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 an off-week before West Virginia hits the road yet again for a Thursday night game at Houston. Brown recaps the win over TCU and looks ahead.
1—Injury updates. The 24-21 road win over TCU was a physical affair which led to the Mountaineers having two players carted off the field and several other leaving the game due to their injuries. When it comes to safety Aubrey Burks, who was carted off the field with what appeared to be a neck injury, all of the tests have came back negative and he will be alright with full range of motion. Burks will now go through protocol and while Brown wouldn't speculate on when he could return given the emotional trauma of the situation after he clears would be eligible to see the field yet again.
The other player carted off was linebacker Tray Lathan but he will be lost for the season due to the lower leg injury he sustained against the Horned Frogs. He's already had successful surgery however and is expected to make a complete recovery for next year.
On the offensive line, left tackle Wyatt Milum was poked in the eye and did not return to the game but should be fine moving forward. As for starting left guard Tomas Rimac, his injury puts his status in question for the Houston game but it isn't expected to be a long term injury and the bye week should give him a chance to suit up.
Safety Hershey McLaurin could have gone back into the game after a hit and should be fine as well, while the bye week is going to be important to allow starting quarterback Garrett Greene to continue to heal up as well.
Finally, running back Jaylen Anderson did not play against TCU due to missing practice with an illness earlier in the week while linebacker Tirek Austin-Cave continues to miss time with a leg injury that Brown doesn't believe will be season-ending in nature.
2—Replacing Burks and Lathan. While Burks could indeed theoretically be back without missing a game, for the time being the Mountaineers are going to need to replace him as well as depth some depth until he is back on the field. West Virginia will likely slide Marcis Floyd to help back there but when it comes to depth Brown expects to meet with safeties coach Dontae Wright in order to determine a plan on how to approach that.
At linebacker Lathan had been playing very good football but his job now will likely go to true freshman Ben Cutter. The North Carolina native has been playing more of late including 47 snaps against TCU and Brown describes him as ready for the role. Behind Cutter, the Mountaineers are going to need to get solid production out of both Jairo Faverus and Caden Biser when called upon.
These were already two of the thinnest spots on the team due to injuries and now the coaching staff is going to be challenged even further.
3—Brown thinks his team should be ranked. The fifth-year head coach said it after the game and doubled down that his 4-1 football team should be nationally ranked. Brown, who votes in the Coaches' Poll, put his team there this past week based on that belief.
Brown points to Texas Tech playing Oregon close as to why that is a quality win and then going on the road and winning at TCU is in the same boat. The Big 12 Conference as a whole is underappreciated right now as a whole according to Brown with just a handful of teams in the poll and that can be pointed to the non-conference portion of the schedule which definitely is fair.
Still, given who the Mountaineers have played they should be perched along with the top 25 teams in the country. But it can now be used as just more motivation for a team that hasn't been struggling to find it after they were picked dead last in the league. And even with West Virginia not in the top 25 now there will be more opportunities ahead.
4—West Virginia hasn't played their best. Brown made sure to highlight that while his team is 4-1 and 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference, the Mountaineers certainly haven't come close to playing their best football yet. This is a football team that still has a large window to improve in many different areas but is getting it done by being more physical than people and playing hard. The coaching staff is treating this bye week differently than they have in the past and won't start practicing until Wednesday this week with preparation on Houston set to start Friday.
This bye week is going to be important for the Mountaineers to rest up and refresh in order to hit the ground running so this team does have a chance to hit those marks that their head coach firmly believes is still out in front of them.
5—The four objectives. It started in the off-season and has carried on in every team meeting or function since that point. The Mountaineers have four core objectives that they want to display in each game as it is the pathway for this team to be successful. Those are discipline, strain, tough and smart. That is how this team wants to be described and for the most part through five games those have been apparent in the play of this football team especially when it comes to toughness and effort.
Against TCU the first two were certainly there, but the Mountaineers did not play with discipline and simply didn't play smart football. It didn't come back to bite them in that contest, but the football team has to make huge strides in those areas moving forward.
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