Communication key for West Virginia's secondary
ShaDon Brown wants his secondary to communicate clearly and effectively.
And with that, there is some training that the players must undergo against the grain given how different things generally are in today’s society in the realm of communication compared to the past.
“These kids they’re on their phones so much and they communicate through their phones. They don’t talk a whole lot. So, you get a guy out there on the field and he’s got to communicate to multiple people on defense and they’re talking to each other like they’re in church,” Brown said. “It wears me out.”
Brown is simply referring to how players will often whisper instead of bringing that umph in their voice that is necessary to get the message across to others on the defense. It’s been on of the focuses that the secondary coach has had with his unit since the winter in order to get them to be on the same page.
“You have to talk. You have to be loud. You have to be forceful in your voice because volume reflects confidence in what you’re trying to say,” the co-defensive coordinator said. “If we improved in the communication aspect than the play will as well.”
That’s important at all times, but especially when you consider that the West Virginia secondary is made up of almost entirely new pieces outside of Aubrey Burks and Anthony Wilson along with some returning young players. That made the summer critical when it came to developing some of those bonds and opening up those lines of communication between the various pieces in the back end.
That started small with activities such as going bowling or various other team activities. Then it spilled over into the meeting rooms where players got to know each other on a more personal level.
“We go around and say something about our life whether it’s a struggle that we went through to get here or just something personal about each other. If I know something personal about my teammate, I know when we get on that field I got to have his back because of what he’s going through,” Burks said. “And if he knows something about me, he knows what I’m going through so we’re going to play hard for each other.”
Burks is of the belief that there is nothing wrong with communicating too much because it beats the alternative of not communicating at all. And the fact that the Mountaineers focused on this aspect so early in the summer has allowed for them to make some strides in that department.
“So, when you get to fall camp it doesn’t feel like anything new,” Burks said.
This is true for players across the board, but especially given the plans that Brown has when it comes to moving pieces around to spots all over the field. If a player demonstrates the ability to mentally handle it, the assistant wants to train them in a secondary position to allow more flexibility in the back end.
Players that fit that mold include safety Anthony Wilson bouncing from safety to spear, Burks doing the opposite and others such as Jaheem Joseph and Ayden Garnes being able to fill multiple roles.
“And I usually can tell as soon as I approach them about playing other spots,” Brown said.
But in order to get to that point, communication is the key.
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