With West Virginia fall camp in the books, decisions must be made
Fall camp is over and now comes the time for West Virginia to make some critical decisions on the roster.
The Mountaineers have a pair of scrimmages in the books along with a mock game and now the focus shifts toward preparing for the season opener against Penn State. But as part of that, head coach Neal Brown and his staff still have to whittle down the final position battles remaining on the roster.
That is aided by the fact that the scrimmages put those players in competitive situations where the coaching staff can get a feel for how they respond when the bullets are flying. The focus is evaluating each player from a personnel standpoint as opposed to a schematic one given the nature of the scrimmages.
“These scrimmages expose for the good and the bad. It shows you’re ready or not ready,” Brown said.
The Mountaineers treat that process much like the NFL in the sense that every player is graded on a percentage and production basis in every single practice.
The percentage aspect boils down to the basic elements of effort, alignment and assignment on each snap, while production simply comes down to if a player was in a position to make a play did they make it.
That way it is clear in any type of team setting how a player has performed and where they fit into the picture in terms of a depth chart or if they will be on the field in some capacity.
The scrimmages essentially take the place of the pre-season games and while they aren’t cutting players at the end, their development is critical.
“We’re building up who is going to play and there’s not any gray area in it,” Brown said.
Now, Brown does admit that there is a crutch sometimes when it comes to the realm of experience in those decisions that are close because those who have been on the field can be trusted more than those who haven’t. But there is often an inner battle when it comes to players that are young and talented.
“Even though a guy has some experience let’s not forget that hungry talent will overcome that,” he said.
West Virginia returns a lot of veterans across the board and most of the key position battles were already settled but those final ones along with who will fill roles at those third spots and which freshmen will take the field need to still be addressed.
“For the most part this is what it looks like and this is where it’s at,” Brown said. “Of the 22 positions, there might be three or four you might have tough conversations.”
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