WVSports.com: Insider Notes: West Virginia fall camp offensive coaches
WVSports.com presents our popular feature Insider Notes.
A collection of news and notes on the West Virginia Mountaineers football team as fall camp transitions into full pads.
This edition features insight on the offensive positions on the roster such as running back, wide receiver, tight end and of course quarterback.
Here are several of the notes:
--West Virginia plans to utilize the running backs in the passing game with a mix of two-backs and even using some of them in the slot in order to keep the same personnel on the field without having to substitute as a way to do that. It gets the best players on the field and provides different looks when you have the flexibility to do that with players. Primarily it’s been Alec Sinkfield and Kennedy McKoy working on the passing element but others such as Martell Pettaway are working into the mix. That’s not to say that they won’t use some of the others there but they are focusing on getting assignments down in general. For example, they put in a play today that was designed for certain personnel but Leddie Brown got the call and executed what was asked of him properly.
----Running backs coach Chad Scott wanted his running backs to make people miss at the second level in the spring and it’s now happening. He wants them to be creative on the second level to win and you have to have the mentality to score every time you touch the ball. You have to win in space by either making people miss or breaking a tackle. One incident that shocked the room was with again Brown who had a play where instead of trying to bulldoze a defender down the field he put on the brakes, stopped and cut and the defensive player missed and he scored. That is exactly what he is looking for in those situations. You have to know who you are but at the same time you have to make people miss. The difference in just finishing the run and gaining maybe an additional yard when defenders caught up or making the guy miss and scoring a touchdown is what Scott points to with the room.
--As for tight ends, the goal is to be confident enough to get into 12 personnel with two tight ends (1 RB and 2 WR) or you can put a tight end in the backfield with the ball and another can serve as a big wide receiver in the slot that can block for screens which in turn can move around and create problems for defenses without substituting. It stresses the defense to make calls for a lot of different formations when you have that much versatility. It also creates an extra gap anytime you put a tight end on the ball. But you have to be good at it, you don’t want to do it just for the sake of doing it at this level of football if it isn’t effective.
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