In unique offseason, Sean Biser puts program foundation in place at Morgantown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In a normal high school football offseason, teams would be working throughout the winter in their weight rooms and then transition to a traditional three-week practice period in June. The pandemic has forced a significant disruption in those plans but for new Morgantown head coach Sean Biser, time outside of the team facility has still been well spent.

“I will be honest with you, we really haven’t talked X’s and O’s with our kids at all,” Biser said. “Coming into a new situation for me personally, I want to build relationships with our kids. What we have done as a coaching staff, and my staff has been excellent at this, and I have some great resources as coaches, we are doing Zoom meetings one a night with each class.

“It is more just checking in with the kids, making sure they are okay. We have brought some guys in to talk to them about what they should be doing in terms of having a schedule for themselves. We brought in a couple Mohigans that have moved on or are playing at other places to give these guys some guidance on what it takes to be successful.”

Monongalia County schools have set their three-week instructional period for July 13-31. Preseason practice is scheduled to begin on August 3. Biser completed his move from Keyser this week.

“The teaching part for me is really just getting ready to start. Moving our three-week period to July has kind of been a blessing for us because I have been between Keyser and (Morgantown). I just got rid of my house in Keyser.

“We’ll be getting on the field with the coaches and teaching them what we want to do. That will help us later on.”

Sean Biser was introduced as Morgantown’s head football coach in February.

Although Biser has yet to take the practice field with his team, his primary focus right now is to get acquainted with his new players.

“I would rather get to know the kids than I would worry about teaching how to do the correct down block or carry out their fake. That will come. A smart coach told me one time to take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves. The little things are getting to know your kids and build those relationships. Once we get to build that trust, they will be more willing to listen to what we have to say.”

Biser led the Golden Tornado of Keyser to fourteen playoff appearances in sixteen seasons. While his offensive and defensive concepts will be similar, a deeper roster could allow for the playbook to be expanded.

“I think they will resemble each other but they won’t look exactly alike. From sheer numbers and resources, at Keyser a lot of the things we did, we did out of necessity. For example, my quarterback (Ryan Shoemaker), I had a tough quarterback the last two years. The kid was 5-foot-6, 150 pounds. He couldn’t see over my offensive line. He couldn’t see over (WVU walk-on) Shawn See. So we weren’t running a five-step drop or a three-step drop, we were sprinting him out.

“I think at Morgantown, we’ll have more kids, more resources and can be more diverse in what we are doing. But the core of our offense and defense will be the same.”

As one of the largest high schools in West Virginia, annual expectations are elevated for the Mohigans. Biser will have a dual focus of putting winning teams on the field while creating interest at the younger levels. He reached out to middle school feeder programs prior to classes being canceled.

“Right now we have 42 ninth graders signing up. I don’t think we are going to get 42 of those kids but if we get 30 of them, that is my goal.”





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