Neal Brown talks PSU preparation, uniform reveal, on first radio show

On Thursday, West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown spoke on his weeklyNeal Brown Radio Show with WVU play-by-play commentator Tony Caridi, talking about the Penn State matchup on Saturday, revealing Saturday's uniforms, and discussing what to expect for the Mountaineers' first game.

Below is a comprehensive summary, in chronological order, of what Brown had to say on Thursday ahead of the team's first matchup in just two days and on the first edition of the Neal Brown Radio Show.

-- Coach Brown changed the team's practice schedule this offseason, so instead of having athletes come in for 6 a.m. meetings, he decided to change meetings to 7 a.m. and have practice and walkthroughs at 8 a.m. so his athletes could get the optimal amount of sleep, unlike other programs.

-- In regards to student's well-being along with the athlete and student balance, Coach Brown recognized the emergence of online classes and their benefits for student athletes, but Brown wishes that all of his athletes could still have in-person classes to have the college experience. Brown admitted that currently half his players have mostly online courses and the rest are taking in-person courses.

-- When questioned about what topic Brown thought he was asked about the most, he admitted that he's been asked more about Penn State than his own team, and that's a testament to how good they are. This includes questions about the Nittany Lions' running backs and defense for the most part.

-- In a continued discussion about the depth chart silence, Brown admits that it's the behind the scenes drama that is a main reason for not releasing a depth chart. Brown says the public aspect of depth charts and people being viewed as backups or starters, can cause hurt feelings among players, parents and teammates. He says everyone in his building knows the depth but it's not worth the headache to publicize it and some players don't like it either.

-- Brown said the team is ready, but there will always be questions that will not be answered even two weeks from now. The little detailed questions will always be there, but Brown has focused on the elements for Saturday, which includes the crowd noise and environment, but he's very excited to see the matchup.

-- The main goal on offense is to simply be better, but notable differences in the offense to the naked eye or to fans is to be determined, but the offensive line will be the strength.

-- Brown admitted that when he first arrived in Morgantown, the offensive line was the team's biggest need and now he sees five professional level players in that group. He says they're the hardest working group and largest leaders on the team and that center Zach Frazier is the best in the position in the country.

He also believes that tackles Wyatt Milum and Doug Nester are future draft picks and in terms of younger guys, Brown is excited about Johnny Williams IV and has seen the most improvement from former walk-on Nick Malone

-- TE Kole Taylor was what WVU needed, since they wanted a tight end who could stretch the field as a receiver with his style of offense and Taylor will add a dimension to it with his experience and playing time at LSU. Fellow tight end Treylan Davis has excelled in a fullback and tight end role, and has superb blocking skills.

-- Brown and Caridi also announced WVU's uniform combination for Saturday's game at Penn State, coining it the classic Don Nehlen look. West Virginia will be wearing blue helmets, white jerseys with blue lettering and gold pants, a classic look for the Mountaineers.

-- Brown said that it's tough to have players in tune for Penn State rivalry, since the 1990's seem so far away for them. They're more in-tune with Backyard Brawl since they know players who played in those games well, but it's tougher for a matchup that hasn't been played since 1992. Brown tries to avoid the history of the rivalry with the players, since the record in Happy Valley and the overall record and history for WVU is not good.

-- Brown brought in three primary speakers for the offseason to speak to the team, and he wanted to avoid general speakers but rather go after speakers who have shown you can accomplish things at WVU and people who care about West Virginia. For example, Boston Celtics' head coach Joe Mazulla, WVU basketball player and graduate along with prominent alumni John Chambers.

-- Transfer safety and starter Anthony Wilson has gone under the radar for West Virginia and was a big piece to get in the portal, since safety was a position of need. Brown said he works hard, is physical in practice and he's extremely smart as a football player, playing four years at Georgia Southern before coming to Morgantown.

-- When looking at the defense as a whole, Brown said the team will be sound in it's defensive alignment and should be improved at fundamental skills like tackling. He said the team has practiced physically and it needs to pay off. Brown admitted that last season they played players before they should have, but the personnel is better and those guys have improved with time.

-- In an attempt to replicate Penn State's environment, Brown said they were hovering around 110 decibels to match the noise levels at Beaver Stadium during practice. Brown said that this is the most anticipated season for the Nittany Lions in a long time and along with a highly anticipated QB, they'll be loud.

-- Playing on national television or on "bunny-ear" channels is important to Brown and huge for the program in his opinion. People who don't have cable will be able to watch Saturday's matchup and the Sept. 16 matchup versus Pittsburgh on NBC and ABC respectively, so Brown has tried to express how huge this is for the program.

— Coach Brown said that Big 10 Conference officials will be working Saturday's game and that Big 12 Conference officials will be working at the Penn State game next season in Morgantown. Brown said this was really surprising to him since it's usually the other way around, and that the road team's conference usually provides the officials.

— In terms of the new NCAA football clock rules where the clock doesn't stop on first downs until under two minutes in each half, Brown said he doesn't think the general fan will be able to tell the difference.

Brown said that last season's games averaged 67 to 68 plays per team per game, and after the first week of games in 2023, teams averaged 63 plays per game. He said that the Notre Dame and Navy matchup in Week Zero was an outlier since it finished in under three hours.

The Neal Brown Radio Show will take place every Thursday before every WVU matchup this season from 6 to 8 p.m. on Mountaineer Sports Network. Two exceptions include the two weeks leading up to matchups against Houston and Baylor, which this show will be broadcasted on Tuesday, Oct. 10, and Tuesday, Nov. 21

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