MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia's second officiated scrimmage of fall camp inside Milan Puskar Stadium concluded under the lights Friday evening.
"It was a good night," coach Neal Brown said afterward. "We had a few people in the stands with our 1891 Club here so our guys got a little feel for playing in front of a group."
Brown said the late afternoon start to today's scrimmage was by design to simulate the conditions the Mountaineers will encounter on Saturday, Sept. 11, when their home opener against Long Island kicks off at 5 p.m.
This evening, West Virginia got in about 75 plays mixed in with some special teams and situational work with a full Big 12 crew present. Penalties were an issue in the first scrimmage last Saturday morning, but today the Mountaineers were much better in that area.
The defense took charge at the outset with VanDarius Cowan pressuring quarterback Jarret Doege into throwing an interception to safety Alonzo Addae, who returned the pick 38 yards for a touchdown.
The senior safety also came up with a couple of impressive pass breakups to stop drives.
"I thought this was the best day for him in camp," Brown said of Addae's work this evening. "He made a couple of nice plays on the ball. He also had some nice fits in the run game and he showed up. That's good. He was a difference maker for us last year and that's our expectation this year too."
Backup bandit Jared Bartlett was active with the twos, getting to quarterback Garrett Greene on a couple of occasions while Penn State transfer Lance Dixon made a nice stop behind the line of scrimmage on a third and short play. Illinois State transfer Charles Woods had the other interception of the scrimmage when he dropped back into coverage to pick off a Greene aerial.
"I thought our defense really started fast," Brown said. "That's the best they've started in any of our 11-on-11 work, but I was really proud of the offense, especially Jarret Doege, who had a slow start but really rebounded for about the last two-thirds of the scrimmage."
As Brown noted, the offense recovered to reach pay dirt on several occasions. Doege hooked up with Sam James and Sean Ryan on short scoring strikes and finished the scrimmage completing his last 14 pass attempts in a row.
"I think that shows maturity, it shows some real mental toughness because he threw a bad interception early on and I thought he handled himself like a guy that's played a lot of football in his career," Brown said.
Greene, working solely with the twos, had the prettiest pass completion of the scrimmage when he hit true freshman receiver Kaden Prather in stride down the far sideline for a 37-yard touchdown.
Greene also scored on a nine-yard run on the two's opening possession of the scrimmage.
Redshirt freshman running back A'Varius Sparrow had the most explosive play of the day when he broke free on a third-and-one run and raced 86 yards for a touchdown. Sparrow also reached the end zone during goal line work, as did true freshman running back Justin Johnson Jr. and backup tight end Charles Finley.
Johnson demonstrated some impressive power on his touchdown run by bouncing off a would-be tackler at the two and twisting his body to reach the end zone.
On the other side of the ball, redshirt freshman linebacker James Thomas came up with a couple of nice stops during goal line work to stop the No. 2 offense.
"We had a whole Big 12 crew here and when you have a full officiating crew I think it's really good to have some work in those situations," Brown explained. "We did third down, we did goal line, we did a four-minute, and we did a couple of two-minute situations because there are always some things that are going to happen that you can't simulate in a practice situation when you don't have officials here. We'll get those corrected on the video."
A recovery day and a walk through is planned for Saturday and then the Mountaineers are scheduled to wrap up the preseason camp portion of August on Tuesday evening with their final scrimmage. After that, the team turns their attention exclusively to Maryland in preparation for the 2021 season opener on Saturday, Sept. 4, in College Park.
"Tuesday night is student appreciation and we hope to get a good student crew here," Brown said. "I really believe the students set the tone in a stadium and we really missed having them last year, so we're looking forward to getting them back in our stadium.
"We won't tackle but we're going to play some situational football and tag off and continue to get ready for Maryland. That will be our last camp night," Brown concluded.
"It was a good night," coach Neal Brown said afterward. "We had a few people in the stands with our 1891 Club here so our guys got a little feel for playing in front of a group."
Brown said the late afternoon start to today's scrimmage was by design to simulate the conditions the Mountaineers will encounter on Saturday, Sept. 11, when their home opener against Long Island kicks off at 5 p.m.
This evening, West Virginia got in about 75 plays mixed in with some special teams and situational work with a full Big 12 crew present. Penalties were an issue in the first scrimmage last Saturday morning, but today the Mountaineers were much better in that area.
The defense took charge at the outset with VanDarius Cowan pressuring quarterback Jarret Doege into throwing an interception to safety Alonzo Addae, who returned the pick 38 yards for a touchdown.
The senior safety also came up with a couple of impressive pass breakups to stop drives.
"I thought this was the best day for him in camp," Brown said of Addae's work this evening. "He made a couple of nice plays on the ball. He also had some nice fits in the run game and he showed up. That's good. He was a difference maker for us last year and that's our expectation this year too."
Backup bandit Jared Bartlett was active with the twos, getting to quarterback Garrett Greene on a couple of occasions while Penn State transfer Lance Dixon made a nice stop behind the line of scrimmage on a third and short play. Illinois State transfer Charles Woods had the other interception of the scrimmage when he dropped back into coverage to pick off a Greene aerial.
"I thought our defense really started fast," Brown said. "That's the best they've started in any of our 11-on-11 work, but I was really proud of the offense, especially Jarret Doege, who had a slow start but really rebounded for about the last two-thirds of the scrimmage."
As Brown noted, the offense recovered to reach pay dirt on several occasions. Doege hooked up with Sam James and Sean Ryan on short scoring strikes and finished the scrimmage completing his last 14 pass attempts in a row.
"I think that shows maturity, it shows some real mental toughness because he threw a bad interception early on and I thought he handled himself like a guy that's played a lot of football in his career," Brown said.
Greene, working solely with the twos, had the prettiest pass completion of the scrimmage when he hit true freshman receiver Kaden Prather in stride down the far sideline for a 37-yard touchdown.
Greene also scored on a nine-yard run on the two's opening possession of the scrimmage.
Redshirt freshman running back A'Varius Sparrow had the most explosive play of the day when he broke free on a third-and-one run and raced 86 yards for a touchdown. Sparrow also reached the end zone during goal line work, as did true freshman running back Justin Johnson Jr. and backup tight end Charles Finley.
Johnson demonstrated some impressive power on his touchdown run by bouncing off a would-be tackler at the two and twisting his body to reach the end zone.
On the other side of the ball, redshirt freshman linebacker James Thomas came up with a couple of nice stops during goal line work to stop the No. 2 offense.
"We had a whole Big 12 crew here and when you have a full officiating crew I think it's really good to have some work in those situations," Brown explained. "We did third down, we did goal line, we did a four-minute, and we did a couple of two-minute situations because there are always some things that are going to happen that you can't simulate in a practice situation when you don't have officials here. We'll get those corrected on the video."
A recovery day and a walk through is planned for Saturday and then the Mountaineers are scheduled to wrap up the preseason camp portion of August on Tuesday evening with their final scrimmage. After that, the team turns their attention exclusively to Maryland in preparation for the 2021 season opener on Saturday, Sept. 4, in College Park.
"Tuesday night is student appreciation and we hope to get a good student crew here," Brown said. "I really believe the students set the tone in a stadium and we really missed having them last year, so we're looking forward to getting them back in our stadium.
"We won't tackle but we're going to play some situational football and tag off and continue to get ready for Maryland. That will be our last camp night," Brown concluded.