SHEPERDSTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s defense performed as expected Saturday, which is to say it shackled the offense into near-submission.
This figures to be the spring theme of Mountaineers football.
During a public practice on the campus of Shepherd University, the first-team offense led by Skyler Howard began six series at the defense’s 30-yard-line and produced two three-and-outs and only one touchdown.
Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, with nine full-time starters returning from 2014, repeatedly has pitched this unit as one that should go from good to great, and the scrimmage session provided obvious progress.
“We had, say, 30 snaps and (the first group) gave up one touchdown,” Gibson said. “I like the effort of the kids right now. They’re playing hard and they’re having fun doing it. I can see us getting better every day.”
Howard finished 7-of-11 passing for 29 yards, which included a 10-yard touchdown to Vernon Davis and an interception by Spur safety KJ Dillon. While the junior quarterback gained 27 yards on four rushes, that was tempered by a fumble.
Dillon also blitzed through to stop Wendell Smallwood on a third-and-1 play.
“We put that in special for today because we knew we’d have some short-yardage situations and goal line,’’ Gibson said. “They were getting their big personnel in there—double tights—and we blitzed off the edge and tried to get some free runners and to (make the ballcarriers) bounce it outside.”
Defensive end Noble Nwachukwu squelched another scoring threat with a sack in a goal-line situation.
“Our defense looks good and they should,” said coach Dana Holgorsen, who along with choosing a starting quarterback must replace two standout receivers and his best two offensive linemen.
Saturday’s mismatch wasn’t completely one-sided, because redshirt freshman William Crest guided the second-team offense to two touchdowns and two field goals on its six possessions.
“We missed some open-field tackles, which is bad because that’s one of our goals coming into the spring,” Gibson said. “So we’ve got to fix that.”
Crest completed 7-of-8 passes for 72 yards, highlighted by a 29-yard touchdown to KJ Myers crossing the middle and a 16-yard screen that Devonte Mathis took for a score.
Marcellus in the backfield: The latest personnel move—Jacky Marcellus switching from slot receiver to running back—was necessitated by seniors Dustin Garrison and Andrew Buie opting to transfer, and Donte Thomas-Williams being slowed by a knee injury.
The 5-foot-8 Marcellus ripped off a 26-yard run Saturday while operating with the second unit.
“He’s showing some promise,” Holgorsen said. “He’s a tough kid that will stick his nose up in there.”
More public practices: Fans can watch the Mountaineers in Morgantown next Saturday and at the new Greenbrier facility on April 18. This follows last year’s practice stops in Wheeling and Charleston.
“The kids get excited about it,” Holgorsen said. “This is practice No. 6 so anything you can do to spice things up a little bit they get pretty excited about. Coming to a different part of the state was important to us and I think our guys are pretty excited about going out there and getting another practice in.