BYU, recruiting focus of the WVU bye week

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen made it clear that while the upcoming matchup with BYU will be addressed, the priority of the upcoming bye week will be recruiting.

Holgorsen and his assistants will hit the road later in the week in order to get in-person evaluations of prospects as well as make themselves visible across the country.

“Go recruit. There’s no such thing as an off-week,” he said.

Of course the Mountaineers will spend several days getting a head start on the Cougars prior to hitting the recruiting trail as well. Holgorsen referred to BYU as a quality opponent and West Virginia will use time this week to get an initial look at the Cougars. The game has been announced as a 3:30 p.m. kickoff with the game being televised on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

“They do a lot of challenging things that we’ll need to prepare for,” Holgorsen said.

As for his team, Holgorsen said that he has been pleased with the lack of negative plays both in the run and pass game to this point. The head man put much of the credit on senior quarterback Skyler Howard and his ability to get the football out of his hands as opposed to the offensive line.

However, he was pleased with what the offensive line has done in regards to the run game.

“Still think we have to get a lot better at the tackle spot. Pass protect better at the tackle spot,” he said.

Holgorsen also offered encouraging words about his wide receivers calling senior Daikiel Shorts as “good of a possession receiver,” that he’s had and also credited redshirt junior Shelton Gibson for taking advantage of his opportunities against Youngstown State for a career high 171-yards.

But the group still has work left to do.

“We have a long way to go in order to be on the same level as some of the ones that I’ve had in the past,” he said.

West Virginia is one of three teams that remain undefeated in the Big 12 Conference through two weeks and the head coach credited that to the challenging schedules that teams have moved to in the college football playoff era. While there are more exciting matchups, it isn’t an easy slate as it used to be.