MORGANTOWN — WVU head coach Neal Brown said at the beginning of spring camp in late March that the next four weeks were going to be a teaching environment — no depth charts, no named starter, none of the typical personnel announcements that typically follow the end of fall camp.
With spring practice culminating in Saturday’s Gold-Blue Game at Milan Puskar Stadium, one of the biggest goals the Mountaineers hoped to accomplish had almost everything to do with teaching — cross-training across various fronts on the offense and defense, including offensive line, linebackers, and safeties.
Depth issues on the offensive line have plagued WVU since Brown was hired in 2019, but for the first time in three years, the coaching staff is comfortable going down to the second-team group.
“Right now, I feel with our two-deep we can function as well as we’ve ever functioned with a second group out there,” offensive line coach Matt Moore said. “We’re not allowing run-throughs and not allowing sacks that kill the plays. We’re allowing our skill guys to make plays.”
Moore has been adamant about cross-training his lineman to play at least four positions up front. Zach Frazier can play center and both guard spots, James Gmiter can play right and left guard, and newcomer Doug Nester can bounce from right guard to right tackle. Many of the remainder of the two-deep can do the same.
Being able to plug and play where a coach needs someone is valuable to building long-term depth.
“What I’ve tried to do is not just develop left tackles and left guards, but I’ve tried to develop guys who can play at least four of the five positions; center is a little different,” Moore said. “We’ve worked hard at developing depth. Now, I feel like we have guys I can move around. If they are long enough and twitchy enough to play left tackle, they can play anywhere else. If you are good enough to play right tackle, you can also play right guard and left guard. That’s the way I’m trying to do this thing. I’m constantly trying to move people around. That’s helped develop the depth, so we don’t have to have two at each position. I have my top five, and if I can find three more — one who can snap and two others who can play guard and tackle — I feel good about our depth.”
It’s been more of the same defensively, but inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz isn’t feeling as upbeat about his depth as Moore is.
With the loss of Tony Fields, there is little experience at Mike and Will linebacker, with the exceptions being Josh Chandler-Semedo (started 18 games the last two seasons) and Exree Loe, who has played in 32 games during his career.
Other than that, there are only three scholarship linebackers, two of whom switched positions this spring — former wide receiver Devell Washington and ex-cornerback Jairo Faverus. James Thomas is the other, but he’s seen limited action thus far.
Help is coming this summer with Penn State transfer Lance Dixon, but in the meantime, Koonz wants every linebacker to be able to play all three spots, including outside at Bandit, if needed.
“The big thing I’ve always tried to do wherever I’m at is dual-train,” he said. “Whether our numbers have been large or small, I’ve never been anywhere in my 17 years doing this where I can just say, ‘Hey, we’ve got three Mikes and we’ve got three Wills, and it’s the next man in.’
“At the two linebackers, you have to get the best two guys in the game. That may mean someone having to move over, but you have to find your best two. In recruiting, we’re really not separating those positions. We need speed first, as well as athleticism and physicality, and if you have those three things, you can play either position. You try to build depth and then cross-train. That’s the same at every school I’ve been at my entire career. I’ve never been able to say, ‘These are my guys inside, and these are my guys outside.’ You always try to get the best 11 guys on the field.”
Safety is more of the same between the Cat, Spear and Free positions, according to coach Dontae Wright. Even in recruiting, he doesn’t look for players who fit a specific spot. He looks for a true safety and will worry about where to play him later.
Even without Tykee Smith at Spear, the Mountaineers return two of the top safeties in the Big 12 in Alonzo Addae and Sean Mahone. Addae is the only player who can man all three safety spots, but Wright said he wants to continue to build toward rotating personnel.
“The Cat and the Free, there really is no difference,” he said. “They have a couple of different calls, but they have exactly the same technique, so they are the easiest to switch back and forth between. The Spear is the one that’s a little different, because he’s a hybrid corner-safety guy, and he has to play a little bit of coverage out there on the number twos. That’s the harder one to switch.
“Right now, the one who can play all three is Alonzo Addae. He’s one of the smarter players I’ve ever been around, and he understands not just what his positions are doing, but he knows where the Will is supposed to be, and where the Mike is supposed to be, and all the positions around him. Mahone can play both safeties. I’d feel comfortable putting KJ Martin at all three of them.”
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