MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — There are three things West Virginia coach Neal Brown made clear he wants to see his football team improve on ahead of spring practice, which begins Tuesday:
Turnover margin, end zone efficiency and Third-and-medium offense
Turnover margin is across the board, from lowering that total offensively to increasing it on defense and special teams. The Mountaineers ranked 103rd nationally at a minus-6 turnover margin — 14 forced and 20 lost.
“Offensively, we’ve got to do a better job of throwing fewer interceptions, that was where our issues were last year,” Brown said. “Defensively, we’ve got to force more takeaways, and on special teams, we’ve got to do a better job of forcing those same takeaways. A lot of time and effort will go into improving that as a whole football team.”
Red zone woes on offense plagued West Virginia all season. Out of 34 trips inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, the Mountaineers scored just 16 touchdowns (47%) and converted nine field goals. They got points on 25 of 34 red zone attempts (73.5%), 118th out of 130 teams.
Defensive red zone efficiency was just as poor — out of 47 attempts, opponents scored 30 touchdowns (64%) and made 12 field goals. WVU allowed opponents to score on 89.4% of their red zone trips, 114th nationally.
“Special teams, we have to make sure we make our field goals,” Brown said. “Offensively, we have to do a better job of scoring touchdowns. That was part of our major issues a year ago. Defensively, we’ve got to try to make guys kick and we didn’t have a single takeaway down in the red zone last year. Those will start from the first day next Tuesday and through all 15 practices.”
The Mountaineers also converted their third downs at a 34.6% clip, 109th nationally. Brown believes the short-yardage situations were good, but WVU needs to get better at 3rd and 4 to 6 situations.
“From a team standpoint, those are going to be three of the main areas,” Brown said.
No spot safe
While Jarret Doege started the final three games for the Mountaineers down the stretch in place of Austin Kendall, Brown said the quarterback job isn’t locked in on Doege.
In fact, no position has a set starter and Brown will not release a depth chart this spring.
“There’s competition at every spot this spring,” he said. “We’re gonna come out of here with no labeled starters and all that kind of stuff. From every spot, to the guys who made all-league … every spot, guys are gonna get reps. They’re gonna earn them. They’re gonna earn playing time.”
While coach speak comes to mind, Brown seems genuine when believing Kendall can earn the starting spot back over Doege. Kendall started WVU’s first nine games before being benched in favor of Doege down the stretch, but Doege ended, despite WVU getting the road win at TCU, threw three interceptions in the season finale against the Horned Frogs.
“They need to challenge each other better and really push each other to be better,” Brown said. “A demand I asked out of both of them is to push each other. You’ll get better in the process if you’re pushing the other guy, so just like the other spots, those two are in open competition with each other.”
Injuries
While no one is out for spring practice, there are several players who will be limited, at least to start, especially defensively.
The linebackers are dealing with issues that occurred during the regular season — juniors VanDarius Cowan and Josh Chandler missed time due to knee injuries.
On the defensive line, sophomore Jordan Jefferson and junior Taijh Alston will also be limited. Alston tore his patellar tendon in the second game of the season at Missouri and missed the rest of the year.
Offensively, senior guard Chase Behrndt had surgery for an undisclosed injury and will be limited. Special teams guru Osman Kamara is also banged up.
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