MORGANTOWN -
Under a hot sun, the Mountaineers took to the grass practice
field for Monday's drills, the second day open to the media since camp began on
Thursday.
Take a look at this video of the quarterbacks passing to the
receivers and then read these notes from Thursday:
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The first practice we were able to see was full
of what Dana Holgorsen said was not "real football." On Monday, we saw some
real football with physical drills between the offensive and defensive lines,
the receivers and defensive backs and the running backs and linebackers. Shoulder pads
were popping and tempers were high.
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First up, the receivers and defensive backs.
Cody Clay was perhaps the most physical of the blockers on offense, but the
biggest confrontation came between freshmen Will Johnson and Karl Joseph.
Johnson ended up on the ground with Joseph on top of him, a scuffle that was
quickly broken up by the surrounding players.
Throughout the drill, though, the offense
seemed to get the better of the defense and cornerbacks coach Daron Roberts was
not pleased. Roberts ripped into the defensive backs, telling them they needed
to hit back and not just take the blocks the receivers delivered. It was clear
Roberts was having no part in his former position beating his the kids he
currently coaches.
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When the running backs took on the linebackers,
all were present other than Dustin Garrison and Jewone Snow, as we point out in
the next bullet. Early in the drill, freshman rusher Tory Clayton tried his
best to block multiple linebackers, but consistently came up short. RBs coach
Robert Gillespie continued to put No. 24 back in the drill until he got it
right, but that moment never really came in his first few attempts.
Donovan Miles, quite familiar with his old
linebacker position, did well at fullback and Andrew Buie finally got it right
after waving off the next few blockers so he could get more attempts at
successfully keeping the defender off the quarterback.
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The offensive and defensive line had a good
battle, though the blockers typically performed better than the defenders in
pursuit. One particular matchup that created a spark along the lines was
between Brandon Jackson and Imarjaye Albury. Jackson came to his knees, but
still kept Albury at bay, which led to the rest of the d-line jumping on Albury
for not being more physical.
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The string of injury-free practices ended
somewhere between last Thursday and Monday. Jewone Snow, the redshirt sophomore
linebacker, was back in a red jersey after having recovered from shoulder
surgery in the offseason. Dustin Garrison was in a green jersey for limited
contact. Head athletic trainer Dave Kerns was on the side of the field that the
media was not allowed on, so the extent of the injuries was not immediately
known.
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Left in the notebook and not on the website
after day one: congratulations is in order to Daron Roberts. The second year
Mountaineer assistant welcomed his first daughter to the world last Wednesday
on the eve of camp's open.
Roberts admits he had to skip a meeting in
order to be with his wife for the birth of Sydney Roberts, his second child and
a new baby sister to his son, Dylan.
After spending a significant portion of his
summer on the road recruiting the next generation of Mountaineers, it is worth
noting the highlight of Roberts' offseason came away from WVU football.
Check back for Dana Holgorsen's live press conference
tonight at 7:30 p.m. or watch the recorded version later, right here at
wvillustrated.com.
DL J.B. Lageman leads his teammates in drills.
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