West Virginia got in two days of spring practice prior to things being put on halt.

It’s unclear when, or if, that will resume although the Big 12 Conference along with the Mountaineers are expected to look at their options March 29. If things would resume at that point, then that would cost the West Virginia football program a total of five of the remaining 12 scheduled practice sessions on the calendar ahead of the April 18 Gold-Blue game.

Head coach Neal Brown was encouraged by what he saw in that albeit limited look at his team as they were ahead of pace from last year with clean sessions ahead of schedule.

“We had one of our better practices since I’ve been here,” he said.

For now, that progress is on hold, but Brown was able to see the progression of some of his young players on the roster both those that were on the team last year and the newcomers.

As for those on the team, there were significant jumps made both in size and strength as well as skill sets in players like wide receivers Ali Jennings and Sam James, defensive backs Dreshun Miller and Tae Mayo and offensive linemen Parker Moorer and Briason Mays.

The two practice sessions also offered glimpse into what they could potentially provide this year or down the road as the Mountaineers welcomed five scholarship players in quarterback Garrett Greene, wide receiver Reese Smith, cornerback Jairo Faverus, safety Jackie Matthews and defensive lineman Quay Mays along with several walk-ons at the mid-term.

Unlike those players that have gone through it before – you expect some variance from day-to-day but you don’t slow things down instead you just provide opportunities for those players. That up-and-down nature was on display over the first two days of practice with Greene, Smith and Faverus among those that looked good one-day and then struggled with things the next.

“Garrett kind of had his welcome to college football moment a few times today. He made some really big time throws on Tuesday. Reese had a long touchdown on Tuesday and also had a couple procedure penalties. Jairo made a couple plays today, but Sam got him on a couple deep balls,” Brown said.

Greene has perhaps the biggest curve considering he is playing quarterback but the coaches plan on throwing him into the fire in order to see what he can do this spring.

“He has a different dynamic now. He can run, extremely quick trigger and he’s got a little edge to him. He looks like he belongs,” Brown said.

It’s a transition for all involved, although easier for the junior college options like Matthews and Mays because they have already played structured football for a period of time. But the plan is to put them in situations to see what you have and that is something that the Mountaineers were doing before the stoppages of the practice sessions.

One of the major advantages to enrolling early is to get acclimated to what the spring is like to prepare for the fall but as we entered uncharted territory obviously the best-laid plans can change. Perhaps spring football will resume in Morgantown but that remains unclear.

For now, those involved will have to wait.

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