Neal Brown is going to be a little nervous before he coaches his first game at West Virginia.

But that’s nothing deviant from his normal routine. It’s something he experiences before every game and his message to his team is that it’s a perfectly normal emotion for them to go through as well.

The trick is to keep it under control once the ball is kicked off and the game begins.

“You have butterflies every game you play and if you don’t you’ve lost your edge a little bit,” he said.

Brown will embark on his post atop the Mountaineers football program against James Madison, the No. 2 rated FCS level team in the nation. It’s a club that has experience at quarterback with Ben DiNucci returning as the starter after holding the job all last season and plenty of veterans on the defensive side with all 11 players being either of senior or junior eligibility.

“The front six looks every bit like the guys we’re going to line up and play in the Big 12,” Brown said.

At this stage of preparation, it’s now time to get out and play a football game against another opponent in order to really get an understanding for where they’re at as a club. While you can have an idea, those things typically won’t reveal themselves until you match up against somebody other than your own team.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some things to sort out. The Mountaineers have yet to determine a starter at right guard with sophomore John Hughes and redshirt junior Chase Behrndt both listed at that spot. The coaches plan to head into this week with the battle ongoing to identify the starter, although it is clear at this stage that both of the options are going to see the field.

That battle at right guard has been made possible due to former starter redshirt junior Josh Sills sliding over to center to take the reins of that position after some uneven play from the other options.

West Virginia will be without junior college cornerback Dreshun Miller who has been battling an injury throughout the course of fall camp and his status remains undetermined moving ahead. On the positive front, redshirt junior tight end Jovani Haskins has been medically released for full contact and will be available against the Dukes after wearing a green jersey throughout the course of fall camp.

Redshirt freshman Mike O’Laughlin is listed atop the depth chart at tight end and was able to soak up a bulk of the reps there during fall camp with Haskins being limited and T.J. Banks battling an injury. He has shown himself to be a physical option in the blocking department with an understanding of what the Mountaineers want to do on top of his pass catching abilities as a former wide receiver.

“I’m excited about his future here,” Brown said.

The Mountaineers are set for a 2 p.m. Aug. 31 kick off against James Madison.

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