Effective, efficient are WVU goals for running the football
West Virginia is getting back to the basics when it comes to running the football.
From the bottom to the top.
And trying to be more effective in the process.
“I didn’t think we were very efficient running the football last year and you’ve got to run the football to win games,” offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said.
Last season West Virginia struggled at times establishing the ground game through a mix of basically all the contributing factors even as simple as checking out of called runs at the line of scrimmage.
Some of that is due to the fact that quarterback Will Grier didn’t trust it in certain situations but the Mountaineers are looking to become much more efficient in that department in 2018.
Part of going back to the basics has been to get everybody on the same page from the quarterback to the offensive line and of course the running backs. That means mirroring the footsteps of the offensive line and breaking down each play to see how it would be blocked in any situation.
“That’s the one thing I’ve been really hard on right now,” Spavital said.
The Mountaineers dropped from 227-yards per game in 2016 to 146 last year moving from inside the top 30 to outside the top 80 programs nationally.
Because the spring is a time to explore, West Virginia has attempted to simplify the run schemes it uses and trim all of the different variations down to a top three or four. That way the offense will be able to rep those consistently and get much better at them by the end of the 15-sessions.
That’s across the board as well as the goal is to focus on every detail from technique, to assignments to alignments and execution to see where they are at this stage.
The running back group consists of two proven options in Kennedy McKoy and Martel Pettaway along with an intriguing freshman that almost had his redshirt pulled last season in Alec Sinkfield. However, ultimately they elected to keep the redshirt intact due to the depth in the backfield.
“I am fired up for that kid. Sinkfield had an opportunity last year that I thought he could play for us,” Spavital said.
While there won’t be any wholesale overhaul of the running schemes for next season, the addition of the tight end to the offense will give a different presentation and help to provide another blocker.
But of course none of that matters unless the offensive line is more consistent in their assignments as well as moving people up front.
“How are they targeting, how much mass they have and how can they move people,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Getting Grier on the same page also is essential and the Mountaineers coaches have focused heavily on the game management aspect in order to prevent so many low percentage checks.
And as for checking out of runs anytime soon?
“He doesn’t have a choice,” Spavital said. “We’ve got to be able to run the ball to have the success we want to.”
There is no debating that.
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