Spring complete, but process continues for West Virginia football
Spring football is in the books and now the process continues for West Virginia as the team prepares for the next phase of the off-season.
The Mountaineers were able to book 15-practices which allowed the coaches to collect valuable information on the development of the roster as a whole. Unlike last season where things were limited to only a pair of practices before spring was shut down, West Virginia completed an entire cycle.
On the developmental side, many players saw significant gains from where they were last season. That list includes but is certainly not limited to players like cornerback Jackie Matthews, wide receiver Sam Brown, offensive guard Jordan White, quarterback Garrett Greene and others that simply didn’t have enough time to acclimate to the game last spring and once the season began.
Matthews has played his way into a starting cornerback role heading into the fall and that jump from year one to year two is something that head coach Neal Brown has observed a lot from past junior college players during his time at Troy.
“We always see that. It would always be a big difference after they’ve been on campus and learn the system because it’s different. Speed of the game is different,” Brown said.
Now, West Virginia will shift into an evaluation phase of what unfolded this spring as the scouting department headed by Matt Jansen will do independent reviews of every player that could play on offense, defense and special teams to point out strengths and weaknesses.
That will then transition into positional evaluations with both their coach and Brown.
“We’ll sit down with every player, position coaches and myself, and give them feedback,” Brown said.
That feedback will be critical when it comes to areas that players need to continue to improve in order to put them in the best position to crack the depth chart this upcoming fall. It also will enlighten players on where they are at with their development and provide guidance for the months ahead.
Not to mention provide insight to the coaching staff on what areas they still might need to address with available scholarships with possible additions prior to the start of the year. The Mountaineers still have a handful of available scholarships that can be filled, and the 15-practices will provide a blueprint of what needs to still be targeted to help address any of those concerns.
Things will then finish up with coursework and closing out the semester. That will lead into some time off before the team reconvenes to begin summer work around Memorial Day. From there, it will be the typical procedure of summer workouts leading into fall camp and of course the start of the season.
Things are moving now and while there won’t be any pads popping over the next couple weeks there will be some critical items being checked off the list as the Mountaineers march toward the start of the season in College Park this coming September.
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