WVSports.com looks at the weekly press conference from West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and determines the five most interesting discussion topics.
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 2024 schedule.
Next up is a home matchup against UCF.
1—West Virginia's focus is on themselves. The Mountaineers sit at 5-5 on the season and is one win away from a bowl game, but the focus isn’t necessarily on simply one game it’s the bigger picture. This is the first game where West Virginia is essentially mathematically eliminated from competing for the Big 12 Conference Championship game and are sitting in a spot that nobody in the program is excited about.
This season was expected to be a chance to take a leap after a 9-4 campaign last year, but instead has been marred with inconsistency and disappointment as the .500 record with two games remaining reflects. But Brown is telling his team that everything else is external and the focus right now should be to prepare to play their best and not take the game for granted down the stretch run of the season.
West Virginia still has an opportunity to finish the year on a high note but that doesn’t happen without finding a way to win some games down the stretch run. The goal is to win and beating UCF will get them to six overall and five in the league, but the focus is on themselves. The Mountaineers have been an inconsistent football team and the focus is on playing out the rest of the season with their best foot forward.
2—Team approach to replacing Ray. West Virginia is going to be without wide receiver Traylon Ray for the remainder of the season and there’s no sugarcoating the fact that it’s a significant loss. Ray had hauled in 28 catches for 426 yards and 4 touchdowns on the season and in the process had developed into one of the best players on the roster when it came to defeating man coverage and making plays at the wide receiver spot.
It’s hard to replace what he brings to the table and Brown said that by the time his career is over he is going to be a really high-level player, and the NFL could be in his future. Granted, Ray still needs to get stronger, but he is going to make a full recovery in the future. In the meantime, the Mountaineers are going to need players such as Justin Robinson, Preston Fox and Jarel Williams to step up in their roles with a committee approach to trying to replace what was lost with Ray.
One bad point of news is the fact that West Virginia was optimistic that Jaden Bray would return for the game against UCF but that now seems doubtful after a setback in practice.
3— West Virginia struggling to hit in all three phases. This isn’t new at this point, but 10 games into the season West Virginia has struggled to put it together in all three areas of the game and continues to not play complimentary, winning football. Which has caused plenty of frustration.
On the defensive side, the Mountaineers continue to struggle with pass coverage and it’s something that the coaching staff continues to try to work on to address. There is plenty of inconsistency and while they have shown the ability to match routes and cover at times, that has been few and far between. On the defensive side of the ball, it’s like a puzzle and all 11 pieces have to do their job in order to prevent explosive plays. All 11 have to work in concert and when that doesn’t happen it can be exploited. The biggest thing is making sure when the picture moves that the Mountaineers are able to adjust to that.
There is frustration across the board and Brown understands that ultimately it’s on him as the leader of the program and with the players making mistakes it’s a reflection on them not doing their jobs as coaches. The players also are frustrated by their performance, but the best thing you can do is flip the script and move forward by putting a plan together they can execute.
4—Senior Day a different experience. Brown has said it before, but when it comes to Senior Day he has been a big proponent of moving the festivities to the start of the year over where they are currently situated with the last home game of the season. The biggest reason is that everybody is healthy at that stage of the season and will have the chance to suit up. But that isn’t the only reason.
If you held it at the beginning of the year, there is still a lot in front of the players from both a game and an opportunity standpoint and it wouldn’t be as emotional as it has become. West Virginia has tried to focus on training their players for the event because it is a tough situation for many of those going through it.
It’s the only game where players are individually called out onto the field and also are greeted by their family members which only adds to the emotions in the pre-game. The coaching staff has tried to train the players to handle those situations in order not to make it a bigger distraction than it potentially could be.
Like in previous years as well, Brown cautioned not to place too much emphasis on those players who decide to walk with eligibility left because it isn’t a reflection that they won’t return to the team. It’s happened in the past as well and a part of that is because he doesn’t place any restriction on who can walk.
5—Injuries. Not as high on the list this week, but always featured, the injuries heading into the game against UCF isn’t as lengthy as it’s been at times over the past several weeks nor as prominent. There are no questions at quarterback this week, as senior Garrett Greene will get the start but there are some injuries of note. In the secondary, both cornerback Ayden Garnes and spear Aubrey Burks have been ruled out and that is likely to remain that way throughout the duration of the regular season and perhaps even the bowl game.
Wide receiver Traylon Ray also will not play, but that was already known after he injured his leg and was carted off the field in the second half of the Baylor game.
The only injury that was somewhat new this week is the status of wide receiver Jaden Bray as Brown said that he suffered a setback in practice and now appears to be on the wrong side of doubtful after there was some optimism that he would return. Bray, a transfer from Oklahoma State, has been out since the Mountaineers played the Cowboys at the beginning of October and it doesn't seem likely he returns this week.
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