What 2 Watch 4 in the WVU Spring Game: Offense

The 2021 Gold-Blue Spring Football game will take place this Saturday, April 24th at 1 p.m. EST on ESPN+. Below we take a look at three things to watch for from the Mountaineer offense.

Help for Leddie

The Mountaineers heavily relied on Leddie Brown in the running game a year ago and will likely do so again in 2021. With that said, head coach, Neal Brown would like to see some of the guys behind him on the depth chart to step up and take some of the workload off of Brown's shoulders. Tony Mathis Jr. (R-So.) and A'varius Sparrow (So.) have combined for just 25 career carries but will need to be able to handle a bigger role this upcoming season following Alec Sinkfield's transfer to Boston College. The Mountaineers will also have a pair of promising incoming freshmen in Jaylen Anderson and Justin Johnson Jr. who running backs coach Chad Scott believes are "elite" and can play early in their career. However, the two freshmen have not arrived at WVU yet so the spotlight will be on Mathis Jr. and Sparrow. Ideally, you'd like to see them both have a productive outing on Saturday but if that doesn't happen it's not something to be overly concerned about with the start of the season still months away.

CLICK HERE TO SEE CHAD SCOTT'S COMMENTS ON EACH RB

Hands of wide receivers

For the first time since Neal Brown was named the head coach at West Virginia, he's got an experienced group of wide receivers many of which played as true freshman or redshirt freshman when he arrived in 2019. Guys like Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Winston Wright Jr., and Sam James are at that point in their careers where they need to take the next step and become consistent playmakers. One of the areas that held the offense back a year ago was the inability to hold onto the ball and in some instances in crucial situations. Some of that comes from a lack of confidence but also a lack of experience. Now that those guys, Sean Ryan included, have been around for a few years, should look like experienced receivers that win their one-on-ones more often than not and not have many issues holding onto the football.

Progress of QBs

Neal Brown said last week that Jarret Doege was arguably the team's most improved player and that redshirt freshman Garrett Greene has been showing flashes of his potential. In a game-like setting, it'll be interesting to see how Greene responds if/when things go sideways and has to fight through some adversity. Young quarterbacks tend to struggle in those situations and try to do too much. This will be the first time that we get an extended look at Greene and even true freshman Will "Goose" Crowder who will be competing to be the quarterback of the future in Morgantown. In terms of Doege, pocket movement, arm strength, deep ball accuracy, and decision making are areas that were a bit shaky at times in each of the last two seasons. How much has Doege improved in those areas? We'll see a glimpse of it on Saturday.

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