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 the final home game against Texas and with West Virginia at 4-6 the head coach dove into some key topics not only for this week but the rest of the season.
1—It’s not too late. While some have essentially turned the page on a disappointing football season, that certainly isn’t the case in the Puskar Center. Brown made it clear that despite the 4-6 record on the season, it isn’t too late to put together some quality football down the stretch run of the year.
The inconsistencies that this team has shown has pissed Brown off more than anybody but he recognizes that ultimately that lies at his feet as the head coach of the program. It’s extremely frustrating for Brown, but they have an opportunity to try to salvage something an attempt to get to six wins for a bowl game. No, that doesn’t cover up what has unfolded to date but it would at least provide some much-needed momentum as the coaches will hit the road for recruiting in few weeks.
That isn’t possible unless West Virginia is able to beat Texas at home and while the Longhorns have been equally as frustrating with a 4-6 record of their own, Brown expects to take their best shot. The loser of this game will be eliminated from bowl contention, so essentially the Mountaineers have to use the next two weeks as a mini playoff to try to sustain any sort of positive momentum.
2—Brown stands by assessment. The head coach wasn’t pleased after the 34-17 loss to Kansas State and not much had changed after he was able to sit down and watch the tape. It was a poor start that was fueled largely by self-inflicted mistakes. He did credit the team for bouncing back and rallying to cut the score to only 7 points in the fourth quarter but another coverage mishap led to the Wildcats essentially putting the game away. While frustrating for obvious reasons, Brown was encouraged that he saw few effort issues in the game with the mistakes stemming from lack of details and fundamentals.
West Virginia simply didn’t make routine plays in that game and it came back to haunt the program in the final result which is tough for Brown to swallow. This is a football team that often hasn’t been able to get out of their own way and it was again a glaring issue in this one as well.
It’s something that Brown didn’t hide his disappointment over especially considering at this point of the season and if you want to try to win games like that you have to put together a better effort. Outcomes will take care of themselves, but they have to play quality football that gives them a chance to win.
3—Injuries mounting. West Virginia was already down WILL linebacker Lance Dixon and now has taken another blow to the position room with starter Exree Loe out for the season. He sustained the injury against Kansas State and had to undergo surgery. Dixon is questionable for this game but at this point it isn’t overly optimistic he’ll return. That is going to force senior Scottie Young into playing more linebacker as he did against Kansas State and the Mountaineers will be forced to get creative.
Brown made a good point about the days of hoarding talent to have a roster three-deep across the board at every position are long gone, but nobody is going to feel sorry about where the Mountaineers find themselves at this stage. That’s no different at Texas who lost their best player running back Bijan Robinson to a season-ending injury. The question now becomes who is going to step up?
Wide receiver Sean Ryan is questionable and did not finish the game but Brown is cautiously optimistic that he would play although Kaden Prather played well in his absence.
On the positive side of things, the Mountaineers will likely welcome back redshirt freshman quarterback Garrett Greene who missed the last game after a blow to the head. He practiced and should be available unless he has any sort of setback after not practicing last week.
4—Seniors have options. Due to the COVID-19 year, the majority of the seniors on the roster have the opportunity to return next season if they elect to do so. That obviously excludes super seniors that are already on the roster like Alonzo Addae, Sean Mahone and Evan Staley but the majority of the rest have a decision to make once the season ends on if they will be back. One that has already addressed that is linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo as he has already indicated that this will be his final game on Mountaineer Field. But the rest are going to have to sort through their options in the coming weeks.
As part of that, Brown said that you shouldn’t place too much emphasis on the seniors that do elect to walk as part of the festivities Saturday. That’s because many of them could still elect to return. The coaching staff plans on sitting down with each in the coming weeks and determining their next steps. No final decision is expected at this point of the year and it will come down to what they want to do.
Even players without NFL aspirations could elect to simply get on with their lives and you have to take the emotions out and provide information on those that do want to try to play at the next level. West Virginia has plenty of scholarships available so could technically welcome back all of the guys that are on the fence but like last year that likely won’t unfold until the declaration deadline.
5—Planning has become difficult. For the longest time, coaches could simply sit down and map out their future classes with what they needed for the 2022 roster, 2023 roster and so forth and so on. But with the introduction of the transfer portal and the ease of simply being able to pack up and jump to another school it has become significantly more difficult to do that.
There are always going to be those players that you can see will leave due to playing time or their malcontent with their situation, but now you have to watch more than ever for the unexpected transfers or players that were likely going to reprise large roles. West Virginia saw that this off-season to a degree when safety Tykee Smith and cornerback Dreshun Miller left the team for opportunities in the SEC at Georgia and Auburn. That makes planning tough especially because they are in critical areas.
That means that coaches now are forced to hold back several scholarships every year just to play catch up in a sense and fill the holes that transfers can do to a roster. It’s a much more difficult balancing act than ever before but it’s something that every college program is dealing with in this new era.
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