MIAMI, Fla. -
West Virginia kicked off the new year with another practice
from Barry University and head coach Dana Holgorsen addressed the two injuries
that have occurred in the time since he last opened a portion of drills to the
media.
Connor Arlia, a redshirt freshman receiver, suffered a
broken leg after he was involved in a jet skiing accident Saturday when the
team had a beach party outside the Fountainebleau.
"It is was it is. It's an accident. Anytime you involve
motorized vehicles in any capacity, things can happen and it just happened to a
kid that has been riding jet skis his whole life," says Holgorsen.
Arlia has played some special teams for the Mountaineers
this season while providing depth at inside receiver and has been showing
improvement in recent weeks, according to his head coach.
"Actually Connor was practicing a lot more and was one of
the guys that through bowl practice a young kid gets a lot of reps and he gets
better and better. He had gotten a lot better and was backing up Tavon. I'm not
going to say he was going to play a bunch, but had put himself in a position
where he had improved a bunch."
Holgorsen said he isn't worried about the player whose jet
ski hit Arlia needing any sort of counseling, but expressed how difficult it's
been for the entire team to deal with what happened, especially given the fact
that it occurred outside of football.
Arlia was still recovering at the hospital at the start of
practice.
Safety Terence Garvin had a new companion on crutches for
Sunday's drills. He and Dustin Garrison were absent from the sidelines as each
was getting treatment from team trainers, but rejoined their teammates just
after the practice closed to the media.
Holgorsen, who released a statement on Garrison Saturday,
spoke about the bad blow to his freshman back.
"It's disappointing to not have Dustin," he said. "I'll tell
you, if we would have gave him the ball more throughout the course of the year,
he'd probably be better than what he is right now to the point that he probably
was going to be a thousand-yard rusher."
Shawne Alston and Andrew Buie were of course taking all the
running back reps and Buie was involved in a number of passing plays, catching
the ball out of the backfield on swing passes and other routes.
Alston is set to get the start and Holgorsen believes both
he and Buie are ready to carry the load.
"Shawne Alston gives us a lot of maturity as he has all year
and Andrew Buie's as healthy and looks as good as he has since probably camp,"
says Holgorsen.
Former WVU receiver Khori Ivy took in practice today and had
a chat with cornerbacks coach David Lockwood on the sideline. Ivy finished his
career as West Virginia's second-leading receiver in yards with 2,412 and third
in receptions with 160.
The Mountaineers will wrap up practice and head out to Fogo
de Chao for a dinner at the popular Brazilian Steakhouse Sunday night.
Sunday's practice was the last that will be open to the
media, with a press conference and interview opportunities with members of
WVU's offense and inside receivers coach Shannon Dawson.
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