MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For the first time in Neal Brown’s six seasons as head coach at West Virginia, the Mountaineers have lost twice in non-conference regular season play.
Saturday’s 38-34 setback at Pitt, which included the Panthers outscoring the Mountaineers 14-0 over the final 4 minutes, leaves West Virginia at 1-2 entering the start of Big 12 Conference play at noon Saturday against Kansas.
Brown says he understands there will be no shortage of negativity pertaining to outside noise regarding the current state of the program, but coaches must work beyond it to get players to do the same.
“The players will take whatever direction I take. You don’t ignore it,” Brown said. “I have the benefit of kind of hunkering down. They don’t necessarily do that. They have to go to class and they’re on their phones. That’s how they live. There’s a lot of negativity, which happens when you play at a place where it matters. You can’t have all the good without experiencing the bad.
“So when you lose and you lose a rivalry game that you were ahead in the final minutes, there’s going to be negativity. You have to process it, own your own mistakes and go about playing better. I’m not going to allow them to be miserable or hang their heads. We’re going to get better. We have good players and a staff that can get it turned and we will. I really believe that. That’s not me talking at a press conference. They’ll take whatever lead that we set from a staff perspective.”
Brown suffered his second one possession loss to Pitt in three games against the Panthers as WVU coach, and on both occasions, the Mountaineers had a fourth-quarter lead. This time around, a 34-24 lead with less than 5 minutes remaining went to waste as the Panthers put together late touchdown drives of 75 and 77 yards, respectively, after totaling 4 total yards over their first three second-half series.
“Where it’s frustrating is the lack of consistency, but at the same time, we also have to do a better job putting our guys in position to make plays,” Brown said. “We also can’t continue to reward guys who aren’t playing well by continuing to play them. It is a business. But frustration from my end, it’s the lack of consistency. I do believe that. We did perform better in fall camp, but we haven’t shown that in a game. We’re 0-for-3 in those opportunities from a pass coverage standpoint.”
In reference to the secondary’s struggles over the first few weeks, moments after Saturday’s contest, Brown said, “You are what you are. Our personnel is our personnel. We have to play better and coach them better. It’s not like we have people waiting in the bullpen.”
However, on Monday, Brown mentioned a couple personnel changes are on deck at cornerback, where Jacolby Spells and TJ Crandall will play more starting Saturday against the Jayhawks.
Spells, a 5-foot-11, 186-pound junior from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has played only 10 defensive snaps this season, all of which came during a Week 2 win against Albany.
He entered his junior season having made 21 tackles over 21 career games, with one interception that he returned 27 yards for a touchdown during a win at Virginia Tech in 2022.
Crandall, a 6-foot, 181-pound sophomore, is in his first season with the Mountaineers after transferring from Colorado State. He appeared in 10 games with five starts as a true freshman for the Rams and finished with 19 tackles and an interception.
Crandall was in for 19 defensive snaps against Albany and four at Pitt.
“Some guys are going to get some opportunities as long as they stay healthy this week,” Brown said. “TJ Crandall is going to play more. Jacolby Spells, who we feel like he’s close to being 100 percent, is going to play and get in the mix. As far as anybody else, it’s to be determined this week, but those are two main guys at corner that deserve to play and deserve some opportunities to get in the game.”
Starting cornerbacks Garnett Hollis and Ayden Garnes have played between 41-62 snaps in each of the three contests, while Dontez Fagan, the No. 3 cornerback, has seen an increase in snaps every game, from 18 to 25 and most recently 33.
Rodney Gallagher III, a wideout who began playing defensive back in the spring, has the fourth most snaps at cornerback through three games with 29.
The Mountaineers have yet to intercept any of the 87 passes thrown by opposing quarterbacks, 51 of which have been completed, including eight for touchdowns. WVU has surrendered 842 passing yards and with a pass defense efficiency of 170.26, the Mountaineers rank 126 out of 133 FBS teams and last among Power Conference programs.
“There’s some schematic things we have to do better. I’m not going to go into great detail, because I don’t want to give Kansas that advantage, but we’re not going to continue to do the same things,” Brown said. “That’s the first piece. Then it goes to from a personnel standpoint, we have some guys that are not performing as well as they need to and really as well as they’re capable of. It’s not an effort deal. They’re playing with good effort. There’s some technique and some lack of discipline. It’s not like they’re trying not to do what they’re asked to do. They’re just not playing well. When that happens, you have to give guys opportunities. You can’t continue to reward guys for not being productive. That doesn’t work and it sets a bad precedent for the whole team.
“The last thing you look at is how do you get these guys get motivated? There’s a mental piece of it, too, as much as a physical piece. That’s how I go through it. Then you have to prepare and go play. I believe that we’re better than what we’ve shown, but that’s just me speaking, because there’s no video proof of that. I’m not naive of that or trying to cover up what our issues have been. I’m very aware of those.”
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Brown confirmed defensive lineman Edward Vesterinen will miss the majority of what remains in the regular season and perhaps all of it.
Vesterinen, a senior and returning starter at defensive tackle, was injured against Albany.
“He’s going to be out for a significant time,” Brown said. “He could potentially be back right at the end of the year, but it’s significant. He has a redshirt year, so that’s in play, too.”