Sunday Morning Thoughts: Can Someone Get the Kid Some Help?

MORGANTOWN, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers are 3-1 (1-0) to begin the 2023 season, and a third of the way through the year, head coach Neal Brown has to feel much better about his job security.

The last two weeks have not been pretty by any means, but as Brown stated in his postgame press conference, "Win.....Win." No one cares how you win as long as you find a way to win.

At the same time, the fashion in which West Virginia has won these last two games against Pitt and Texas Tech is not sustainable. They're not going to be able to hold opponents to under 20 points every week and offensively, they've got to make some sort of progress throwing the football.

Nicco Marchiol completed 12-of-21 pass attempts for 78 yards, a touchdown, and two picks. The first interception was 100% on Marchiol for not seeing the defender and waiting entirely too long to let it rip, missing the throwing window by a wide margin. The second interception is what leads me to the main point of my column today. Can some at receiver step up and make some plays to help the young quarterback out?

Drops have plagued the wide receiver group at WVU since Neal Brown took over the program in 2019. But it's not just drops right now. It's everything. Failure to get separation and making something happen after the catch also go into the Mountaineers' struggles in the air.

If you're going to call a conservative game with a young quarterback under center and take very few shots downfield, you have to compensate for that by racking up yards after the catch. So far through four games, this wide receiver group has not done that. Take last night for example. Marchiol completed all six of his passes at or behind the line of scrimmage, but only gained 27 yards from those completions. Passes five yards or fewer totaled 10 yards on two completions and the only completion 15+ yards down the field totaled, you guessed it...just 15 yards (all air yards).

Cortez Braham made a catch in the first half and all he had to do was make a guy miss in the open field and he would have had a first down and then some. The defender wasn't fooled at all by the move Braham tried to put on him and made the tackle setting up a third down.

Devin Carter shoulders the blame for Marchiol's second interception by allowing the ball to bounce off his hands, up into the air, and into the mitts of a Texas Tech defender. He also saw a ball that was thrown a tad high, yet catchable, go right through his hands on a wheel route that would have gone for a big gain.

These routine plays need to be made, especially when you have an inexperienced quarterback running the offense. If the guys on the field aren't making plays, why are we not seeing opportunities for others?

Like, where is Jeremiah Aaron? What about the transfers? EJ Horton? Ja'Shaun Poke? Noah Massey? Why are they not getting rotated into the game? How is it that two of the four receivers who see the field the most (Hudson Clement & Graeson Malashevich) are former walk-ons? Are they really that far ahead of the kids who came to Morgantown on scholarship? If so, that tells you all you need to know about the overall depth of the position group.

This team is more than good enough to win games, get bowl-eligible, and perhaps finish in the top half of the Big 12 standings. But in order for that to come to fruition, some playmakers have to emerge at receiver. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You might get by winning these two games by having virtually no passing game, but that can't be the formula on a week-to-week basis.

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