MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Each year in June, Morgantown football gets back to the basics of the playbook — coach Matt Lacy wouldn’t have it any other way.
There are different ways to approach the WVSSAC three-week summer practices, and Lacy enjoys using it to introduce his athletes to the formations and plays they’ll be using every day in the fall.
“This will be a good installation period for us. With the kids, we’ve had flex days where we could do some basic installation, but now we can start to throw a lot at them and build upon our base stuff. Now we can get into some of the intricacies,” he said.
“We want to see some retention of the information we’re throwing at them. We do some white board stuff with them so they get to see it, and then we come out and run through it. There has to be some carry over.”
Morgantown senior offensive and defensive lineman Marcellus Marshall views the team’s in-depth work with the playbook as a critical piece of the puzzle if the team wants a smooth start to the season come August.
“As we get ready to start, I’m ready to learn these plays and get going. We want to be ready to execute when the season comes around, and I feel like as we learn this team is going to learn quick. Hopefully that gives us some momentum we can take into the season,” he said.
Lacy said the practices also serve as an opportunity to evaluate who has put in the necessary offseason work to get an idea who will make the varsity roster this fall. Aside from general strength training, this will be the coaching staff’s first opportunity to see how athletes have developed and how they work with each other.
“You never know how a guy is going to physically develop from year to year, and we obviously have some new kids coming in this year, so it’ll be a chance to get our eyes on them and see what they bring to the table,” he said.
“We know who’s in the weight room, because we’re in there with them, but here we’ll get to see the guys who have been putting in the extra work — doing things on their own, going to camps and learning. It’s a showcase for these guys to prove that they’re ready for varsity action.”
Marshall said the key that he and his teammates are looking for is some sort of measurable progress from where they were before. Seven months after last taking the field, the squad hopes to be a step ahead of where they left off.
“When we come out here and we go through our drills and plays, and from last year everyone with every step is trying to get better. You can’t win if you don’t get better. We’re just trying to show what we’ve been working on in the weight room and now it’s time to show the coaches,” he said.
Morgantown has finished the last two seasons with a 9-13 record and two Class AAA first round playoff losses. Marshall believes the key to getting over the hump and making a deeper run into the postseason will rely on a solid foundation of leadership, which is another focus for the next three weeks. He and other upperclassmen hope to set a strong tone early.
“Strong leadership is a big thing. We’re going to have some new kids, including myself, have to step up to lead this team. If we lead by example and show them what we want — and everyone has the same goal and we’re working towards the same thing — we’re going to be able to achieve it,” he said.
