{"id":325559,"date":"2019-04-15T04:49:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T08:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/?p=325559"},"modified":"2019-04-14T20:52:45","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T00:52:45","slug":"koennings-defense-off-to-running-start-but-has-a-passing-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2019\/04\/15\/koennings-defense-off-to-running-start-but-has-a-passing-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Koenning’s defense off to running start, but has a passing concern"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.<\/strong> \u2013 Vic Koenning\u2019s top priority as a defensive coordinator is stopping the run. That being the case, his first dress rehearsal at West Virginia was an unqualified success.<\/p>\n

Going up against the No. 1 offensive line in the spring game, the first-string defense allowed 81 yards on 32 rushing attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t stop the run, you can\u2019t stop anything,\u201d Koenning said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be good at stopping the run. We\u2019re going to do what it takes to have enough numbers to stop the run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koenning made it clear that mentality is coming with him on the recruiting trail, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a super emphasis in recruiting for any defensive linemen out there who want to be fun and charge upfield and make a play,\u201d he said. \u201cThis will be a good scheme for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koenning isn\u2019t quite as pleased with where the Mountaineers are against the pass right now.<\/p>\n

Austin Kendall and Trey Lowe were a combined 11-of-19 for 205 yards against the top defense. Kendall victimized the defense with the deep ball several times, hitting completions of 60, 40 and 39 yards. Lowe had a 28-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the scrimmage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna have to get better on not giving up big plays,\u201d Koenning said. \u201cWhen it\u2019s max-protect, throw the ball deep, you\u2019ve got to win those one-on-one matchups.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, Koenning is hopeful his secondary will be less exposed in the season than it was during the spring game because quarterbacks will have less time to throw.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you drop back and you know you\u2019re not gonna get hit, you feel pretty good about it,\u201d Koenning said.<\/p>\n

He imagined the life of a spring game quarterback being pretty easy.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019I\u2019m gonna eat a sandwich, chill out, drink a glass of some iced tea and rock and fire,\u2019\u201d Koenning joked of a quarterback’s spring mindset.\u00a0\u201cIn a real game situation, they tend not to throw hot as far as they can throw it three times. A lot of today was \u2018I may have a lot of guys around me, but they\u2019re not gonna hit me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Koenning also needs more takeaways to be truly satisfied with the performance of his defense. His last two defenses at Troy ranked in the Top 20 nationally in takeaways. The lone turnover forced by the No. 1 defense in the spring game was a gift from Lowe, who forced a throw that was picked off by Keith Washington when he might have had a productive gain running the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tackled OK today. We worked very hard at all the fundamental parts of tackling all spring,\u201d Koenning said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got to create takeaways. We\u2019ve got to get better at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The regular-season defensive product should look better \u2013 or at least more complex. Koenning stuck to the basics and did not call any blitzes Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve done in the spring is we\u2019ve kept our blitz packages to a minimum. \u2018Here\u2019s what we\u2019ll do in our base stuff, here\u2019s who we\u2019ll be,\u2019\u201d Koenning said. \u201cWe worked no sub-packages. We wanted to get what most of the Big 12 does. We\u2019ll start game-planning in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are several specialized roles the Mountaineers have yet to determine. That part comes in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is gonna be our edge pass-rusher? A fullback and tight end are in, who is our extra lineman? Do we play with JoVanni Stewart [at spear], or put [Kwantel] Raines in? Now we can narrow it down to who we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. \u2013 Vic Koenning\u2019s top priority as a defensive coordinator is stopping the run. That being the case, his first dress rehearsal at West Virginia was an unqualified success. Going up against the No. 1 offensive line in the spring game, the first-string defense allowed 81 yards on 32 rushing attempts. \u201cIf you can\u2019t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":325452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,46],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKoenning's defense off to running start, but has a passing concern - WV MetroNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2019\/04\/15\/koennings-defense-off-to-running-start-but-has-a-passing-concern\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Koenning's defense off to running start, but has a passing concern - WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MORGANTOWN, W.Va. \u2013 Vic Koenning\u2019s top priority as a defensive coordinator is stopping the run. 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