WVSports.com looks at the weekly press conference from West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and determines the five most interesting topics of discussion.

We examine what was said as well as what it means for the football team both this week and moving ahead as the Mountaineers navigate the 2019 schedule.

1—This team is ready to play. There is always going to be uncertainty when entering the first game of the season, even more so when it’s the debut of a new era. But at some point in fall camp, it’s time to suit up and play a football game over banging heads against your own teammates on repeat. The Mountaineers are to that point and while the coaching staff has a good idea of how they could fare in certain areas you truly don’t know until you line up and go against somebody else. Of course the coaches are going to uncover some things they didn’t expect both positively and negatively, but the goal is for them is to play fast and hit the ground running. The time for talk is over and it’s now time for the Mountaineers to showcase how far they have come in the spring against another football team.

2—Youth is in session. One thing that’s clear is West Virginia is a young football team and that isn’t always a negative when it comes to season openers. The Mountaineers likely aren’t going to overlook a veteran James Madison team that has had plenty of success against FBS teams of late. The youth can be used as a motivator in the sense that this will be the first time that some of those players have seen any significant action at the college level and that won’t lead to looking ahead or any issues with effort.

As part of that youth movement, the Mountaineers are going to be playing a number of true freshmen in their first college action Saturday and while the overall health of the team can limit that number initially it isn’t going to stop it. Brown wants to get his newcomers into games in order to see what they bring to the table and maximize the most out of those opportunities in high leverage situations. That means mapping out when young players are going to play early in games to see how they respond and whether to make decisions on when to use them later in the year. Brown and his coaches plan to designate players that are only going to play in four or less games in order to qualify for the redshirt rule and those will be spread out throughout the course of the season. The Mountaineers will have youth but it isn’t going to necessarily be the worst thing when it comes to development.

3—Sills is the most reliable center. Josh Sills was moved to center in the middle of fall camp and at the time it was unclear if he would stick. Not only has it stuck, but Sills has improved in the process. He has improved his study habits due to needing to handle all of the communication on the offensive line while also playing with better pad level than he did during his time at offensive guard. Sills has realized he has a chance to affect every play in his new role and while he volunteered to make the move, it has likely shown him that it was the right decision. Perhaps the two of the most encouraging news from the move is that Sills has been the most reliable snapper with no issues there of late and it’s raised the level of play at the right guard spot from the two competitors there.

Chase Behrndt, the one-time starting center, and John Hughes have been going back and forth there at that spot and each have been able to make some movement at times. Regardless who wins, Behrndt has been much better at guard than center while Hughes has realized he has a chance to make an impact. Who would fill the role of Sills became the major concern if he did stick at center but that is starting to clear up some with how it has pushed those two to play well.

4—West Virginia is healthy. This is typically where you would knock on wood because there are still some practices left prior to the opener but when it comes to health it’s a good place for the West Virginia football program. The Mountaineers have only one player that has been ruled out for the match up with James Madison in junior college transfer cornerback Dreshun Miller and his status moving forward is still up in the air. There are of course some bumps and bruises at other spots on the roster, but to escape fall camp without any serious ailments is obviously big news heading into the first game of a new era with a new head coach atop the program. Granted, health is something that can change at any time but even getting several players back that were banged up such as Jovani Haskins being fully cleared to play after being limited all of fall camp is good news for the Mountaineers on the injury front.

5—Not one for long-winded pre-game talks. Brown puts it into motion each year that once game week starts as time passes he talks to his team less and less. That comes to a head on game-days when he doesn’t spend a lot of time writing riveting pre-game speeches in order to get his players fired up for the game. No, Brown believes that by that time players are motivated enough on their own.

He essentially hits on a theme for the week, telling the players his appreciation for them and why and then sending them out to have fun. It’s the same strategy he used at Troy and if players aren’t ready to play by the time the game rolls around there is nothing that he can say in order to motivate them.

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