MORGANTOWN - Almost immediately after West Virginia's first football practice of the spring was opened to the media Wednesday morning, Brantwon Bowser intercepted his second pass of the day.
MORGANTOWN - Almost immediately after West Virginia's first football practice of the spring was opened to the media Wednesday morning, Brantwon Bowser intercepted his second pass of the day.
The next pass thrown wasn't caught by a defender, but it was also closer to the seats at Mountaineer Field than to any offensive player.
Apparently, this is what new offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen was warning all along when he said West Virginia's new offense would look very bad at times before it begins to look very good. Or even remotely good.
Still, Bill Stewart had no trouble proclaiming the first of WVU's 15 spring workouts a success. It is, after all, a process, and this was only the first step.
"It was a good first day and a good start. They were glad to get out here,'' the head coach said. "It's been a long winter.''
It could be a long spring, too, although that should come as no surprise given that the Mountaineers are not only installing a completely new offense, but trying to replace most of the players from one of the nation's best defenses.
"I thought our effort was good, our enthusiasm was good,'' Stewart said. "They had a lot of bounce in their step.''
If nothing else, it became apparent that West Virginia's new offense will put the ball in the air. A lot. While running backs Ryan Clark, Shawne Alston and Trey Johnson took their share of handoffs, quarterbacks Geno Smith, Brian Athey and Paul Millard threw the ball a ton. Quite often the timing wasn't great - in addition to Browser's two picks, Najee Goode had one, too - but almost never were there fewer than four receivers in a formation and all were targets.
Tavon Austin, Brad Starks, Stedman Bailey and Ivan McCartney were generally the first four receivers, but Tyler Urban - making the adjustment from tight end to a slot receiver - and others all got considerable time with the offense.
Naturally, with that many balls flying the secondary and the pass rush also got workouts - even without pads and hitting - as did the offensive line.
Stewart singled out a handful of players he saw during a workout that began before 8 a.m. and lasted about two hours and 45 minutes.
"Individual efforts that stood out to me? Bradley Starks caught the ball very well, Ivan McCartney caught the ball very well. I thought Tyler Urban had a big day. Brantwon Bowser on defense had two picks at corner, Najee Goode had a pick,'' Stewart said. "I don't think we blocked Bruce Irvin all day and I liked the way we ran the ball a little bit.''
MORGANTOWN - Almost immediately after West Virginia's first football practice of the spring was opened to the media Wednesday morning, Brantwon Bowser intercepted his second pass of the day.
The next pass thrown wasn't caught by a defender, but it was also closer to the seats at Mountaineer Field than to any offensive player.
Apparently, this is what new offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen was warning all along when he said West Virginia's new offense would look very bad at times before it begins to look very good. Or even remotely good.
Still, Bill Stewart had no trouble proclaiming the first of WVU's 15 spring workouts a success. It is, after all, a process, and this was only the first step.
"It was a good first day and a good start. They were glad to get out here,'' the head coach said. "It's been a long winter.''
It could be a long spring, too, although that should come as no surprise given that the Mountaineers are not only installing a completely new offense, but trying to replace most of the players from one of the nation's best defenses.
"I thought our effort was good, our enthusiasm was good,'' Stewart said. "They had a lot of bounce in their step.''
If nothing else, it became apparent that West Virginia's new offense will put the ball in the air. A lot. While running backs Ryan Clark, Shawne Alston and Trey Johnson took their share of handoffs, quarterbacks Geno Smith, Brian Athey and Paul Millard threw the ball a ton. Quite often the timing wasn't great - in addition to Browser's two picks, Najee Goode had one, too - but almost never were there fewer than four receivers in a formation and all were targets.
Tavon Austin, Brad Starks, Stedman Bailey and Ivan McCartney were generally the first four receivers, but Tyler Urban - making the adjustment from tight end to a slot receiver - and others all got considerable time with the offense.
Naturally, with that many balls flying the secondary and the pass rush also got workouts - even without pads and hitting - as did the offensive line.
Stewart singled out a handful of players he saw during a workout that began before 8 a.m. and lasted about two hours and 45 minutes.
"Individual efforts that stood out to me? Bradley Starks caught the ball very well, Ivan McCartney caught the ball very well. I thought Tyler Urban had a big day. Brantwon Bowser on defense had two picks at corner, Najee Goode had a pick,'' Stewart said. "I don't think we blocked Bruce Irvin all day and I liked the way we ran the ball a little bit.''
Smith, coming off of his second straight offseason foot surgery, participated in virtually everything, but that will likely change when contact drills begin. All three quarterbacks, however, are in gold, no-contact jerseys.
"I saw [Smith] burst off on a couple of play fakes to both his left and his right. I was kind of telling him, 'Whoa' a little bit, but he came out of there really well on the play fakes,'' Stewart said. "[In this offense] after the quarterback hands off he can fake a throw, he can fake a bootleg or he can burst off like he's running the ball on an option. And he did all three things today and I thought he did a really good job.''
Athey and Millard actually both looked surprisingly sharp for quarterbacks who three months ago were in high school classrooms.
"They put the ball on the money a few times. They made a couple of late throws, but they're going to make late throws,'' Stewart said. "I'm sure their heads are spinning, but I am sure they will get better. They are two big, tall young men that put the ball out there, usually on time. But once you put on the pads and get all 11 guys out there [on both sides of the ball] it becomes a little bit different.''
Even though the offense being installed is a pass-first attack, there was also work done on the run game Wednesday. Clarke, Alston, Johnson, Matt Lindamood and Vernard Roberts were the backs.
Stewart liked the work done by the big backs - Clarke, Alston and Lindamood - but there is a natural curiosity about who might step up as a smaller, quicker back. That has been something West Virginia has had plenty of in recent years, but all of that was lost with the graduation of Noel Devine and Jock Sanders.
"I do like Ryan Clark and Shawne Alston. Matt Lindamood looked good,'' Stewart said. "But there needs to be a young, quick back step up. We have those guys in the stable, they just haven't played yet because the guys were there before them. The big guys ran well today. They know where they're going and they looked pretty smooth. But we need that little, quick scatback and right now we don't have one.''
BRIEFLY: Holgorsen's method of installation is to put everything in during the first three days of practice and then repeat the process almost from scratch the next three days and find out how much has been retained and what needs work. So he may not have a true idea of how things are going until perhaps the end of the second of five weeks of practice.
The team will work out again Friday in shorts and helmets, then on Saturday in shoulder pads and helmets. Next week full contact work begins.The offensive line is noticeably short-handed with starting tackles Don Barclay and Jeff Braun both out after shoulder surgeries. Both spend most of practice walking or jogging around the field and join in only for a few technique drills. One of the younger tackles who got a chance to fill-in in spots was redshirt freshman Quinton Spain, now listed at 6-foot-5 and 348 pounds.Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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