West Virginia had issues against Pittsburgh when it came to the scrambling of quarterback Eli Holstein especially late in the game.
The Panthers quarterback ended up with 59 yards rushing, but that includes the 29 yards that were lost in five sacks with him getting to the edge a few times but also taking advantage of stepping up into the pocket and using his legs to pick up yardage through the b-gap.
The second part of that equation is difficult to contend with at times but the main issue is not allowing the defense to lose contain to allow the quarterback to not only use his legs but make throws down the field for chunks of yards on the edge.
That is especially important with Kansas and their quarterback Jalon Daniels coming to town. Daniels is a dynamic athlete under center as the Mountaineers saw firsthand in the last meeting with the Jayhawks in 2022 where he threw for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for 85 more.
The junior missed time later in that season and all but three games in 2023 with injuries but is now back and healthy. He has only thrown for 442 yards but has 3 touchdowns against six interceptions through three games, but presents plenty of challenges with his skill set.
“He’s probably pretty excited. He is a really good player and I hate that he’s missed all of that time,” head coach Neal Brown said. “Last year he was the preseason all-Big 12 player of the year candidate. He put on a show the last time he was here. We just have to get better, we have to tackle.”
West Virginia was able to get pressure against Pittsburgh and if the Mountaineers are able to do that Brown feels good about the defense if they can execute better in terms of tackling and getting the right spy calls.
For transfer defensive lineman T.J. Jackson the Mountaineers are going to have to do a better job of executing what the coaches are telling them and not rushing upfield to prevent those holes.
That was something that the coaching staff instructed them not to do all week against Holstein and it allowed him to come up and squeeze through that b-gap for yardage. That has made the focus stay in the quarterback’s quadrant to prevent that from occurring.
“Daniels is even going to be more of a scrambling quarterback so that’s even more of an emphasis this week,” Jackson said.
But the coaching staff has no question how good Daniels is as a player and containing him in an offense that will give him plenty of options will be critical.
“He is dynamic. He’s a game changer with his legs and arm,” Lesley said.
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