MORGANTOWN - Jarrett Brown will be the first to admit it. The deck was stacked in his favor.

He played with the No. 1 offense and all of the team's best receivers against a collection of reserves whose best days are probably well into the future, if they are out there at all.

Nor was he asked, at least not at the start, to try anything too risky, instead being assigned short, high-percentage passes without much chance of failure.

Still, West Virginia's new starting quarterback had to actually go out and make the plays, which as the afternoon grew longer became just a little trickier. Suffice it to say, he didn't disappoint.

Completing his first 15 passes and 21-of-28 before retiring for the afternoon, Brown threw for 273 yards and four touchdowns in the Gold team's 35-7 mismatch with the Blue in West Virginia's spring-ending scrimmage Saturday at Mountaineer Field.

Yet by his own admission, he rated the performance only a B-minus. And given the circumstances - namely that the Mountaineers have more than four months now to get ready for the 2009 season and, presumably, improve during that time - it was probably a fair grade.

"Coach wanted to get me going early with a lot of high-percentage passes, so I should have completed all of them,'' Brown said afterward. "But this is just the spring. We have a long way to go. I have a long way to go.''

True. And it cannot be emphasized enough that on Saturday Brown, who has the unenviable task of replacing Pat White this season, was dealing from a position of strength. Few, if any, of West Virginia's opponents this fall will be as clearly overmatched as was the Blue team on Saturday. In essence, the Gold team was made up of everyone who will play this fall and the Blue team those who won't - or at least have some improvement to make before reaching that level.

But this was more than just a skeleton drill and Brown's performance was impressive. He completed those 15 straight passes over the first four series the Gold team ran, gaining 160 yards in the process and throwing for three touchdowns.

Then a 5-for-10 performance in a successful two-minute drill to end the first half pretty much ended Brown's day. He played just one series after that.

"He's a big, tall man throwing to big, tall men,'' coach Bill Stewart said of the 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior. "We've not had that here in a while.''

And it wasn't just Brown who was impressive. Wes Lyons, who has been perhaps the biggest surprise of the spring, capped off the four weeks of drills with exactly the type of performance his practice has hinted at - six catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

His signature play came when the senior caught a short downfield pass from Brown, slammed into safety Anthony Wood, ran through the tackle and then stretched his 6-foot-8 frame across the goal line.

"That's the way he's practiced all spring,'' Brown said of Lyons. "That's one of the reasons I go to him so much.''

At least on Saturday, though, Brown could go to just about anyone with success. Alric Arnett also caught six passes, for 62 yards and a touchdown, and Bradley Starks accounted for five catches, 49 yards and another score. Starks' TD was probably the signature moment for Brown, who on the play rolled to his right and threw back across his body to Starks in the middle of the field.

That might not be the safest of throws and Stewart admits he cringed when he saw it, but as strong as Brown is he can sometimes get away with those.

"That's one of my strengths, my arm strength,'' Brown said. "It's something I can bring to the offense.''

Another reason Brown threw the ball so much - on 25 of 34 plays in the first half - was because tailback Noel Devine got in and got out quickly, for no other reason than it took him no time at all to prove himself. The junior tailback carried for 10 yards on his first play, broke off a 74-yard touchdown run on his third and that was that. Why play any longer?

"He took the football and did what he's capable of doing,'' Stewart said.

When all was said and done, the Gold team rolled up 461 total yards and the Gold defense held the Blue to just 126. More telling were probably the first-half totals, before the coaches began substituting and having players change teams. At that point the Gold held a 356-93 edge in total yards, the Blue team's lone moment being walk-on Jordan Roberts' 65-yard touchdown run one play after the coaches gave the Blue the ball back after a three-and-out.

As for the Blue team, there were few other highlights against the No. 1 defense. The Blue generated just four first downs and, aside from the one Roberts run, 18 yards rushing and 43 passing.

MORGANTOWN - Jarrett Brown will be the first to admit it. The deck was stacked in his favor.

He played with the No. 1 offense and all of the team's best receivers against a collection of reserves whose best days are probably well into the future, if they are out there at all.

Nor was he asked, at least not at the start, to try anything too risky, instead being assigned short, high-percentage passes without much chance of failure.

Still, West Virginia's new starting quarterback had to actually go out and make the plays, which as the afternoon grew longer became just a little trickier. Suffice it to say, he didn't disappoint.

Completing his first 15 passes and 21-of-28 before retiring for the afternoon, Brown threw for 273 yards and four touchdowns in the Gold team's 35-7 mismatch with the Blue in West Virginia's spring-ending scrimmage Saturday at Mountaineer Field.

Yet by his own admission, he rated the performance only a B-minus. And given the circumstances - namely that the Mountaineers have more than four months now to get ready for the 2009 season and, presumably, improve during that time - it was probably a fair grade.

"Coach wanted to get me going early with a lot of high-percentage passes, so I should have completed all of them,'' Brown said afterward. "But this is just the spring. We have a long way to go. I have a long way to go.''

True. And it cannot be emphasized enough that on Saturday Brown, who has the unenviable task of replacing Pat White this season, was dealing from a position of strength. Few, if any, of West Virginia's opponents this fall will be as clearly overmatched as was the Blue team on Saturday. In essence, the Gold team was made up of everyone who will play this fall and the Blue team those who won't - or at least have some improvement to make before reaching that level.

But this was more than just a skeleton drill and Brown's performance was impressive. He completed those 15 straight passes over the first four series the Gold team ran, gaining 160 yards in the process and throwing for three touchdowns.

Then a 5-for-10 performance in a successful two-minute drill to end the first half pretty much ended Brown's day. He played just one series after that.

"He's a big, tall man throwing to big, tall men,'' coach Bill Stewart said of the 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior. "We've not had that here in a while.''

And it wasn't just Brown who was impressive. Wes Lyons, who has been perhaps the biggest surprise of the spring, capped off the four weeks of drills with exactly the type of performance his practice has hinted at - six catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

His signature play came when the senior caught a short downfield pass from Brown, slammed into safety Anthony Wood, ran through the tackle and then stretched his 6-foot-8 frame across the goal line.

"That's the way he's practiced all spring,'' Brown said of Lyons. "That's one of the reasons I go to him so much.''

At least on Saturday, though, Brown could go to just about anyone with success. Alric Arnett also caught six passes, for 62 yards and a touchdown, and Bradley Starks accounted for five catches, 49 yards and another score. Starks' TD was probably the signature moment for Brown, who on the play rolled to his right and threw back across his body to Starks in the middle of the field.

That might not be the safest of throws and Stewart admits he cringed when he saw it, but as strong as Brown is he can sometimes get away with those.

"That's one of my strengths, my arm strength,'' Brown said. "It's something I can bring to the offense.''

Another reason Brown threw the ball so much - on 25 of 34 plays in the first half - was because tailback Noel Devine got in and got out quickly, for no other reason than it took him no time at all to prove himself. The junior tailback carried for 10 yards on his first play, broke off a 74-yard touchdown run on his third and that was that. Why play any longer?

"He took the football and did what he's capable of doing,'' Stewart said.

When all was said and done, the Gold team rolled up 461 total yards and the Gold defense held the Blue to just 126. More telling were probably the first-half totals, before the coaches began substituting and having players change teams. At that point the Gold held a 356-93 edge in total yards, the Blue team's lone moment being walk-on Jordan Roberts' 65-yard touchdown run one play after the coaches gave the Blue the ball back after a three-and-out.

As for the Blue team, there were few other highlights against the No. 1 defense. The Blue generated just four first downs and, aside from the one Roberts run, 18 yards rushing and 43 passing.

BRIEFLY: The defense played without linebacker J.T. Thomas, who sat out with an ankle injury. More significantly, the offense lost left tackle Donnie Barclay on the second series when he was taken off the field on a cart with a leg injury. It doesn't appear, however, to be a knee injury, according to Stewart, rather an injury to the leg below the knee.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.

Gold-Blue scrimmage stats

Team statistics

 Gold Blue

First downs 25 4

Rushes-yards 22-166 16-83

Passing yards 295 43

Passing 25-33-0 5-9-1

Punts 0-0 3-38.7

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 3-18 0-0

3rd down conv. 5-8 2-7

Individual statistics