Silly Games: WVU Trying to Keep the Obvious a Secret & Coastal's Worthless Depth Chart

Does not revealing a starter really create an advantage?

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Depth charts have been used in football since the sport was created.

For the staff, it made sense to list the players in order on a sheet of paper so they can see how the offense or defense is coming along simply by looking at the names and having an idea of which positions they feel good about and which they don't, and to also give the players an idea of how much playing time to expect. Releasing the depth chart publicly helped reporters covering the game, essentially giving them a cheat sheet to see who was in the game and so forth.

Here's the thing: it's not something that is concrete. It can change from week to week, day to day, or even in the middle of the game. So why do coaches get so protective of the information?

It's not like you are revealing any secrets here. Every college football staff nowadays has 30+ people on it, meaning they are going to know pretty much everything about the opponent. You may not know the exact order of the opposing team's depth chart, but you're going to know who to prepare for.

This week showed how silly these depth chart mind games can be. For starters, Coastal's Ryan Beard put out a depth chart that has ORs littered all over it. Only one player is listed as a starter on offense (RT Daughtry Richardson) and five players on defense — DT Ahmad Poole, SAM Jesse Powell, CB Ja’Marion Wayne, SS Jalen Lee, and Brandon Rose.

Just take a look for yourself at how ridiculous this is.

Coastal Carolina's Depth Chart vs. WVU

OFFENSE

QB: Deuce Bailey OR Tre Guerra OR Osiris Lopez OR Trever Jackson
RB: Jevon Edwards OR Dominic Lee-Knicely OR Breyahn Townsend OR Jaden Allen-Hendrix
WR: Karmello English OR Clayton Coppock Jr.
WR: Tristian Gardner OR Goldie Lawrence
WR (SL): Robby Washington OR Colton Hinton
TE: Zach Courtney OR Cyrus Ellison OR Ben Verges
LT: Mason Barton OR Daniel Jones
LG: Josh Daniel OR Christian Loaiza
C: Kain McDonald OR Apisa Poumele
RG: Tray Franklin OR Gavin McLaughlin
RT: Daughtry Richardson, Johnathan Ashley

DEFENSE

DE: Chandavian Bradley OR Donovan Grayson, Obinna Onwuka
DT: DJ Wesolak OR Reggie Jean OR Nolan Korzeniowski
DT: Ahmad Poole, Xzaiver Booker, Dezmond Barnes
DE: Mitchell Toney OR Ibrahim Diawara
SAM: Jesse Powell, Donald Quist
MIKE: Marcelius Pulliam OR Braxton Starnes
WILL: Se’Von McDowell OR Jordan Thomas
NB: Myles Woods or Azarel Juste
CB: Ja’Marion Wayne, Travis Roman
CB: Damill Bostic Jr. OR King White
SS: Jalen Lee, Chas Jackson
FS: Brandon Rose, Chris Henry

Rich Rod not announcing Hawkins as QB1

WVU Athletics Communications

Unlike Beard, Rodriguez listed most of his starters on both sides of the football, including freshman Kevin Brown starting at left tackle. So why not announce Hawkins as the starting quarterback?

I know, I know. It doesn't benefit you to do so, but if you're going to hold that back, the most obvious thing — aside from Cam Cook starting at running back, why not do what Beard did and put OR up and down the whole dang thing?

There is nothing to hide there. Coastal has been talking about Hawkins and only Hawkins — they know, as does every opponent on WVU's schedule. This "competition" has been settled for a while, so I'm not sure what edge WVU thinks it has by not announcing QB1, especially when it's plain as day and has been reported on nationally.

Holding out for a slight advantage? Against Coastal Carolina? I would understand if Virginia were the Week 1 opponent and you wanted them to have some second thoughts about who it might be, but even they would have sniffed it out.

At the end of the day, none of this stuff matters. It's just silly how something as simple as a depth chart, which can be changed from the time it's released to the morning of game day, can get.

Does the order of players on a piece of paper really give you an advantage by putting OR all throughout? Are you fooling anyone by putting OR at a certain position? Are you at a disadvantage by naming your starters? The answers to all of those questions are no.