MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Because Clint Trickett knows Kevin White can make him look good, the West Virginia quarterback knows to say good things about his top receiver.
Very good things, in fact.
Asked this week how White compares to the receivers at Florida State, Trickett suggested his current teammate trumps his former ones.
“The guys down there had one thing, and Kevin kind of has the total package—hands, speed, size, strength, everything you look for,” Trickett said. “He’s a complete player.”
Mind you Trickett played alongside three stellar receivers in Tallahassee: Kelvin Benjamin became a first-round pick of the Carolina Panthers, Rodney Smith made the Vikings roster as an undrafted free agent and Rashad Greene is a a projected second-rounder who’s currently chasing the Seminoles’ all-time touchdown mark.
Instead of comparing White to the FSU receivers, Trickett name-dropped an even bigger star.
“A lot of people make Larry Fitzgerald references. Larry was on another level and he still is, but if Kevin keeps progressing like he is, I don’t see any reason why he can’t be one of those guys.”
White leads the Big 12 in catches (19) and receiving yards (244) through two games.
Explosive plays: While West Virginia’s offense showed strong against Alabama and had its way against Towson, the lack of big scoring plays has drawn Dana Holgorsen’s attention.
Through two games the Mountaineers have produced 21 explosive plays—defined as plays that netted 12 yards on runs, 14 yards on screens and 16 yards on passes.
“What we would like is for some of those explosive plays to turn into touchdowns, and right now, they’re not,” Holgorsen said.
West Virginia’s longest scores have come on 19-yard catches by White and Jordan Thompson. The team’s longest offensive gain was Thompson’s 32-yard backpedalling catch against Alabama.
“We need to do a better job breaking arm tackles after we catch the ball, and our backs need to do a better job of making people miss after they get past the line,” Holgorsen said.
Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson thinks his skill players have been close to producing big-hitters.
“We’re going to have to catch things underneath and get past that next level,” he said. “Last week we were getting tackled by our feet. We’ve got to pick up our feet and run through tackles to make big plays.
“There’s definitely times in the game we need to run through arm tackles. I thought we went down a little easy about four or five times. Sometimes you’ve got to give credit to the guy that’s tackling you, but with the caliber of athletes we’ve got catching the ball, they should make that play.”
On a well-executed middle screen against Towson, the field opened up for White who seemed to have a path to the end zone. But he was barely tripped down at the 13 by defensive back Donnell Lewis after a 24-yard gain. After smacking the ball on the turf, White said, “I’ve got to take one of those screens to the house.”