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

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 2019 schedule.

1—Norwood done for regular season. If you’re going to go out, they say it’s best to do it in style and there is no question that senior safety Josh Norwood did that on his acrobatic interception which ultimately will cost him the rest of the year. Norwood has surgery on his collarbone after hitting the turf hard and bringing to a close a career which has seen its shares of ups and downs.

Still it’s just another loss for the Mountaineers on defense that has sustained significant losses over the course of the season. Norwood joins defensive end Taijh Alston, linebacker Quondarius Qualls, linebacker Vandarius Cowan as players that are now out for the year and there have been several others that have dealt with extended absences over the course of the season. Norwood was an experienced safety that brought and veteran presence to a group that lacked it. He will now be replaced by a true freshman in Kerry Martin and he is going to be tasked with filling that role.

2—A change in the middle. Redshirt junior offensive lineman Chase Behrndt started in place of redshirt freshman Briason Mays against Kansas State and the offensive line performed well with the move. At the time there were questions as to whether it would be a one-time deal or if there was indeed a changing of the guard at the position. Mays had struggled with some of the stronger, experienced nose guards in the league as the Mountaineers were dealt a set of challenging three-man fronts with head-up nose guards on a week-to-week basis. So the coaches elected to try something different and the offensive line responded with an admirable performance creating some holes that haven’t been there and generating enough on the ground to spark the offense.

Brown made it clear that the plan is to go with the same construction on the offensive front heading into the Oklahoma State game and it does give the Mountaineers more experience there albeit with Behrndt who has been battling a shoulder injury for several weeks. The communication aspect also worked in the favor of Behrndt as he was solid in that department against Kansas State.

I don’t think this is an indication that Mays couldn’t be the guy down the road for the Mountaineers but it is a sign that the coaches want him to address some of his issues in the weight room this off-season to reach that potential to become the player the coaches want.

3—The rest of the injuries. While the Mountaineers did lose one player for the rest of the regular season, the Mountaineers will get back redshirt junior wide receiver T.J. Simmons after missing the past couple games. While he he isn’t expected to be full speed, it will give the Mountaineers a positive addition to the wide receiver room give his experience and how he was putting things together prior to his injury. Simmons will likely be on a snap count once he suits up but it is a positive development.

The news for starting kicker Evan Staley is still more up in the air as he has been dealing with a muscle injury and he is expected to test things out by kicking this week to see if he can hold up to doing it in a game. In his absence, Casey Legg drilled a 51-yard kick against Kansas State and has been serviceable but obviously a player was starting for a reason. It’s more wait and see there but the return of Staley would be key for the special team’s units as well.

4—Checking. Check, please? Against Kansas State it appeared that quarterback Jarret Doege was given more freedom to look to the sideline and check than what West Virginia had done in several previous games and Brown admitted that some of that was due to the defensive alignments used by the Wildcats. Doege does have a good knack for understanding the game and has been around college football for so long that it allowed them to check more things at the line of scrimmage.

Some of that is going to be looking over to the sideline to see what the call could be, but Doege does have some latitude himself in order to check into things which is telling for where he’s at.

5—What bowl game? West Virginia sits 4-6 on the season and with two games left there is a real opportunity for a team that was almost left for dead at times could make a bowl game. It won’t be easy with another ranked opponent in Oklahoma State coming to town this weekend and then traveling to TCU for the season finale but before we put the cart ahead of the horse, Brown made it clear that they haven’t even discussed that scenario. Right now, the goal is the same as it’s been since the wheels came off against Missouri in the first half and that is to take things one step at a time with the ultimate goal for improvement. If that natural improvement occurs, then perhaps a bowl game is on the agenda but for now the focus is just staying the course and hitting those benchmarks.

Saturday will represent Senior Day for the Mountaineers and the last time that 22 seniors will be on Mountaineer Field but the program is simply looking to put a better showing together than they did in the last time at home against Texas Tech. That is the goal and the discussion about bowls can wait.

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