MORGANTOWN - There wasn't much new to see when West Virginia wrapped up its spring drills Saturday. The defense was depleted by the absence of several injured starters and the offense hid most of the new things it installed during 14 previous practices for fear of tipping its hand.

One thing, though, was hard to miss. West Virginia's quarterbacks are going to be throwing the ball more in the fall.

Of course, that, too, could be a bit deceiving. After all, with Pat White and Jarrett Brown wearing black no-contact jerseys and the officials employing a quick-whistle philosophy when a defender got within even earshot of the two quarterbacks, there wasn't much to see as far as those two tucking it in and taking off. That certainly will still be a part of the West Virginia attack, but it was put in mothballs on Saturday right along with the new motion and movement parts of the offense.

But just watching the type of passes White and Brown threw on Saturday as opposed to the number was revealing. The bubble screens were still there, but rather than accounting for three-fourths of the passes thrown, they were more along the lines of one-fourth. New were the mid-range passes, the curl routes in the middle of the field, the sideline throws.

It's not a bombs-away philosophy by any stretch of the imagination, but rather more of a West Coast, controlled passing attack run from an option offense look. The idea is to provide West Virginia's quarterbacks, particularly White, with another option that doesn't involve taking more hits.

"A lot of what we're doing in the pass game is quick stuff, just getting the ball out of Pat's hands and letting the little skill guys get out in space and make some plays,'' new offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen said. "It's all a part of taking a few hits off of Patrick.''

No one can argue with that. Face it, even with the superbly talented Brown in reserve, the times West Virginia struggled last season were when White was hurt. West Virginia lost two games in 2007, against South Florida and Pitt, and White was knocked out of both.

"Through a 12-game season, we have to have the mentality of not running him as much,'' Mullen said. "He has to get as many touches as we need to win, but not so many that he comes out hurt.''

MORGANTOWN - There wasn't much new to see when West Virginia wrapped up its spring drills Saturday. The defense was depleted by the absence of several injured starters and the offense hid most of the new things it installed during 14 previous practices for fear of tipping its hand.

One thing, though, was hard to miss. West Virginia's quarterbacks are going to be throwing the ball more in the fall.

Of course, that, too, could be a bit deceiving. After all, with Pat White and Jarrett Brown wearing black no-contact jerseys and the officials employing a quick-whistle philosophy when a defender got within even earshot of the two quarterbacks, there wasn't much to see as far as those two tucking it in and taking off. That certainly will still be a part of the West Virginia attack, but it was put in mothballs on Saturday right along with the new motion and movement parts of the offense.

But just watching the type of passes White and Brown threw on Saturday as opposed to the number was revealing. The bubble screens were still there, but rather than accounting for three-fourths of the passes thrown, they were more along the lines of one-fourth. New were the mid-range passes, the curl routes in the middle of the field, the sideline throws.

It's not a bombs-away philosophy by any stretch of the imagination, but rather more of a West Coast, controlled passing attack run from an option offense look. The idea is to provide West Virginia's quarterbacks, particularly White, with another option that doesn't involve taking more hits.

"A lot of what we're doing in the pass game is quick stuff, just getting the ball out of Pat's hands and letting the little skill guys get out in space and make some plays,'' new offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen said. "It's all a part of taking a few hits off of Patrick.''

No one can argue with that. Face it, even with the superbly talented Brown in reserve, the times West Virginia struggled last season were when White was hurt. West Virginia lost two games in 2007, against South Florida and Pitt, and White was knocked out of both.

"Through a 12-game season, we have to have the mentality of not running him as much,'' Mullen said. "He has to get as many touches as we need to win, but not so many that he comes out hurt.''

Thus the new emphasis on the passing game and getting it to areas of the field heretofore largely unexplored by West Virginia offenses of the past.

And on Saturday, both White and Brown threw the ball well. White completed 12-of-16 passes for 133 yards and Brown 10-of-15 for 65 yards. None of them were behind the defense, but several were in the middle of it, as opposed to those bubble screens that are essentially a long handoff to a slot receiver behind the line of scrimmage.

BRIEFLY: West Virginia picked up a new recruiting commitment Saturday, from 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker Branko Busick. A senior-to-be at Steubenville (Ohio) High School, Busick is originally from across the Ohio River in Weirton. His father, Nick, works in West Virginia at Mountaineer Racetrack and Resort.

s  Adam Hughes, the senior long-snapper from Princeton, was named the winner of the Tom Nickolich Award Saturday, given to a walk-on by the Blue & Gold News. Hughes, who will start for the second year, is expected to be put on scholarship this fall.

"Pat McAfee is a real, true weapon,'' Stewart said. "If there's a better kicker-punter in the country I'd like to hear about him.''