Zombie TWBS Wednesday Motivational

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It didn’t happen in the flash of an epiphany. Instead, it transpired bit by bit, a succession of frustrating performances, until Neal Brown arrived at the realization.
His West Virginia offenses had ranked 119th, 85th and 92nd nationally in yards per play over three seasons, and they never climbed higher than 82nd in scoring, irrefutable evidence that Brown needed to prioritize his head coaching duties and delegate the play calling.
Within days of an 18-6 loss to Minnesota in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Brown brought Graham Harrell aboard and handed over the offense.
“The role of head coach in college football has changed dramatically over the last two years,” Brown told The Athletic. “I wasn’t having enough time to prepare myself to call games like I had in the past because of NIL or other things tied into retaining players. I think our plays were good and our plans were solid, but I also felt like I was failing the offensive staff because we weren’t getting into the game plan early enough in the week.”
After 14 consecutive seasons of calling plays as a coordinator and head coach, Brown stepped back this spring to watch the offense be reshaped by Harrell, who is coming off a three-year stint at USC.
“Graham has great energy. He’s confident but not arrogant,” Brown said. “And I’m already a better head coach because I’m in a better head space. I’ve got more time to invest in relationships.”
It was obvious West Virginia was headed for a rebuild when Brown replaced Dana Holgorsen in 2019 — and only one inherited player has been drafted. Three years later, fans are impatient for the turnaround to take hold. Brown’s 17-18 record includes seven gut-punch losses in which the game came down to the final possession.
Such losses haunted last season’s 6-7 team. Four turnovers made the difference in a 30-24 setback at Maryland, and then the Mountaineers lost consecutive heartbreakers to No. 4 Oklahoma and Texas Tech on walk-off field goals.
“A lot of close losses,” Brown said. “But the reality is we didn’t win those games, and we’ve got to learn how to close them out.”
The remedy is souping up the offense. That could involve transfer quarterback JT Daniels taking more downfield shots, or Harrell devising ways to improve West Virginia’s red zone touchdown percentage, which has sputtered in the bottom half of the Big 12 under Brown.
The Mountaineers believe former USC and Georgia QB JT Daniels can rekindle the five-star talent he possessed in 2018 when he won the Trojans’ starting job as a freshman. (Steven Limentani / ISI Photos / Getty Images)
At age 37, Harrell is still viewed as a rising star in some corners, though he could use a bounce-back from the USC experience. While some offensive numbers looked impressive, the running game lagged and Trojans quarterbacks threw 35 interceptions during Harrell’s three years, second-most in the Pac-12. USC’s record in that span was only 17-14, with things spiraling after head coach Clay Helton’s firing last September.
That begat Lincoln Riley taking over, which begat a staff housecleaning, which begat Harrell moving across the country to join up with Brown. Add in Daniels, and it’s an appropriate grouping, with all three invested in giving West Virginia an offensive reboot.

Offense

Quarterback Jarret Doege, after compiling a 14-12 record as a starter at West Virginia, opted to spend his final college season at Western Kentucky, a parting that made sense for both sides. Doege ranked only sixth and seventh in Big 12 passing efficiency the past two years, throwing a league-high 12 interceptions in 2021. He absorbed criticism for an offense that truly experienced across-the-board problems, including a meager running attack and too many dropped passes. Last season’s 38 sacks were the second-most allowed by any Mountaineers offense ever.
Enter Daniels.
The former USC and Georgia quarterback committed 10 days before West Virginia’s spring game, culminating a transfer process that Brown described as “a two-way interview.” With none of West Virginia’s other quarterbacks separating themselves during spring practice, the need for Daniels became clearer.
“We were looking for a guy at the end of his eligibility that had live experience at the highest level, had been successful, had leadership characteristics and felt comfortable being in a mentor role,” Brown said. “JT wanted to be comfortable, play behind a quality offensive line, have good skill players around him and a good enough defense to have the opportunity to win.”
Daniels is a fifth-year senior with two seasons of eligibility left thanks to the COVID-19 exemption. A stint playing under Harrell at USC in 2019 proved crucial in Daniels choosing WVU over Missouri and Oregon State.
“Graham said JT was intelligent and capable of making all the throws,” Brown said. “He’s humble and hungry, and he has worked extremely hard. Even though he wasn’t on a team this spring, he invested time into his body and throwing mechanics.”
The Mountaineers believe Daniels can rekindle the five-star talent he possessed in 2018 when he won the USC starting job as a freshman. A torn ACL that he sustained as a sophomore for the Trojans stretched into his debut season at Georgia. He went 7-0 as a starter across two years with the Bulldogs, though a lat injury sidelined him during the national championship run that became the legacy of Stetson Bennett.
The WVU quarterback competition that played out during spring — among third-year sophomore Garrett Greene, redshirt freshman Goose Crowder and four-star early enrollee Nicco Marchiol — might only inform who earns the No. 2 job now that Daniels has arrived.
Though three of the last year’s top five pass catchers transferred, including team leader Winston Wright (63 receptions, 688 yards, five touchdowns), Daniels is encouraged by the skill players who are returning. A three-man set of Sam James in the slot with Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Kaden Prather on the outside could be the most dynamic starting group in the Big 12 outside of Oklahoma. James has 144 career catches entering his redshirt senior season, and coaches think his best is yet to come. The 6-foot-3 Ford-Wheaton (81 career catches, 1193 yards and eight touchdowns) is a big, athletic target, and the 6-4 sophomore Prather may have the most potential of them all.
“He’s got an opportunity to be special,” Brown said. “He’s strong, fast and understands route running. He can be a high-end Big 12 wide receiver.”
Wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton reacts after a pass is broken up against Minnesota in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
Running back is the offense’s deepest position despite the graduation of Leddie Brown, who closed his career with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He had the fifth-most touches of any FBS player since 2019, and now the Mountaineers will shift away from the workhorse model to a group headlined by junior Tony Mathis, sophomore Justin Johnson and Clemson transfer Lyn-J Dixon.
Mathis had a 118-yard effort in the regular-season finale at Kansas, started the bowl game when Leddie Brown opted out and finished the season with 72 carries for 312 yards. Dixon, a former four-star recruit, played behind Travis Etienne and Will Shipley at Clemson and averaged 6.5 yards per carry over four years with 14 touchdowns.
Tight end Mike O’Laughlin has 32 catches in his three seasons, though he’s rehabbing from his second major knee injury.
West Virginia’s offensive line, a point of frustration during Neal Brown’s first three seasons, looks primed for 2022 with five starters returning. Sophomore Wyatt Milum, a star in the making, moves from right to left tackle in a swap with Brandon Yates. Senior left guard James Gmiter has 25 career starts and junior right guard Doug Nester has 30 dating back to his stint at Virginia Tech. Junior center Zach Frazier, with 22 starts, is an All-American candidate.
Yates is the only starter whose job could be at risk, though coaches like the improvement he showed over the second half of last season.
The group has experience, continuity and grit, and it also has a point to prove. The sack allowance last season was a problem — even if some could be attributed to Doege hanging on to the ball too long. West Virginia didn’t generate the run-game push it wanted either. Mountaineers running backs averaged 2.1 yards before encountering contact, according to PFF, which ranked 57th in the FBS and seventh in the conference.
“Everybody gave us a hard time last year,” Gmiter said during spring practice. “You’ve got to remember all the things people said. You’ve got to keep your receipts.”
Stat to know: West Virginia wide receivers dropped 5.8 percent of targets over the last two seasons, which ranks 71st in the FBS over that span, per PFF. Their 37 total drops ranked 113th in the nation.
Mountaineers returning production
CATEGORY
PERCENT RETURNING
TOP RETURNER
Passing yards5Greene, 147Rushing yards33Mathis, 312Receiving yards53Ford-Wheaton, 575OL starts92Three with 13Tackles51Loe, 38Tackles for loss55Stills, 15Sacks64Stills, 7Interceptions33Woods, 2

Defense

Dante Stills progressed from Freshman All-American to second-team All-Big 12 to first-team all-conference, so it marked a rarity when the defensive tackle chose to come back for a fifth season.
“His best has been as good as anybody in the country, but he has been inconsistent,” Brown said. “Now he has a chance to write his own story here.”
Stills’ 43.5 tackles for loss rank third in Mountaineers history — five shy of the record. His 19 career sacks are approaching the 26 his dad Gary racked up, which are second-most at WVU. Those numbers haven’t inflated Stills’ ego. Instead, he digested his NFL Draft evaluation and realized there’s much more to accomplish. Stills has better NFL measurables than his decorated older brother Darius — an All-American and Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year — who went undrafted in 2021.
“People always see the sacks and TFLs and think, ‘He’s good enough.’ But there’s a lot more to the game that (coaches and scouts) want that I didn’t show,” Stills said.
Just as Stills’ return was a pleasant surprise, the departure of Akheem Mesidor was a stunning turn. A promising defensive tackle who developed over two years in Morgantown, Mesidor was primed to play a featured role alongside Stills when he abruptly transferred to Miami during spring practice.
That void shifts more responsibility onto Jordan Jefferson, the 310-pound junior who started six games in 2021. Jefferson is a true nose tackle who doesn’t offer the same versatility as Mesidor. The staff acquired some help by adding Georgia Tech transfer Michael Lockhart, who chose WVU over offers from Auburn and Virginia Tech.
Third-year defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley will continue shifting Stills around to utilize his inside-outside versatility, and he’ll benefit from an even older teammate who’s returning at defensive end, Taijh Alston. The sixth-year senior, slowed by two severe knee injuries, finally enjoyed good health in 2021 when he produced five sacks and 11 TFLs.
Former Penn State top-200 recruit Lance Dixon is energized for his second season at West Virginia and brings burst at will linebacker.
“I like how they let their wills run out in space and do more things than I was allowed to do at my last school,” he said.
Fifth-year senior Exree Loe, a part-time starter over the past three seasons, can push Dixon at outside linebacker.
WVU lost the Big 12’s third-leading tackler when mike linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo transferred. But considering how he got exposed at times in the run game, the staff may have upgraded with newcomer Lee Kpogba, who began his career at Syracuse before spending a year at junior college.
“Contagious energy and he’s a great communicator,” Brown said.
The bandit position, so integral to this defensive scheme because it can fill out a four-man front or play off the ball, is still a concern because Jared Bartlett and Lanell Carr haven’t proven themselves. The unit needs one of them to elevate their game or for them to function more consistently as a platoon.
West Virginia was exceptional on defense in 2020, allowing the nation’s fifth-fewest yards per play overall (4.65) and 10th-fewest yards per pass attempt (6.3). Lesley’s crew slipped to 67th and 79th in those stat columns last year. Takeaways became rare, too: The Mountaineers forced a league-low 13.
Defensive lineman Taijh Alston (left) and linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo tackle Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler last season. (Kevin Jairaj / USA Today)
It was a topsy-turvy season in which WVU yielded 500-plus yards at Maryland and Baylor but held Oklahoma State to a season-low 285 and limited Oklahoma to its lowest rushing output (57 yards) since 2012.
Six starters from West Virginia’s bowl game are gone, including the unit’s top five tacklers. Ramping things up could be difficult with only one starter returning in the nickel-based secondary, fifth-year cornerback Charles Woods. The Mountaineers imported experience via four transfers and junior college signee Hershey McLaurin.
That will allow the group of freshman defensive backs — Davis Mallinger, Aubrey Burks, Andrew Wilson-Lamp, Mumu Bin-Wahad and Jacolby Spells — time to develop.
“It’s finding the right pieces,” Lesley said. “They’re new but I think they’re pretty good.”
Stat to know: West Virginia pressured opposing quarterbacks on 23.7 percent of dropbacks in 2021, which ranked only 109th in the FBS and eighth in the Big 12, per Pro Football Focus.

Special teams

Casey Legg appears cemented as West Virginia’s kicker. He ranked fourth in Big 12 field goal accuracy (82.6 percent) last season, converting 19 of 23 attempts, with three of his misses coming from 44 yards and beyond. Legg is perfect on 51 career extra points. He made 13 consecutive field goals during 2021, two shy of Paul Woodside’s program record streak from 1981-82.
Australian signee Oliver Straw could take over the punting duties.
Wright was a multiyear kick returner, so that job is wide open. The staff could use sure-handed receivers to field punts if no dynamic returner emerges.

Opposing scouting report

A Big 12 assistant coach told The Athletic that West Virginia couldn’t overcome subpar quarterback play in recent years.
“I’ve always thought they’ve had a couple really good pieces on offense,” the coach said. “But at quarterback, I thought Doege played below average. Neal Brown is a really good coach, but they were just average on offense even with some good pieces skill-wise.
“They’d bring in that other kid, Garrett Greene, to do some stuff in Wildcat packages, and he’s a good athlete. I always thought Leddie Brown was a really good back, one of the top four or five in the conference. They just needed a trigger man who can distribute and get people the ball.”
The assistant suggested the addition of Daniels, combined with the Mountaineers’ defensive track record, makes them a contender next fall.
“Defensively, they’ve been really good the past several years, one of the better defenses in the conference,” he said. “I just thought they couldn’t really get it going with Doege. If they can replicate what they’ve done on defense and get better quarterback play, I think they can be dangerous.”

How the Mountaineers have recruited from 2019 to 2022
West Virginia’s most recent four classes had an average ranking of 37th nationally and sixth in the 10-team Big 12. The conference-only standings are top-heavy with Texas and Oklahoma ranking seventh and eighth, while four teams — Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor and WVU — are bunched between 29th and 37th. Lurking at 46th is Iowa State, which has the second-most Big 12 wins during the four-year span, proof that programs that survive on middle-class recruiting can compete.
Brown’s 2022 recruiting class, his best in Morgantown, included four-star Marchiol, the highest-ranked quarterback signee at West Virginia since Geno Smith in 2009. Spells (No. 211 nationally), a cornerback from Fort Lauderdale, is another four-star who entertained offers from big-time SEC and Big Ten programs.
That follows the success of landing Milum, a difference-maker in the 2021 class, who ranks as the Mountaineers’ sixth-highest recruit all time.
Brown went through a sorting-out phase with the 2019 class, a group primarily recruited by Holgorsen’s outgoing staff. This would be the time for that class to shine as upperclassmen, but 10 of the top 15 high school signees have transferred, as did three transfers who subsequently moved on to their third school.
The current staff continues to focus on mining Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and D.C./Northern Virginia for localized talent — all of which are within four hours of Morgantown. WVU has three assistants sharing Florida, the same in Georgia, two assigned to the Carolinas and two who take the lead on junior college recruiting. It takes an organized and savvy approach: West Virginia can sprinkle in the occasional top-200 recruit, but the sweet spot lies with identifying and prioritizing undervalued players that blue-blood programs are merely keeping warm.

In the transfer portal

Even aside from the Daniels-for-Doege swap, it was an eventful offseason for roster turnover.
Among the starters who exited were cornerback Daryl Porter (Miami), linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo (Colorado), safety Jackie Matthews (Mississippi State) and slot receiver Wright (Florida State). The biggest blow, however, and one that blindsided the staff, was Mesidor, whose entry into the portal March 31 led to Brown staging an impromptu news conference.
“There are things going on in the profession that shouldn’t be out there,” said Brown, who never mentioned tampering though the undertones were clear. “I love Akheem Mesidor. I love the kid. … I hurt for Akheem just because I don’t think he’s making a good long-term decision.”
Mesidor, like Porter, wound up at Miami. Other departures were receivers Sean Ryan (Rutgers), Sam Brown (Houston) and Isaiah Esdale (Rice), linebacker VanDarius Cowan (Maryland), cornerback Nicktroy Fortune (UTSA), tight end TJ Banks (Akron) and offensive lineman Parker Moorer (East Carolina).
As for the arrivals who replenished the two-deep, fifth-year cornerbacks Rashad Ajayi (Colorado State) and Wesley McCormick (James Madison) will compete for a starting role, while Marcis Floyd (Murray State) and Jasir Cox (North Dakota State) are key additions at safety.
Tirek Austin-Cave (Miami) should be a quality No. 2 Mike linebacker, Lockhart can help along the defensive interior, and edge Zeiqui Lawson (Cincinnati) returned to his home state after a year with the Bearcats.
On offense, Dixon and tight end Brian Polendey (Colorado State) should see major snaps.

Schedule

DATE
TEAM
SITE
Sept. 1PittAwaySept. 10KansasHomeSept. 17TowsonHomeSept. 22Virginia TechAwayOct. 1TexasAwayOct. 13BaylorHomeOct. 22Texas TechAwayOct. 29TCUHomeNov. 5Iowa StateAwayNov. 12OklahomaHomeNov. 19Kansas StateHomeNov. 26Oklahoma SateAway

Final assessment

The long-overdue resumption of the Backyard Brawl means the Mountaineers will play nonconference road games at Pitt and Virginia Tech in September. Among Power 5 schedules, that’s a rarity and could set the course for Brown’s make-or-break season. The administration recognizes a slew of positive changes he has enacted behind the scenes, and now it’s imperative that those manifest through wins. Brown’s 11-15 league record, in particular, needs immediate polishing. Considering TCU, Baylor and Iowa State have reached the Big 12 championship game, West Virginia fans are right to expect the same from their program.
The last time a blue-chip quarterback transferred to Morgantown, Will Grier fueled a high-powered offense. If Daniels has a similar impact, and Lesley’s defense continues to be viable, the Mountaineers could factor in the Big 12 race.