Post by WVUfanPHILLY on Aug 31, 2007 13:39:37 GMT -5
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The PG's Chuck Finder on what West Virginia can do to have a chance at challenging for the Big East championship and a BCS title game:
Secondary is primary target:
Safeties coach Bruce Tall hung a big number on his office wall: 109th, which is where West Virginia ranked among 119 major-college teams in pass defense last fall. As good as the offense was, the defense was bad. To cornerback Vaughn Rivers, it seemed to get worse with each game, and the numbers illustrate the mess: Mountaineers foes averaged 416 yards and 32 points per game over the final six. So the defense, which returned 12 players who started at least two games, underwent a re-mix. The scheme changed a bit, opting for more two-deep safety pass coverage. The alignment might yet change, with a little 3-4 or a linebacker such as Marc Magro hunkering at a rush defensive end in a potential four-man front. The athleticism improved, with safety John Holmes moving to linebacker and a faster corps across the middle of the 3-3-5 defense where Gateway's Mortty Ivy assumed the one outside spot vacated by J.T. Thomas' indefinite suspension and Magro moved from the middle to the other outside post. Eric Wicks, like Rivers from Perry Traditional Academy, bounced from Bandit safety two years ago to Spur (strong) safety last season to free safety amid spring drills and now back to Bandit, where he can utilize his playmaking abilities -- he topped the team with seven sacks a year ago.
J-E-T, JET, JET, JET:
The speediest no-huddle offense in West Virginia's repertoire is the "Jet," and they seem ready to use it a lot. "That's what we're trying to get to," fullback-tight end Owen Schmitt said. "So we can do that the entire game and play fast. Coach Rod likes to go fast." All the better, of course, to use your speed and tire defenders. That's why Steve Slaton will align sometimes at slotback, why Schmitt will play fullback or tight end, why receiver Darius Reynaud figures to get the football more often, etc. Moreover, defenses will not have time to substitute with the Mountaineers flying back to the line of scrimmage for the next snap.
Depth or health or both:
Given his druthers, Rodriguez likely would choose health. A year ago, their core -- the offensive line, White, Slaton and Reynaud -- started the first 11 games together. Then, White missed the Rutgers game, and Slaton, for all intent and purposes, the Gator Bowl because of injuries. And Schmitt was not healthy for nearly two-thirds of the schedule. Such star players, responsible last season for 3,535 yards rushing and 41 touchdowns, not to mention Reynaud's 1,333 yards and three touchdowns on receptions and returns, are mighty difficult to replace. Defensively speaking, depth seemed to abound in the 2006 sore-spot secondary ... until the end of August camp. That's when first-team cornerback Antonio Lewis separated a shoulder and junior-college cornerback Ellis Lankster was suspended along with linebacker J.T. Thomas after their arrests. While linebacker appears to be similarly well stocked, with former starter Bobby Hathaway of Carmichaels and freshman Pat Lazear among those in reserve, the three-man defensive front could once again suffer from going only four or five deep.
The Big (East) Three:
Look at the guts of that schedule, and it appears vexing: six 2006 bowl teams among the eight games in the middle with four on the road -- at Maryland, East Carolina, at South Florida, at Rutgers, Louisville and at Cincinnati, which beat season-opening foe Western Michigan in the International Bowl. Look closer, though. Three of those games stand out: Sept. 28 at South Florida, the Mountaineers will find out early about themselves, their conference hunt, their postseason plans; Oct. 27 at Rutgers, West Virginia faces a resurgent bunch of Scarlet Knights who lost on a missed two-point conversion in the regular-season, triple-overtime finale, 41-39, last year; Nov. 8 at home against Louisville, West Virginia renews a rivalry that, in effect, determined a Big East champion and BCS berth the past two falls.
The bottom line:
True, you could lump in lines, plural. Yet the Mountaineers will go only as far as their offense leads them, and the prospective tour guides are offensive linemen. Tackles Ryan Stanchek and Jake Figner along with guard Greg Isdaner showed themselves to be capable last season, but likely new starters Mike Dent and Eric Rodemoyer will have big shoes to fill.
The PG's Chuck Finder on what West Virginia can do to have a chance at challenging for the Big East championship and a BCS title game:
Secondary is primary target:
Safeties coach Bruce Tall hung a big number on his office wall: 109th, which is where West Virginia ranked among 119 major-college teams in pass defense last fall. As good as the offense was, the defense was bad. To cornerback Vaughn Rivers, it seemed to get worse with each game, and the numbers illustrate the mess: Mountaineers foes averaged 416 yards and 32 points per game over the final six. So the defense, which returned 12 players who started at least two games, underwent a re-mix. The scheme changed a bit, opting for more two-deep safety pass coverage. The alignment might yet change, with a little 3-4 or a linebacker such as Marc Magro hunkering at a rush defensive end in a potential four-man front. The athleticism improved, with safety John Holmes moving to linebacker and a faster corps across the middle of the 3-3-5 defense where Gateway's Mortty Ivy assumed the one outside spot vacated by J.T. Thomas' indefinite suspension and Magro moved from the middle to the other outside post. Eric Wicks, like Rivers from Perry Traditional Academy, bounced from Bandit safety two years ago to Spur (strong) safety last season to free safety amid spring drills and now back to Bandit, where he can utilize his playmaking abilities -- he topped the team with seven sacks a year ago.
J-E-T, JET, JET, JET:
The speediest no-huddle offense in West Virginia's repertoire is the "Jet," and they seem ready to use it a lot. "That's what we're trying to get to," fullback-tight end Owen Schmitt said. "So we can do that the entire game and play fast. Coach Rod likes to go fast." All the better, of course, to use your speed and tire defenders. That's why Steve Slaton will align sometimes at slotback, why Schmitt will play fullback or tight end, why receiver Darius Reynaud figures to get the football more often, etc. Moreover, defenses will not have time to substitute with the Mountaineers flying back to the line of scrimmage for the next snap.
Depth or health or both:
Given his druthers, Rodriguez likely would choose health. A year ago, their core -- the offensive line, White, Slaton and Reynaud -- started the first 11 games together. Then, White missed the Rutgers game, and Slaton, for all intent and purposes, the Gator Bowl because of injuries. And Schmitt was not healthy for nearly two-thirds of the schedule. Such star players, responsible last season for 3,535 yards rushing and 41 touchdowns, not to mention Reynaud's 1,333 yards and three touchdowns on receptions and returns, are mighty difficult to replace. Defensively speaking, depth seemed to abound in the 2006 sore-spot secondary ... until the end of August camp. That's when first-team cornerback Antonio Lewis separated a shoulder and junior-college cornerback Ellis Lankster was suspended along with linebacker J.T. Thomas after their arrests. While linebacker appears to be similarly well stocked, with former starter Bobby Hathaway of Carmichaels and freshman Pat Lazear among those in reserve, the three-man defensive front could once again suffer from going only four or five deep.
The Big (East) Three:
Look at the guts of that schedule, and it appears vexing: six 2006 bowl teams among the eight games in the middle with four on the road -- at Maryland, East Carolina, at South Florida, at Rutgers, Louisville and at Cincinnati, which beat season-opening foe Western Michigan in the International Bowl. Look closer, though. Three of those games stand out: Sept. 28 at South Florida, the Mountaineers will find out early about themselves, their conference hunt, their postseason plans; Oct. 27 at Rutgers, West Virginia faces a resurgent bunch of Scarlet Knights who lost on a missed two-point conversion in the regular-season, triple-overtime finale, 41-39, last year; Nov. 8 at home against Louisville, West Virginia renews a rivalry that, in effect, determined a Big East champion and BCS berth the past two falls.
The bottom line:
True, you could lump in lines, plural. Yet the Mountaineers will go only as far as their offense leads them, and the prospective tour guides are offensive linemen. Tackles Ryan Stanchek and Jake Figner along with guard Greg Isdaner showed themselves to be capable last season, but likely new starters Mike Dent and Eric Rodemoyer will have big shoes to fill.
