MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Precisely what transpired during Friday’s 100-play scrimmage may never be known, but receiver Ka’Raun White offered West Virginia’s young defense a backhanded compliment.
“The defense was onto us today,” he said, “because we were killing them all week.”
So what constituted killing?
“Everything,” White said. “Run the ball, pass the ball. We had hot receivers making plays on both sides and running backs too. Eli (Wellman) was scoring touchdowns, (Trevon) Wesco was scoring touchdowns. We just had a good week of practice on the offensive side.”
And would defenders agree with White’s assertion?
“They’d probably admit it,” he said. “We was kicking them this week.”
Jennings: Offense finding chemistry
After the Mountaineers went good-on-good during the scrimmage, several players said the intensity picked up during 2-minute drills and the more measured 4-minute situations.
“It gave us a chance to go over our progressions and many of our plays,” said Gary Jennings, who’s slated to start at inside receiver.
“I think we’re close. We’re meshing very well. We’re not far away from a very good mixture. We have that chemistry going.”
Gee’s challenge? Win it all
Ever-likeable WVU president Gordon Gee addressed the team Thursday and reportedly set the bar sky-high.
“He was talking to us about how every school he’s been at, he has won a national championship – at Colorado and Ohio State,” said junior David Sills. “So we’re hoping to do the same.”
If that paraphrasing was accurate, Gee’s magic touch may be a bit overstated.
While Gee spent five years as Colorado’s president, his exit in September 1990 occurred four months before the Buffs won the AP national crown. His second tenure at Ohio State ended 18 months before the Buckeyes upset Oregon to claim the 2014 national title.
Gee owns a law degree and an educational doctorate from Columbia, so he’s smart enough to entirely omit his tenure as chancellor at Vanderbilt from 2001 through 2006, during which the Commodores won 17 games and lost 52.
WRs work on staying low
White’s fundamental focus during camp has been making sure he stays low on his routes so as not to tip off defensive backs.
“I don’t want to give DBs any signals of where I’m going — left or right,” White said, noting that he tends to raise up when he gets fatigued.
Second-year receivers coach Tyron Carrier has been harping on his guys to maintain low pad level so they can come off the ball faster and make it tougher for defenders to redirect.
“When I was at juco my pads were always low because my coach stressed it so much,” White said. “But when (Lonnie) Galloway was here he didn’t stress it as much so my pad level got a little bad. Once Coach Carrier got here he started stressing it.”
Around the Big 12
— Oklahoma State released video Friday of James Washington going through a full-padded practice, which seemingly contradicts a tweet from the Barstool Sports podcast “Pardon My Take” claiming the All-Big 12 receiver would miss four games with a hernia injury. The tweet subsequently was deleted.
— Kansas State’s offensive line has absorbed a huge blow with fifth-year center Reid Nejvar deciding to skip his senior season because of concussion-related injuries. He was a 13-game starter in 2016.
— A federal judge ordered Baylor University to turn over documents, notes and interview recordings from its Pepper Hamilton investigation, which found that former football coach Art Briles and other members of the athletics department fostered a “culture of sexual violence.”
Some information from that 2015 in-house probe — which also led to the firing of university president Ken Starr — could remain classified, said District Judge Robert Pitman. But his ruling allows the records to surface in court should Baylor not be able to settle a lawsuit filed by multiple anonymous women claiming there were raped at Baylor.