MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Because West Virginia has stocked up on big receivers, with six of them measuring 6-2 or taller, Tevin Bush sticks out even more at 5-foot-6.
Now offensive coordinator Jake Spavital is searching for situations when the dynamic sophomore might be overlooked by defenses.
“You can package him on this running back-type plays where you get it to him quick and he can maybe hit that home-run shot,” Spavital said.
While playing running back as a true freshman, Bush carried 19 times over the first three games and only once during the final 10 weeks. He finished with you catches for 20 yards. Upon moving exclusively to the slot, Bush is working to discern the nuances of route running and creating throwing angles.
“He’s got some twitch and he’s got some speed, so if you’ve got those teams that want to man you up, I think he’ll create some mismatches,” Spavital said. “Once he figures it out and flips the switch, I think he’ll be pretty good.”
“He still hasn’t got the grasp of the spatial awareness of sitting in holes, but he’s learning.”
Other young receivers
Beyond the primary targets David Sills, Gary Jennings, Marcus Simms and T.J. Simmons, the receiver rotation is generating competition among several true freshmen.
“Bryce Wheaton is a tall, long guy and Sam James is really fast and twitchy,” quarterback Will Grier said. “It’s just a matter of how quickly we can plug them in and how much are they going to be able to retain.”
Spavital projects Wheaton as a possession receiver, with James being “our speed guy.” He also highlighted Randy Fields’ work in the slot.
Long on experience
Wrapping up his fourth preseason camp with the Mountaineers, All-Big 12 linebacker David Long has a message for the younger players.
“It’s hard to come in here everyday when you’re tired and sore and mentally drained,” he said. “But you’ve got to put in the work right now for us to be successful through the season.”
Classes began Wednesday, meaning newcomers started balancing academics with their preparation for the season open against Tennessee.
“Come in here ready to work — don’t be a vampire that drains the energy,” Long said. “Just push through it. We’ve just got so little time between now and Sept. 1.”
Sounding more like a coach than redshirt junior, he called it imperative to wring every ounce from practice “for it to be the kind of season we want it to be, the kind of season it’s expected to be.”
Blackwell’s glory days
Some 16 years have elapsed since Marquel Blackwell ended his hall-of-fame career at USF with 7,448 passing yards, another 1,109 rushing and 68 combined touchdowns.
Those yesterday highlights still come in handy when the West Virginia assistant needs to generate street cred with his current crop of running backs. He recently cued up video of his South Florida days “to let them know I had held my own.”
Blackwell played as a freshman during the Bulls’ developmental season in 1999 and started the ensuing three seasons of D-I transition when USF went 24-9.
“It was an old tape,” he said. “It had to get transferred from VHS to DVD and then put on the system. It created some good laughs.”
And some teachable moments, considering Blackwell was a dual-threat quarterback who experienced his share of designed runs.
Asked about his most impressive moments, Blackwell laughed and said, “There’s quite a few of them, so I just let the tape play.”
Seconds count
Spavital said coaches had to reach for the rule book during a 2-minute scrimmage drill this week. Figuring out the 10-second run-off — and its aftermath — can be precarious for offenses.
“We had a false start with 14 seconds left,” he said. “And now the clock starts on the ref’s whistle, not on the snap, so you better line back up immediately.”