this group,” he said.
Brown, who enters his sixth season atop the Mountaineers, believes that his football program is in a good spot all around from the current roster to the coaching staff, to the support and structure of it all.
When it comes to the team, Brown said that the roster has its lowest body fat percentage since he has been over the program, and he credits that to the work done by Mike Joseph and the strength and conditioning staff in conjunction with Haley Bishop and those in the nutrition department.
“We look like a contending Power Four team,” Brown said.
That has been especially noticeable on the line of scrimmages compared to the first two to three years that Brown led the program.
West Virginia has been able to develop not only experience but depth and hasn’t been forced to rely on young players who weren’t quite ready to handle the load. That isn’t a knock on those who came before but a reflection of how things have changed up front on both sides of the ball.
And it trickles down to other areas as well. For example, the tight end room features players such as Kole Taylor and Jack Sammarco who just physically stand out due to their size compared to the past. The same can be said in the wide receiver room where players like Justin Robinson, Jaden Bray, Traylon Ray and even Hudson Clement bring size and length to the position.
“We haven’t had just a lot of size and length in that room,” Brown said.
At linebacker, the Mountaineers have remade the body types that play those spots by focusing on bigger options that can run and there are at least five that are in the rotation this fall.
And finally, the defensive backfield has been very noticeable as the safeties feature multiple players that look the part, while the cornerback room is bigger than the past.
With those physical advancements, West Virginia believes that there is a confidence that comes with it as well, and it is something that last season’s team captured as the season progressed. But Brown isn’t naïve to dismiss the fact that season-long football such as the summer OTAs have helped to progress things, too.
“A reasonable expectation is they know the signals, the alignments and the assignments. Now we have to work some technique stuff, but they know what to do,” Brown said.
The final results won’t play out until later this fall on the field, but Brown is certainly excited about the direction that his football team has taken at the opening of camp with more quality depth on both sides of the ball, a good mix of offensive playmakers and a quarterback that has experience and skill.
“On paper it is,” he said.
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