WVU offense multiple in many ways
Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital believes this edition of the West Virginia offense has the personnel to be the most versatile of his coaching career.
The maestro of the Mountaineers offensive scheme this coming season after inheriting play calling duties from head coach Dana Holgorsen, Spavital is walking into a much different situation than the one he left in Morgantown following the 2012 season.
But Spavital is different, too. After stints at Texas A&M and California as a play caller, he has evolved himself and been on the end of two different extremes.
After utilizing a ball-control style offense with fullbacks with the Aggies to combat the pressure from the SEC defensive linemen, he quickly shifted to a more-pass happy outfit with the Golden Bears considering the personnel at the time was “16 wide receivers and a fullback.”
Now, he inherits what Spavital refers to as the “most multiple group I’ve ever been a part of.”
Looking down the roster, West Virginia has tight ends, fullbacks, running backs, slot wide receivers, outside wide receivers and everything in between. And of all sizes as well.
“We’ve got a lot of multiple body-types, which is interesting,” Spavital said.
That alone can open up the playbook as West Virginia has the ability to do anything from big-personnel to spreading it out and throwing the football around the yard. That type of versatility is hard to find in one offense and one that has been fostered through recruiting different body-types with different skills.
Adding to the versatility that West Virginia can use at its expense is the wide receivers that can play both inside and outside such as juniors David Sills and Gary Jennings, although the latter is primarily inside.
Sills is seeing reps at both spots throughout the course of fall camp and through that has become a more versatile player himself and has learned different techniques when it comes to getting off the line as well as understanding how different defensive positions will react in coverage.
For example, when defenses are in zero pressure the coverage from a linebacker or a cornerback will be quite different with the ‘backer taking the approach of not getting beat deep, with the cornerback more apt to jamming at the line and being more aggressive.
“It’s the same manipulation of a defender,” Sills said.
However, one aspect that does differ is blocking on the outside against smaller cornerbacks opposed to tangling with the bigger, more physical safeties and linebackers in the box.
But from Tevin Bush at 5-foot-5, to Dominique Maiden at 6-foot-5, there are different body types across the board for Spavital to plug into the offense and various personnel groupings at his disposal.
“We have the whole group. Coach Spav can kind of pick which players he wants to put in there on certain plays or certain situations,” he said. “We’re very versatile.”
Indeed.