MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Amid distorted crowd noise blaring from overhead speakers, West Virginia ran two hurry-up possessions during Tuesday evening’s half-hour media viewing session. While it represented only a snapshot of the complete practice, the offensive results were paltry: Two sacks, two dropped passes, one illegal procedure flag and zero first downs.
On the first-team series, Skyler Howard was 1-of-3 passing with a 13-yard completion to Ka’Raun White that followed a touch-sack by nose tackle Darrien Howard. On fourth-and-2, cornerback Antonio Crawford broke up a slant pass intended for Gary Jennings.
(Notable on that good-on-good series: Redshirt freshman Colton McKivitz was working at right tackle instead of Marcell Lazard. And defensively, given it was a 2-minute drill, Tony Gibson deployed a dime package that featured Rasul Douglas, Crawford and Maurice Fleming, along with safeties Dravon Askew-Henry, Jarrod Harper and Toyous Avery. Up front, former walk-on Jon Lewis worked at left end, and Kyzir White essentially moved into a linebacker spot alongside Justin Arndt.)
The No. 2 offense, operated by Chris Chugunov, also went four-and-out despite opening with an 8-yard run by Justin Crawford. After Marcus Simms dropped a poorly thrown pass, Lazard jumped early to force third-and-7 before Reese Donahue beat Lazard for a coverage sack. On fourth down, Jennings dropped a pass at the sticks, but Dana Holgorsen was livid with Chugunov for not checking into the correct play pre-snap.
(Notable personnel on the second-team series: Starting defensive end Christian Brown took reps at nose tackle, a contingency plan given the depth issue there. That left two true freshmen at ends, Donahue and Jeffrey Pooler. … The No. 2 secondary featured Dylan Tonkery at Spur, corners Nana Kyeremeh and Elijah Battle, free safety Khairi Shariff and strong safety Shane Commodore.)
Red jerseys: Two new injuries to report, both of which reportedly are non-surgical. Freshman running back Martell Pettway, who walked gingerly around the practice field with his left knee wrapped, is expected to miss only a couple days, Holgorsen said.
Safety Jeremy Tyler (undisclosed injury) jogged half-speed with strength coach Mike Joseph.
Earlier Tuesday, Holgorsen announced Jake Long would undergo should surgery, sidelining the freshman cornerback for the season. He noted fullback Eli Wellman is out with a high ankle sprain and sophomore receiver Rick Rogers is dealing with a pulled hamstring.
Overheard: As Morgantown’s daily high reached 87 degrees shortly before practice, transfer quarterback Will Grier told a teammate, “This weather is amazing compared to Florida.”