Neal's deal: Five key items from West Virginia football

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 2021 schedule.

Next up is Oklahoma and Brown discussed that matchup, personnel news and how his club is preparing for the opportunity to take on the Sooners in primetime.

1—This is going to be a challenge. Brown didn’t beat around the bush when discussing the Sooners by leading off his talking points by simply pointing out that this team has won the last six Big 12 championships. West Virginia has gone to Oklahoma four times since becoming a member of the league and the average score of those games has been 43-19 in favor of the Sooners. In fact, only one of those contests (16-7 loss in 2013) have the Mountaineers even been relatively close on the scoreboard.

This Oklahoma team follows a similar recipe from the ones that West Virginia has seen in the past with a dynamic quarterback in Spencer Rattler who in no surprise is a Heisman Trophy candidate, while skill positions and offensive line are deep and talented especially at wide receiver. The Sooners defense has continued to improve under coordinator Alex Grinch and the Mountaineers got no favors by opening on the road against this team. That’s not to say it’s an impossible hill to climb, but Brown understands the task at hand by going on the road and trying to upend the Sooners in a night contest.

Still with the challenge at hand, it’s still a massive opportunity for the program and the Mountaineers will try to put their best foot forward in preparation for what the Sooners are going to throw at them. Anytime you’re going against a combination of great scheme and talent it makes for a tough game.

2—Bartlett calls his shot. One of the players that made the biggest statistical impact against Virginia Tech was bandit linebacker Jared Bartlett recording five tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble. That forced fumble came on one of the three West Virginia stands in the red zone where the Hokies came away with zero points on the scoreboard in the eventual 27-21 win.

Bartlett was coming off a highly productive summer and fall camp, but simply didn’t play well in the first two games for whatever reason. However, in the week leading up to the Virginia Tech game he put together his best two practices of the season and things seemed as if they were turning the corner. The coaching staff had been using Bartlett with twists and stunts early in the contests, but he came over to the sideline and asked coordinator Jordan Lesley if he could straight rush because he felt he had an advantage there given his speed. Credit to both Bartlett and the coaches for taking that suggestion to heart as the Mountaineers made the adjustment and he put together his best game yet.

It’s part of a continued maturation for Bartlett who dealt with personal tragedy this off-season losing his brother in a freak accident and came back with a renewed focus and seriousness about his preparation. That played out Saturday on the field in front of all to see but Brown did make mention of the job that Akheem Mesidor has done on the interior of the line playing at an extremely high level. Without Mesidor getting that vertical push to prevent Virginia Tech quarterback Braxton Burmeister from stepping up in the pocket those sacks likely don’t occur, but both working in tandem made for a big day.

3—Two quarterback system is here to stay. It’s not as if there was any doubt about this, but Brown confirmed that using senior both quarterback Jarret Doege and freshman quarterback Garrett Greene will be a part of the offense for the foreseeable future. The head coach acknowledged that there are only so many reps to go around and you have to avoid making too many changes for the offensive line depending on who is in the game, but there are benefits to taking advantage of the skill sets of both.

For one it makes it more difficult for opposing defenses to prepare for what the Mountaineers can throw at them with two signal callers that offer very different skill sets. Obviously, to this stage it’s been boiled down to Doege throwing the ball and Greene running it but there is much more to offer.

Brown made it clear that as the package continues to expand that Greene is perfectly capable of throwing the football and is equipped with a strong arm to do it. That provides just another wrinkle to make defensive coordinators weary of what the duo can bring to the table. The plan is to continue to play both of them moving forward and develop plans with each.

That is only aided by the fact that both quarterbacks are close and understand that they can help.

4—Red zone defense takes work. West Virginia currently sits as the nation’s best units in the red zone allowing only 4 scores on 11 trips in that part of the field. Only one of those has resulted in a touchdown. And that isn’t by accident. The Mountaineers held Virginia Tech to 1-4 in the red zone this past Saturday and two fourth quarter red zone stands that led to zero points for the Hokies was ultimately the difference in the game. That is especially true on the final possession when the Hokies had four snaps from the West Virginia three-yard line and could not get the ball into the end zone.

West Virginia has strongly emphasized that area of the field for the past two years after the Mountaineers struggled in that department in 2019. That started with spring before the COVID-19 break a season ago and continued all the way through the fall and into the season. The numbers jumped last season, but this year has the defense as one of the best in the entire country. Brown credits the work done there as a major reason for that and still West Virginia does some sort of red zone work good on good anytime they’re in pads during practices. That has played a major role in the overall turnaround.

5—Jaylen Anderson update. The only remaining piece of the West Virginia 2021 recruiting class is now enrolled and in the developmental weight program. The first part of that isn’t news for WVSports.com subscribers as we confirmed that Anderson had been able to enroll last week but the second part is a positive development for his future in the program. The four-star running back was spotted on the sidelines wearing the uniform top against Virginia Tech and now the attention will turn to next season.

Because Anderson missed so much time after being flagged by a clearinghouse issue, the focus now will shift entirely to better preparing him to become a factor in the backfield next spring. That will begin with his development in the weight room over the next couple months but given his size already that shouldn’t prove too difficult. Brown made it clear that they want to put the focus in getting him in position to be successful in school and then have him ready to go in January to compete for time.

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