Conversation in Morgantown with Current WVU player

[H0RNEDFR0G]

We went out to the bars in Morgantown after our humiliating defeat, and ran into one of the WVU players. He plays defense on the current team, in fact, he recorded 4 tackles against our Frogs Saturday. When I asked him to tell me a little bit about our football team, he spoke very candidly and was really nice. He tried to be complimentary, and seemed honest. I really enjoyed speaking with him.

On Darius Anderson:
Number 6 ran his heart out all day, runs hard every play. I'd be proud to have him on my team.

On Offensive line:
I asked him how bad they were, he said they're really not that bad... they are just slow. I asked him to rank them against other offensive line units he's seen this year and he said this:

"They're huge and extremely strong. If you come straight at them, or if they get in front of you, you're going nowhere. But you can get around them. They don't move their feet very well, they're just pretty slow."

He said they are not the worst in the league, their size and strength puts them in front of 2 or 3 other units he's faced. I think he was just trying to be nice here, but I'll go with it.

On Jalen Reagor:
Guy is an absolute freak. One of the most talented guys he's seen all year. Has it all: speed, vertical jump, mobility, acceleration, and plays hard.

On Mike Collins:
Good arm, makes some good decisions. As the game went on, he seemed nervous/flustered, got happy feet. (See points on O-line earlier as a source of this nervousness)

On the team:
Came out fighting hard. WVU was not expecting that 1st Q. dogfight. But in the 2nd half they came out flat, the fire was gone, and they were resigned to losing. They didn't believe they could win.


Thought his takes were insightful and my friends said I should share with KFC. Overall in Morgantown, most people were incredibly nice. We did run into a few jerks, but they were vastly outnumbered by kind folks.

 

[CardFrog]

that sounds like a very accurate summary from someone who was really there. Good post.

 

[gohornedfrogs]

On the team:
Came out fighting hard. WVU was not expecting that 1st Q. dogfight. But in the 2nd half they came out flat, the fire was gone, and they were resigned to losing. They didn't believe they could win.


Thought his takes were insightful and my friends said I should share with KFC. Overall in Morgantown, most people were incredibly nice. We did run into a few jerks, but they were vastly outnumbered by kind folks.

The special teams blunders at the end of the half just took the life out of the team.

A few weeks ago, we were one of the most dangerous return teams in the country. Now we may be the absolute worst in all of the FBS.

Nice report, though. Thanks for sharing. Maybe this unbiased, first-hand view can provide some perspective for some of those on here who have questioned the heart and character of our players and coaches.

 

[FrogLifeYo]

If his thoughts on the O-Line are true then we are screwed...You can improve strength, footwork, and technique but slow is slow and it can’t be fixed...

 

[YA]

The mistakes in the special teams deflated the team.

I liked Morgantown and for the most part people where very nice. Most were shocked we came from Texas. One thing I will not get over each time I've been there is the amount of RV's and the narrow roads. Also, lots of dead deer along the roads.

I highly recommend people go, enjoy the scenery, the good fans and the beer sold in the stadium.

 

[Wexahu]

If his thoughts on the O-Line are true then we are screwed...You can improve strength, footwork, and technique but slow is slow and it can’t be fixed...

Or you can devise a scheme and game plan that doesn’t rely a great deal on O-line quickness. It can be done. A major part of the problem IMO is the offense has no direction, no plan, and no conviction on doing anything consistently. It’s just a total mess of bizarre personnel packages, inane play calling at times, poor fundamentals by nearly every position group, and general overall inconsistency. And that is 100% on the OC and the other offensive staff. And by extension GP because he makes the hiring decisions.

 

[Limey Frog]

If his thoughts on the O-Line are true then we are screwed...You can improve strength, footwork, and technique but slow is slow and it can’t be fixed...

What I'm hearing there is that we have guys who physically have everything you need but their footwork and reading of the game isn't up to par. That is coaching.

 

[wes]

The mistakes in the special teams deflated the team.

I liked Morgantown and for the most part people where very nice. Most were shocked we came from Texas. One thing I will not get over each time I've been there is the amount of RV's and the narrow roads. Also, lots of dead deer along the roads.

I highly recommend people go, enjoy the scenery, the good fans and the beer sold in the stadium.

The people are very nice. Scott and I went up there the first year both TCU and WVU we're in the big 12 and we had heard all kinds of bad things about their fans. But, what pleasantly surprised have many of them come up to us to say welcome to West Virginia. Several invited us to their tailgate parties and we had a blast.

We later found out it's school had sent out a letter before the season started, urging all fans to tap the brakes and be nice do the visiting fans.

Apparently it worked because they could not of been nicer

 

[H0RNEDFR0G]

If his thoughts on the O-Line are true then we are screwed...You can improve strength, footwork, and technique but slow is slow and it can’t be fixed...

I had the same concern. But you can make your blocking scheme match your personnel.

Zone schemes work better for smaller, more athletic players (2010 Rose Bowl TCU). Man schemes are better suited for what we have now... big strong guys that can maul defenders.

It's been a transition for us, we haven't always had huge guys with freak strength. I'm optimistic (perhaps unrealistically so) that we'll figure it out.

 

[BABYFACE]

Appreciate the report. I do have a few thoughts pertaining to just the OL feedback.

I never played OL, so take that in account with my comments:

The player said TCU was big and strong and had difficulty coming straight at them. WVU player also said the OL had very slow feet and you could get around them.

Ok, if TCU OL was big and strong, then how could they not get a push going straight forward running between the tackles? If they have slow feet, then running a sweep or pulling a guard would be most likely unsuccessful for TCU. Also, slow feet would mean that pass blocking would be suspect. That is one area the OL has been decent at. Not good, but not bad.

I am bit confused by WVU player’s comments on our OL. I kind of see the opposite. The TCU OL cannot straight ahead line block to save their life. Pass protection seems to be the only thing they can do.

 

[Pharm Frog]

If his thoughts on the O-Line are true then we are screwed...You can improve strength, footwork, and technique but slow is slow and it can’t be fixed...

The Stack Three is almost ideal against strong but slow O-lines especially when you decide to engage your Bear and Buck backers but they don't know which one is coming.

 

[Pure Purple]

Valid point on the lack of mobility in the OL. Increased size at the expense of maneuverability.

Unfortunately, a deficiency that will undoubtedly require time to overcome.

 

[H0RNEDFR0G]

Appreciate the report. I do have a few thoughts pertaining to just the OL feedback.

I never played OL, so take that in account with my comments:

The player said TCU was big and strong and had difficulty coming straight at them. WVU player also said the OL had very slow feet and you could get around them.

Ok, if TCU OL was big and strong, then how could they not get a push going straight forward running between the tackles? If they have slow feet, then running a sweep or pulling a guard would be most likely unsuccessful for TCU. Also, slow feet would mean that pass blocking would be suspect. That is one area the OL has been decent at. Not good, but not bad.

I am bit confused by WVU player’s comments on our OL. I kind of see the opposite. The TCU OL cannot straight ahead line block to save their life. Pass protection seems to be the only thing they can do.

That's a good point. I will say that he was not a defensive lineman. Maybe that impacts his perspective in a way somebody else can interpret for us.

Also, when he mentioned their strength he made a hand gesture that looked like grabbing them under the shoulder pads and lifting up. I think he meant that when they grab you on a pass rush you can't get loose. But that's good coaching too.. a well coached lineman will grab under the pads and lift up. This will take away leverage and you can walk them wherever you want them to go.

This is a really good link on that:

 

[Eight]

What I'm hearing there is that we have guys who physically have everything you need but their footwork and reading of the game isn't up to par. That is coaching.

remember you have guys that until two years ago weren't being coached for the most part on the finer points of the position.

it takes time to develop some of these things as well as cohesion and communication in the unit.

 

[Eight]

Appreciate the report. I do have a few thoughts pertaining to just the OL feedback.

I never played OL, so take that in account with my comments:

The player said TCU was big and strong and had difficulty coming straight at them. WVU player also said the OL had very slow feet and you could get around them.

Ok, if TCU OL was big and strong, then how could they not get a push going straight forward running between the tackles? If they have slow feet, then running a sweep or pulling a guard would be most likely unsuccessful for TCU. Also, slow feet would mean that pass blocking would be suspect. That is one area the OL has been decent at. Not good, but not bad.

I am bit confused by WVU player’s comments on our OL. I kind of see the opposite. The TCU OL cannot straight ahead line block to save their life. Pass protection seems to be the only thing they can do.

part of short yardage run blocking is explosion off the ball. it simply isn't being able to lift a great deal of weight, but moving quickly out of the stance and negating the movement of a bigger foe.

squating a great deal of weight in a slow steady motion does not generate explosive power out of a stance and you see it in our offensive line.

i think this goes back to s&c and tcu made a change a few years back to what they used to do back in the mwc. sounds great, but you weren't facing the number of quality athletes that frogs are seeing now.

we see it in a kid like jaelen austin who might be the strongest wide receiver tcu has ever had and he just has no quickness in and out of his breaks

 

[CountryFrog]

Appreciate the report. I do have a few thoughts pertaining to just the OL feedback.

I never played OL, so take that in account with my comments:

The player said TCU was big and strong and had difficulty coming straight at them. WVU player also said the OL had very slow feet and you could get around them.

Ok, if TCU OL was big and strong, then how could they not get a push going straight forward running between the tackles? If they have slow feet, then running a sweep or pulling a guard would be most likely unsuccessful for TCU. Also, slow feet would mean that pass blocking would be suspect. That is one area the OL has been decent at. Not good, but not bad.

I am bit confused by WVU player’s comments on our OL. I kind of see the opposite. The TCU OL cannot straight ahead line block to save their life. Pass protection seems to be the only thing they can do.

Very rarely is "straight ahead" run blocking truly "straight ahead." It's a term that is commonly used but defenses don't make it quite that easy. Most running plays will have a few truly straight ahead engagements with d-linemen but there are always going to be people on the DL who are trying to get an angle that you're going to have to get in front of.

I think where the assessment of the OL being slow really shows up is their inability to cut off LBs. Since the OSU game, we've done an absolutely terrible job of getting up to the second level. LBs consistently get a free run at our ball carriers and its almost impossible to run the ball if you can't get any blocks at that second level.

 

[Big Frog II]

You are right. The special teams put us in a whole continually. We simply must hire a dedicated wiz band special teams coach for next year. Other than Turpin, the special teams have been a mess all year.

 

[PO Frog]

Very rarely is "straight ahead" run blocking truly "straight ahead." It's a term that is commonly used but defenses don't make it quite that easy. Most running plays will have a few truly straight ahead engagements with d-linemen but there are always going to be people on the DL who are trying to get an angle that you're going to have to get in front of.

I think where the assessment of the OL being slow really shows up is their inability to cut off LBs. Since the OSU game, we've done an absolutely terrible job of getting up to the second level. LBs consistently get a free run at our ball carriers and its almost impossible to run the ball if you can't get any blocks at that second level.

Second level shouldn’t even be a consideration until we can figure out how to keep multiple DL from beating the RB to the handoff on the majority of plays.

 

[CountryFrog]

Second level shouldn’t even be a consideration until we can figure out how to keep multiple DL from beating the RB to the handoff on the majority of plays.

That's certainly been an issue plenty of times as well.

 

[FrogLifeYo]

DL in our league do a ton of stunting and slanting. I do think shortening up our splits would help...