MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s offense is going to look very familiar in 2024.
There are so many returners on that side of the ball that the only reason fans will need to check their rosters when the Mountaineers have the ball this season will be to double-check a couple of new numbers.
The only significant departures WVU had on offense this season were leading receiver Devin Carter and offensive linemen Zach Frazier and Doug Nester. Otherwise, the Mountaineers return their starting quarterback, top two running backs, starting tight end, three of their top four receivers and five of their top seven linemen.
“Last year at this point in time, we might have had a couple of guys pressing to try and make plays but right now, they’re trusting their ability to do the little things right,” offensive coordinator Chad Scott said after the team’s practice on Saturday. “It’s really good to see, the execution has been really good and the mistakes have been minimal.”
With such little turnover from last year, Scott said the expectations are high and the patience for mistakes is low during fall camp.
“A whole lot less patience,” Scott said. “And not in a bad way, in the sense where we put a lot on them this spring and the execution was good in the spring. Expectations now coming into fall camp is that they know how to line up, they know the assignments and they know the techniques because we worked all that.”
Through just four practices this fall, Scott said he knows the offensive coaching will be able to move at a quicker pace and get further along early in camp compared to last season.
“They showed the ability to handle it this spring and they had a lot of work together this summer,” Scott said. “There was great execution, they did a great job with that so we have been further along coming into these first four days.”
The largest benefit to this, according to Scott, is that the players already know how to do the little things that lead to a successful offense.
“I’m really pleased in their trust in doing the little things right that create big plays,” he said. “We’ve got real talent. Guys are focused and guys believe and so we put a lot on those guys and they’ve been able to handle it.”
In addition to having more experienced players, Scott said he’s also being harder on the offense in order to prepare them to chase a Big 12 championship this fall.
“We’re a real contender,” Scott said. “(Head) Coach (Neal Brown) talks about it all the time when we coach these guys, we’re coaching them to championship standards.”
West Virginia’s fall camp continues with practice five on Monday. The team will practice every day next week except for Thursday.
