West Virginia football looking for best fits with personnel

West Virginia had to do an audible of sorts against Maryland.

Due to the Mountaineers being thin at the tight end spot with starter Mike O’Laughlin on the sideline, the offense had essentially one option at the position in redshirt junior T.J. Banks. The offense was on the field for 65 total snaps, with Banks being on the field for roughly half of those.

That meant the Mountaineers had to go to 10-personnel which wasn’t ideal, but something that they certainly have in the playbook. That grouping consists of four wide receivers and one running back which is obviously a little different than the looks with a tight end in the game.

“We had to play about half the game at 10-personnel and we’ll probably have to do that again,” head coach Neal Brown said. “It’s not ideal, but we can have success doing it.”

Brown even admitted that they probably should have gone to the look a little more but given the fact that senior running back Leddie Brown is still the featured offensive piece, and he does some things better with a tight end in the game they stuck with that look until later. The passing element to the move certainly was successful.

“We probably should have gone to the 10-personnel stuff a little bit earlier in the third quarter if I had to do it over again,” Brown said.

Because O’Laughlin is doubtful at best to suit up against Long Island, it could be more of the same for the Mountaineers as they look to establish more consistency out of the personnel grouping.

Running the ball is the challenge in that grouping and finding a way to establish more of a threat on the ground is going to be one of the keys moving forward.

“First off there is no secret you lose run game possibilities and answers when you go 10 personnel. Finding those will be good and as it goes our pass catchers have got to be explosive,” offensive coordinator Gerad Parker said. “We will certainly go to work on those detached runs.”

Both groupings are part of what West Virginia wants to do when the entire roster is healthy but finding a way to be balanced is the key to success on the offensive side.

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