MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When the West Virginia defense takes the field for the Gold-Blue spring game Saturday, bandit safety Darwin Cook said the Mountaineers’ inexperienced offense had better be prepared.
“We’re going to go out there and try to crush ’em,” Cook said. “I know the fans don’t want to see us go out there giving up big bombs, or they’ll be depressed and think it’s going to be the same thing as last year.”
With that bit of trash-talk expended, Cook offered a more modest assessment of which unit has gotten the better of spring practice so far.
“We both get at each other very tough,” he said. “One day they might run the ball down our throat and the next day we’ll come and play hard. But we’ve got the better of it for now. We’ll just see how it develops during fall.”
With eight starters returning, the defense should have an edge. But the unit reportedly has been working almost exclusively out of its base sets, even in short-yardage and passing situations, as defensive coordinator Keith Patterson attempts to build a foundation.
“Since I’ve been here, this is most improvement I’ve seen from the beginning of winter to the end of spring,” Cook said. “But it’s early — we can’t say nothing right now. This summer, the seniors are going to have to step up and make sure don’t nobody miss (workouts) so we can come into fall healthy, conditioned and ready to play.”