Quick Hits: Early Analysis on WVU's O-Line, Receivers, Tight Ends + More

The Mountaineers are back from spring break, and another spring practice is in the books. On Tuesday evening, WVU head football coach met with the media to recap the day and to give some early evaluations of certain areas of the roster.

If he can see any strengths in this team yet

“It’s a little early. I think we’re athletic. More athletic at most positions, including quarterback. I think all the quarterbacks can run pretty well. We’re probably going to be a little deeper at wide out than we have been. I think we’re going to be deeper on the o-line. I like the freshman class we signed. There’s going to be some really good players there. Defensively, there’s a lot of new guys. We do a lot of stuff on defense, so it’s still taking them a little bit of while, but their attitude has been great.”

If the o-line is looking improved from last year

“Yeah, I mean, I think we’re going to be better up front. Second year for some of the guys in the system. Coach (Rick) Trickett has been in the system for a long time, so he’s really comfortable at teaching what we want. Some of the new guys we got, we certainly think are making an impact. We got a couple really good freshmen that’ll be ready, I think, and then we got some transfers that are grown, men.”

Thoughts on the tight end room and new additions there

“We’ve done a lot more 11 and 12 personnel than we have in the past. We even did some 13 personnel. Part of it was by we were getting running backs hurt and receivers hurt, so we had tight ends healthy. But part of it is also we thought it gives us a little flexibility with what we want to do offensively. We brought some veteran presence in there. Ryan (Ward) is the most experienced guy, kind of the leader of the group. I like where we’re at right now. They’re still learning. The physicality with the tight ends is the next step. I want to have five. I want to travel with five. We’re going to play three in every game.”

TaRon Francis and other newcomers at WR

“TaRon just got back to practicing. He wasn’t practicing because he was hurt. We’re playing him both in the slot and outside. He’s a big, physical guy and got great running skills, so we’ll try to find ways to get him the ball. It helps to have Jaden Bray healthy. Jaden, we thought, was going to be one of our best guys when he got hurt. He’s kind of the leader of the room. And then to have DJ Epps and some of the other guys that have been productive somewhere else has helped. The competition is a whole lot better in that room, I think.”