Quick Hits: Fatorma Mulbah's Big Day, Handling QB Situation, Improved Pass Coverage + More

WVU head coach Neal Brown met with the media to recap the Cincinnati win and preview this week's game.

Schuyler Callihan | Nov 11, 2024

West Virginia defensive lineman Fatorma Mulbah. / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

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West Virginia Mountaineers

Monday afternoon, West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown met with the media where he discussed what he saw in the win over Cincinnati, provided an injury update, and talked about some individuals making progress.

Injury update

“(Aubrey) Burks and (Ayden) Garnes will continue to be out, and then on offense, (Jaden) Bray will be out. Garrett (Greene) practiced today. We’ll see how he does tomorrow in 11-on-11 stuff. Hudson (Clement) ran some stuff on the side today, so hopeful for him.”

Timeline on Burks and Garnes

“They’re going to be out. I think highly questionable for any regular season game."

How the defense covered the pass

“I thought our corners, that’s the best we’ve played all year. We were really tight on those guys. They completed some balls. I think that tight end is really good and we limited him pretty well. Hutchinson is a big, fast guy and I thought we did a nice job on him. We had the miscue where we didn’t cover the back out of the backfield, that hurt us. But I thought our corners did a nice job, but I thought KK (Tarnue) and Zae (Jennings) did a nice job at the spear in some coverage too.”

Fatorma Mulbah’s big day

“The defense isn’t really built for your nose to get tackles. It’s built for (Josiah) Trotter and (Anthony) Wilson to get tackles. But you’ve got to win 1-on-1s and the thing that’s unique about him is he won his 1-on-1s and played his responsibility. He wasn’t out of his gap or anything. Now, some of that is just fortunate and that’s where the ball hit but some of it was Sean (Martin) was having some really good you know putting the ball back toward him. He’s played really well. I think the message with Fatorma is if you prepare the right way and you play fundamental football, the ball will find you.”

Justin Robinson making some plays in the pass game

“First of all, he’s really, really talented. From a size perspective, he’s 6’4” plus. He’s 220 pounds. He runs well. It’s the consistency aspect. He was really good when the ball was thrown to him. He’s got to be better when the ball is not getting thrown to him. He’ll continue to play, and he’ll continue to be productive, but he’s got to play away from the ball as well. He’s talented. He’s a guy that has Sunday ability. He’s got to go out and be consistent.”

What he needs to see from Garrett Greene to give him the green light

“Since the Kansas State game, he did a little bit of 7-on-7 work last Wednesday and that’s really the only work he’s had. You’re talking now it’s three weeks, right? So he did some 7-on-7 work today. Tomorrow is going to be the first 11-on-11 work, so I need to see him in 11-on-11 work before we make a decision on whether he’s ready to go. That’s a big layoff.”

What he needs to see from Nicco Marchiol to continue playing

“Nicco played really well against Arizona and not so well on Saturday. From a fundamental standpoint, he just has to be consistent with his fundamentals. That’s the biggest difference between him being super, super efficient versus Arizona and playing at a high level and then him not playing as well on Saturday. It’s all correctable things. It’s little things.”