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 2023 schedule.
Next up is a road game at TCU and Brown discussed that matchup as well as how his team is looking heading into the Big 12 road matchup.
1—Quarterback situation. West Virginia started redshirt freshman Nicco Marchiol against Texas Tech and for the second straight game he led the Mountaineers to a gritty, and for lack of a better term ugly win. Marchiol came into the game after only five plays against Pittsburgh after the ankle injury to starter Garrett Greene in that 17-6 victory, but this was his show from the start against the Red Raiders and he completed 12-21 passes for 78 yards with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions.
This week, the situation is identical to a week ago in the sense that the Mountaineers won’t make a call on Greene’s availability until later in the week. The redshirt junior was able to practice in some capacity at the end of last week and could have performed in an emergency role if needed against Texas Tech, but the plan is to go with Marchiol yet again if Greene isn’t healthy enough to use his athleticism.
This isn’t any type of surprise, more a confirmation of what many expected to begin with that unless Greene makes significant progress with his ankle between now and kickoff Saturday night it will be Marchiol back under center for the Mountaineers offense.
2— Better offense. Regardless which quarterback gets the start, West Virginia simply has to play better at running back and wide receiver for the offense to properly function. Marchiol certainly wasn’t perfect, but the Mountaineers had just six catches for 46 yards from wide receivers and one of the interceptions was a ball thrown directly to a pass catcher that bounced off him into the arms of a defender.
The pass game simply can’t be that bad and it involves throwing the ball, catching it and protecting it. Not to mention simply being able to make defenders miss in space or breaking a tackle.
The same can be said with the run game, where the Mountaineers struggled to also break tackles or create opportunities with just three missed tackles forced in the game. It wasn’t the best game overall for CJ Donaldson either as he managed just 48 yards on 15 carries, although Brown felt that West Virginia can do a better job getting him involved in the passing game.
The plan for this week is to trim down the rotation at wide receiver and allow players such as EJ Horton, Hudson Clement, Rodney Gallagher and Traylon Ray to get more opportunities to play to help spark the offense.
3—An opportunity. West Virginia has started the season 3-1, which could come as a surprise to some. But Brown believes that this game against TCU is an opportunity for his football team to prove if they are a contender in the Big 12 Conference this season. It’s a road game in a tough environment at night, but it is a chance for the Mountaineers to put themselves on the map early into the conference schedule.
By now it’s been well documented that the Mountaineers were picked dead last in the Big 12, something that both the players and coaches have referenced multiple times in the off-season. Beating Texas Tech at home is one thing, finding a way to beat the Horned Frogs on the road is another.
This is a TCU team that is playing some of its best football after a slower start and is strong in all three phases. This is a chance for West Virginia to rewrite the narrative early in the year and Brown wants his team to know that the opportunity is there for the taking heading into a bye week after that.
4—Injury updates. Outside of Greene, West Virginia is relatively healthy overall although Brown did inform the media that safety Keyshawn Cobb will join cornerback Montre Miller on the list of players that will be out for the year as he needs surgery. But there are no issues with starting running back CJ Donaldson or any of the other possible concerns that some might have had coming into this game.
5—Portal season. West Virginia has played four games this season which means that the possibility is now out there that players can elect to “self-redshirt,” and skip out on the rest of the year in order to preserve a year of eligibility.
Brown didn’t reference this specifically in the press conference, but at the conclusion informed reporters to be on the watch for this to occur in the coming days that there could be some players that elect to do this. Brown did say that if that happens there have been no problems with those players, but this is simply the reality of college football now with athletes looking for better situations for themselves with the remaining eligibility clock that they have left at their disposal.
It’s something that has happened at West Virginia in the past and it certainly isn’t an issue unique to the Mountaineers football program. But it is the reality with the current rules and how the players can use them.
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