MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia running back Rushel Shell could be a game-time decision at Texas, said coach Dana Holgorsen, adding “we’ll see how he practices” on an injured ankle.
Despite Shell’s absence from a 48-21 romp over Kansas, the Mountaineers ran for a season-high 341 yards utilizing Justin Crawford (129 yards on 13 carries) and Kennedy McKoy (127 yards on 18 carries).
“Where (the Longhorns) hand it to one guy 35 times a game, we hand it to three guys 35 or 40 times a game,” Holgorsen said. “Whichever guy feels good back there, that’s who we’re going to hand it to.”
Crawford, coping with own ankle injury, took over the team rushing lead this week with 587 yards and scored his fourth touchdown. Shell has 503 yards and five scores.
Bosch deflects praise to backs
West Virginia’s ground game averaged a healthy 5.8 yards per carry on left-side runs against Kansas, while right-side runs produced an astounding 18.4 yards per attempt.
“That’s a cool stat,” said right guard Kyle Bosch, “but it has a lot more to do with the guys behind us than the guys up front, in my opinion.”
Douglas staying grounded
If Rasul Douglas had grand delusions after a two-interception game against Kansas, cornerbacks coach Blue Adams put them in check.
“He finds a lot of bad stuff we put on film,” said Douglas, who leads the Big 12 with five interceptions. “He wants us to get better technique-wise at what we do.
“He’s not a yes man. He will not tell you that you did something good. He’ll say, ‘Look at what you just did bad, so let’s talk about that.’ And that’s the way we want him to coach us.”
Douglas has started seven consecutive games after being listed as a backup in the season opener.
“He’s becoming a better football player,” Adams said. “When I came in I thought had to be more consistent, and even today we continue to work with technique and consistency.”
Texas can’t mess with Gibson
A redshirt freshman special-teamer during his last trip to Austin in 2014, Shelton Gibson will command much more attention this time.
After four 100-yard receiving games this season, he sees other signs that opposing defenses are targeting him. “Like when you go to another stadium and people know who you are, when defensive coordinators come talk to you and players come up and try to trash-talk you,” he said.
Gibson joked that the taunts he hears from Holgorsen in practice make him rattle-proof on gamedays.
“They think they can get in your head, but Coach Holgorsen trash-talks me and always calls me names and everything to get me ready. So they can’t get into my mind.”
Not punting Jennings
A Charleston newspaper columnist — citing West Virginia’s 2.1-yard average on punt returns — asked whether Gary Jennings’ job was in jeopardy.
“Do I need to remind everybody of what happened three years ago? I don’t think I do,” Holgorsen said.
Indeed, Jennings’ reliability at merely catching punts is a massive improvement over the fumbling contagion of past seasons.
“We’re going after punts, and I’d rather go after punts than set up returns,” Holgorsen said. “When you go after them, there’s no blockers.”
The coach suggested in some instances Jennings needs to consider getting down sooner “instead of trying to make six people miss.”