West Virginia neck deep in critical week of camp
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is pissed.
As is the rest of the coaching staff and the players, too. That’s a natural byproduct of the dog days of fall camp as all of those involved are doing the same things over and over again.
But it’s a critical point in the development of a football team as well as this current week leading into the second scrimmage this coming Saturday will be the toughest week that the team will face.
“It’s really about finding where we’re at and we tested them some today and we got some good responses and some things we’ve got to get better at,” Brown said. “It’s going to be a tough week, but it will also tell us where we’re at so I’m excited to see that.”
West Virginia wrapped up the first scrimmage of fall camp this past Saturday and transitioned into a tough practice Monday which will be repeated today. Wednesday will represent an off day with the start of classes, but Thursday will be another hard practice before a little bit lighter session Friday.
That will lead into the scrimmage which will feature 50-60 plays and help to serve as a separation point for many of the various position battles across the roster.
“It gets a little hard, gets a little hairy you kind of see what people are about,” Brown said.
The Mountaineers are focused on alignment and physicality which means getting to the ball and running their feet through contact. It’s not something that the coaches are easing into either as the focus has been on being more physical throughout the course of this fall.
The challenge is to make sure that this week is as productive as it needs to be as players can see the light at the end of the tunnel with classes set to begin and the scheduling shifting after the upcoming scrimmage. From there, the focus will be building up to another point with the team hitting at full cylinder in time for the season opener at Penn State that first weekend in September.
“When you know they’re starting to drift you better be at your best and it’s about continuously challenging them that we’re not just getting through this but we’re getting better because of it,” Brown said.
This week presents the biggest work loads of fall camp, but the focus is to be hard on the team in order to have them battle tested for when they need to be in football games.
And it takes a little bit of attitude to achieve that.
“It's a critical week and we need to be hard on them, tough on them and we’ve got to get some calluses this week, so we’ll be ready to go,” Brown said.
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