MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Although Neal Brown was pleased to have his entire squad on the practice field at the same time for the first time in over five months, the head coach wasn’t pleased about much else during the team’s ninth workout of preseason camp.
“This was a good day because for the first time since March 12th, we had our entire team in a team meeting,” Brown said. “Now it was spread out in the IPF (indoor practice facility), and then we practiced as a whole unit today.
“To be honest, it was sloppy as hell. It wasn’t good football. There were some good individual performances on offense and defense but it wasn’t good enough. If you watched us practice today, it was not impressive. There were too many guys on the ground and it looked like we hadn’t practiced very much in a physical environment.”
Brown said a number of mental mistakes popped up throughout the course of practice.
“You have a year-long plan to create discipline within your program on the football field and it showed today that we are not where we need to be from a discipline standout. There were a lot of procedure penalties, just not knowing how to practice. I thought some of the activity we had was selfish. We have to be better. It wasn’t good enough.
“We did a competitive special teams drill and I thought it was not to that level it needed to be. I thought our energy was low. I didn’t think our effort was what it needed to be. Special teams, for us to be successful, has to be an edge for us. And that drill wasn’t good enough. That will get our (butts) beat.”
On defense, Brown once again highlighted the play of senior safety Sean Malone and junior linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo. Freshman defensive back Daryl Porter Jr. intercepted a pair of passes.
“I have been impressed with the way (Porter Jr.) competes. I am not surprised at his knowledge of football and I am not surprised with his ability. But he has stepped in with no fear and he has been competitive from the get-go.
“He’s got a chance and he might even break into the lineup. He is definitely going to play. If you keep making plays in practice, that’s how you earn your way onto the field on Saturday. So far, so good for him.”
On offense, Brown’s praise was limited to the ground game.
“I thought we did some better things in the run game. Tony Mathis Jr. in a red zone period had some nice runs. Leddie (Brown) in a first down period had some nice runs.”