Harrell brings different approach to West Virginia offense

Neal Brown wanted to add Graham Harrell to the coaching staff for a variety of reasons.

The former Texas Tech quarterback turned offensive coordinator has seen great success in his coaching career. He previously served as the engineer of the Southern California offense where he led the Trojans to three consecutive top 25 offensive finishes. That was preceded by a pair of top 25 offensive seasons when he served as the offensive coordinator at North Texas.

Brown wanted to find a way to inject life into an offense that had struggled over the past three seasons, especially last year, and hand over the role of play calling to a trusted voice.

After spending the spring with the West Virginia football program, the changes are obvious.

“He’s brought a different energy about him. He’s confident without being arrogant, he’s extremely humble. It helps that he was a great player in this league,” Brown said. “That gets players attention not only on your current roster, but also in recruiting.”

The coaching staff worked this past spring to install the offense and from a purely schematic standpoint things shouldn’t be all that different. In fact, part of the reason Harrell was identified for this role was his background in the air raid and the fact there wouldn’t need to be a lot of changes.

But Brown believes while the offense isn’t going to be drastically different on the surface, the results will be noticeable in several other areas.

“Where we’re going to be different is our preparation and our practice habits and in our ability to be more prepared going into each game,” Brown said.

The fact that Harrell has experienced success at multiple stops and with different types of players across the board made the decision an even easier one for Brown. It’s a different approach, but one that the coaching staff believes can pay major dividends on the offensive side of things.

“I’m excited to see what he can bring. We’re going to see the benefits. He has a great feel on game day and that’s something I feel will be a huge positive not only for our players but for me,” he said.

The Mountaineers were able to get a trial run in the spring and then continue to rep some of the offense in the summer, while fall camp will serve as a way to refine those more.

West Virginia will open the season Sept. 1 against Pittsburgh and the arrival of Harrell and his ultimately effect on the offense will be one of the more interesting aspects to track.

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