Quick Hits: Players Making Moves, D-Line Depth + More

WVU head football coach Neal Brown recaps this past weekend's scrimmage.

Schuyler Callihan | Aug 12, 2024

Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

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West Virginia Mountaineers

Over the weekend, the West Virginia Mountaineers held their first full scrimmage of fall camp. Today, they returned to practice for a lighter day before ramping things back up heading into scrimmage number two. This afternoon, head coach Neal Brown met with the media to provide the latest on the team's progress.

How the defense did in the scrimmage

“Defense started off really well which was a positive. Started fast. I thought our d-line was much more effective Saturday than they were Tuesday. They did a nice job. I thought our linebackers played the run better, still not good enough, but better. Defensively, we weren’t bad in the red zone but the one thing is we didn’t create any takeaways down there and that’s something that we’ve really talked about. We weren’t able to maintain the energy from the start which is something we’re going to have to do.”

How the offense did in Saturday’s scrimmage

“Offensively, slow start and then came out and finished the scrimmage really well. We put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks trying to throw the football, maybe more so than we normally would. We were efficient throwing the ball, we were good in the red zone offensively. I thought we just played inconsistent. The good was really good and then there was times that we didn’t look like a veteran outfit like we are.”

Players standing out on the defensive line

“There’s two guys that have kind of played above everybody else to this point and that’s TJ Jackson - he’s a great addition, he plays with a motor and you saw that on his film at Troy - and Eddie (Vesterinen) has played that way for his whole career. Now he’s stronger, he’s gained a little weight. Those two guys have been active. Sean (Martin) had a better end of the week and I think there’s another step for him to take. And then we got to figure out Hammond Russell is really making a move. He played his best football he’s ever played in his career on Saturday, but we need some other guys to come on. Asani Redwood practiced today, today was the first day he was full-go. We need him, we need Elijah Kinsler, we need Nate Garbiel, we need some of those guys to come through and really play supporting roles.”

Young players who impressed

“(Brandon) Yates really pushed through, he got banged up on Friday but came out and played every scrimmage rep. I think Xavier Bausley and Sully Weidman are guys that are making some strides, so that’s been exciting to see. Johnny Williams is getting better. And then out wide, Jaden Bray we got a bunch of touches to. I’m excited about him as a football player. He’s going to be one of our better special teams players also. I think the two freshman running backs had nice days for limited carries, they both had some positive runs, Diore (Hubbard) and (Trae’von) Dunbar.”

Rodney Gallagher’s development on defense

“Yeah, since about practice four he’s been splitting both. He may be our best man defender right now. He’s going to play. Today, we put some pressure on him and played him against a bunch of run scenarios where he had to tear off blocks. We really hadn’t asked him to do that to this point, but when he’s going to play on that side of the ball he’s going to have to do that. Offensively, he had two really nice catch and runs in the scrimmage on Saturday. He’s looking more fluent as a receiver too and I’m proud of him because we’re putting a bunch on him mentally he’s spent a lot of time to make this both ways work.”

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