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00:00 All right, good afternoon, appreciate y'all being here.
00:04 Y'all watch, so I don't have a big opening statement.
00:08 You guys can ask some questions.
00:10 I will say this, we're 8 in, so we're over the halfway point.
00:15 And it happens fast.
00:16 I think I was showing a graphic to our players today.
00:19 We got 17 days left in the spring.
00:22 And we're under 150 days before we play Penn State.
00:26 So the clock is ticking.
00:28 And we've got a sense of urgency to get better.
00:32 And we need to have that.
00:35 You guys saw some good 11 on 11 work today.
00:37 I wouldn't put a whole bunch of--
00:39 I wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention who was out there first,
00:45 who was out there second.
00:47 We're rotating the guys pretty good.
00:49 Just like we had Johnny Williams, he ran a bunch with the ones today,
00:55 first group today, because he's next man up on the left side.
01:00 And that's just an example.
01:01 So don't get carried away as far as who was out there first or second.
01:06 We're trying to mix and match and get guys ready for the season.
01:08 It's not necessarily about winning the drill,
01:11 as it is about getting better and evaluating personnel
01:14 as we get into fall camp.
01:16 So with that, Greg, open us up there.
01:19 So the part we saw, a number of very nice catches,
01:23 a couple drops along the way.
01:24 But just evaluate the wide receivers overall.
01:27 Are you happy with the way they've performed?
01:29 Yeah, not very good on Monday when we practiced.
01:32 That was our first day back.
01:34 And really, that was the toughest part of this spring for us,
01:40 is last week we went Thursday, Saturday, Monday, three physical days.
01:47 And as an offense, just did not react very well on Monday.
01:52 And our receivers, who I've been excited about,
01:57 they worked really hard in the winter.
02:00 I've liked their demeanor and how they've prepared
02:02 going into each of the spring practices up until practice seven, which was Monday.
02:08 And just didn't like-- the results weren't very good.
02:10 But more importantly, our preparation wasn't very good, our emotions,
02:14 all those things weren't very good.
02:16 And so to their credit, they bounced back and were much better today.
02:20 And so I think that that group is--
02:27 and I may have said this at the opening press conference,
02:29 I can't remember.
02:31 But there's some pressure on that group.
02:34 We probably outperformed expectations in that room last year,
02:39 especially the young guys that played, the Trailing Rays, the Rodney's,
02:45 Preston playing for the first time, Hudson playing.
02:49 Probably really maybe surprised some people.
02:55 But that element's gone now.
02:57 And so when expectations are low and you do better,
03:08 have you really accomplished anything?
03:10 And so now those guys have proven they're capable of playing at this level.
03:16 Now what does the next step look like?
03:20 Can we win because of them?
03:24 And we've put a lot of--
03:25 we've done a lot of passing situations this spring
03:28 because we have to get better throwing the ball.
03:31 The quarterbacks have to be more accurate,
03:33 our running backs and our O-line have to protect better,
03:35 we have to do a better job of getting open and making plays after the catch.
03:40 And so we've put a lot of pressure on those guys with the full expectation
03:44 that we will be better and we'll be able to win some games because of them this year.
03:54 You mentioned off the line a little bit there with John,
03:56 there is some mix in the match, there's some of the necessity, injury or such,
03:59 but your first group a lot of experience,
04:02 but the backups, you seeing something out of that group?
04:05 Yeah, so Wyatt, Tomas is missing spring,
04:11 he started doing some individual yesterday or I guess today was his first.
04:16 He got released yesterday to do some individual.
04:18 He won't do any 11-on-11 work.
04:19 But Wyatt and Tomas and Yates and Hubbard and Malone a little bit less.
04:24 But those guys, the first five that roll out there have played a lot of football.
04:29 And we're trying to get them better.
04:31 You know, I think Malone is the guy that's through the middle part of the spring,
04:36 I've really been pleased with the step he's taken
04:39 and he's probably played the least amount of all those guys.
04:43 And then this spring without question, it's about getting the young guys,
04:48 you know, Johnny Williams, he'll be a factor for us.
04:50 You know, we need to get him where he's ready to play in fall camp
04:54 and we think he will be.
04:56 You know, Sully Weidman and Moe Hamilton are both getting a bunch of reps
04:59 and it's time for them.
05:00 They've been in the program and it's time, they've got to be able to perform.
05:04 You know, Yates is out for a couple of days,
05:06 nothing serious, he's just out for a couple of days.
05:08 And Landon Livingston is getting a bunch of reps at center,
05:11 and so is Cooper Young.
05:13 And Landon, I've been pleased with him.
05:15 You know, he's a guy that would probably be,
05:18 if not the most improved player on offense,
05:20 he's in that discussion through the midpoint.
05:24 And then, you know, Xavier Bosley and Nick Cray are the other two
05:27 and we feel like both of those guys are going to be ready to play.
05:31 Xavier gets – the more comfortable he gets, the better he's playing.
05:34 It's a different speed, you know, than what he's had.
05:38 And Nick Cray we think has got a chance to push, you know,
05:41 to push to be in that front group.
05:44 So, they're a work in progress, but yeah, this spring for offense and lines
05:48 about them getting better and get prepared to play.
05:52 Quarterback wise, a lot of talk about Green and what he needs to improve on,
05:55 but Nico looks like he is night and day even from this point last year.
06:00 He looks a lot better.
06:02 It's a good observation because he is.
06:03 What is he – yeah, what is he doing that you could speak on
06:07 more intelligently than me about what he's actually doing
06:09 that you feel makes him better than he is?
06:11 I think it starts with his preparation, which sounds really simple.
06:15 But he's matured as a football player,
06:18 so like when he turns on the video he knows what to watch.
06:23 He knows how to prepare, like he's doing a really good job
06:26 of asking for the scripts so he can be prepared going into each practice.
06:33 He asked me like, "Hey, what are we going to call here?"
06:35 So he can think about it, which that's never been the case.
06:38 I think from a fundamental standpoint, he's much more compact right now.
06:45 And his confidence has risen because he's got a lot of repetitions,
06:50 but I always think that's the base for your confidence
06:54 is because he's got the repetitions now.
06:58 But the game slowed down, slowed down a lot.
07:02 He's got a pre-snap, he has a better understanding
07:04 of what defenses are trying to do to him.
07:07 But I've been really pleased.
07:08 You know, I talked about Landon Livingston
07:10 and then Nico would be right in that conversation
07:12 as the most improved player we've got on offense.
07:15 And he's getting a bunch of snaps with the first group right now as well.
07:20 But I am, I'm pleased with him, really pleased with what he's doing.
07:24 Tag is most improved on defense?
07:26 So defensively, I'll give you a guy that to me is really showing
07:34 that I think he's preparing to be an all-league player is Eddie V.
07:40 You know, Eddie is, he's really been difficult to block.
07:45 And I think, and I'm giving you two older guys
07:49 and we'll talk about some young guys
07:50 because you probably asked it from a young guy perspective.
07:52 But Sean Martin, and Sean Martin had an illness last year
07:56 that really kept limiting him some in how he could practice.
07:59 And now he, you know, he's had this ability,
08:05 he's got great length and his size and he's up to a weight now
08:10 where he's really powerful and he's one of the strongest guys.
08:13 And he's always been one of the hardest workers.
08:14 Well now it's starting to click, like how to use his length.
08:19 And I think that he's starting to show that, okay,
08:24 he can maybe be a dominant player at times.
08:27 And now he's going to be a guy that's, you know, as the year goes,
08:31 we're going to talk about not just being an NFL player,
08:33 but somebody that maybe could potentially be like an early round pick.
08:38 So those are two older guys.
08:41 Probably closer to what you're wanting to know as far as young guys,
08:45 as far as being most improved are guys that are younger in their deal here.
08:51 Tyron Bradley, you know, he played his best game in the bowl game.
08:54 I mentioned him last week.
08:56 I'm pleased with what he's doing.
08:58 He gives us more size there too at that position.
09:02 That banded into the boundary, he's given us more size.
09:06 And then another guy that I think has really made positive steps
09:12 and he played a lot of football out of necessity at the end of last year
09:14 is Ben Cutter.
09:18 I have like two scheduled questions for you.
09:20 Okay.
09:21 You mentioned beginning Tuesday, Thursday,
09:23 whatever the days were last week that challenge you on Monday.
09:25 When you're putting your schedule together,
09:27 do you seek those out to see a response?
09:30 Or do you avoid those because you don't want to have a day like Monday?
09:32 No, so what we're trying to do is,
09:34 the thing with scheduling in the spring, it's kind of evolved a little bit,
09:40 is so we on purpose don't go back-to-back days.
09:44 Because there's really no reason to.
09:46 And it allows you to practice the way you want to
09:49 and find out where the guys can get their bodies fully healed.
09:53 And then there's so much time demands on the staff and the players now,
09:58 we try to avoid weekends.
10:00 And it's a little selfish for my part too,
10:02 because my kids got stuff on the weekends.
10:04 You know, and I miss enough of their things in the fall
10:06 that I want to be able to go to it.
10:09 But I think just from a quality of life for our players
10:12 and for the staff, leaving the weekends free makes it better.
10:16 It makes the overall morale better.
10:19 But the last – like that little stretch that I was talking about,
10:22 the Thursday, Saturday, Monday.
10:24 On Saturday I wanted to practice because we needed to have one day
10:27 where we get recruits here.
10:29 And we needed a Saturday to bring the families in.
10:32 And then we had the fantasy camp too.
10:34 And so, on purpose when we built that, like I wanted to be able to test them.
10:40 You know, like we went a bunch of team, 11-on-11 on Thursday.
10:44 We're in the stadium, we're physical.
10:46 And then we had to turn around and do it on Monday.
10:49 And yeah, so I wanted to see like who could do a little bit –
10:52 some hard things better.
10:54 And maybe who hasn't handled those things, you know, previously,
10:58 who now has grown and matured and can handle that workload.
11:03 I just – this may be cynical of me, but I noticed that the portal opens on Monday.
11:07 You guys basically have two weeks of practice left.
11:10 Seems weird, the timing, right?
11:11 Like who's going to leave right now?
11:13 Is that any – I mean that's such a big deal.
11:14 Well, they will, I mean, if that's what they want to do, you know, like –
11:17 Well, I mean, it makes it pretty difficult to get a two-week head start
11:20 and get caught up if you want to go to other teams.
11:21 Like, not you would intentionally anchor people here,
11:23 but it does give them something to think about.
11:25 It's a way to retain players maybe?
11:28 Well, I don't know, we'll see.
11:30 It's – I just – we're going a week later today, or this week.
11:34 Or this year, excuse me, not this week.
11:35 We're going one week later than what we've traditionally done.
11:40 I mean, the reasoning is not necessarily related to that.
11:44 It's related to – we had some injuries the first week of spring ball last year,
11:48 like right after spring break.
11:50 So, in our planning for this year, we wanted to come back
11:54 and give a week buffer period between spring break and the actual first practice.
12:00 And then that just backed everything back a week.
12:03 Alright?
12:04 So that was kind of the thought.
12:07 You know, as far as – I don't know, we'll see.
12:09 This is new for us too.
12:13 You know, it's our hope that we don't have a ton of portal activity.
12:17 You know, I'm not naive to think we won't have any.
12:19 You know?
12:21 So we'll see on that.
12:23 The thing about the window, it's 15 days,
12:25 and it doesn't really matter if you get in the first day or the 15th day.
12:30 It kind of is what it is.
12:33 You know what I mean?
12:34 Well, yeah, we'll see.
12:35 Like I said, I'm kind of – I'm unsure.
12:37 Next time doing it, we'll kind of see how it goes.
12:43 Are you pleased with what you've gotten out of those guys so far?
12:47 We do look a lot better.
12:50 And I think we're one class, like this class coming in,
12:54 and our numbers will be there.
12:56 And we have not been at full strength there for a long time.
13:00 And I think that's a byproduct of a couple things,
13:03 is it's hard to recruit linebackers now because of the way the game's played.
13:09 There's so much more people in space.
13:13 And so it's hard to evaluate them in high school.
13:16 So you got to project a little bit.
13:19 And so that's kind of – you know, we've gone down to the wire
13:24 and we've missed on some guys in the –
13:27 not last year, but the previous class or two.
13:29 And so – and rather than reach,
13:34 because we've reached and it hasn't worked.
13:36 So rather than reach, we just kind of bided our time
13:39 and probably a little bit thin.
13:40 You know, especially the last two years we were thin.
13:43 And so now we've got, you know, Trey who I'm pleased with.
13:48 You know, that was a major injury, he's coming back.
13:50 And he gets better every day, so I'm excited with that.
13:53 And Reed Kericho and Trotter and Cutter and Caden Bizer.
13:57 Bizer would be the other guy that would be in the mix for the most improved.
14:01 You know, he played really sound football in the bowl game.
14:04 And his change of direction has gotten better over the offseason.
14:08 So I'm really pleased with him.
14:10 So now we have, you know, five guys there that can really help us.
14:16 And we've got a couple more coming.
14:19 And so that's been beneficial.
14:22 It's definitely put us in the best spot we've had thus far.
14:26 (Inaudible)
14:30 Is there a walk-on this year who maybe not is going to get a scholarship,
14:33 but is like right there and just kind of needs the opportunity to, you know, be good?
14:38 Yeah.
14:44 We've got several that are making a difference.
14:47 You know, I think that – yeah, you put me on the spot, but I can answer.
14:52 So, like I think there's a couple guys that are kind of under the radar
14:55 that have done a really good job special teams-wise
14:58 that people probably don't even realize.
15:00 And one of them is CJ Cole, who's from Washington, PA.
15:03 He's done a really good job for us.
15:05 And he's really kind of a – he's really grown to one of the leaders of our team.
15:08 He's the – he's the leader of the SCA group.
15:12 He's the leader of one of, you know, of – probably plays on –
15:15 got a chance to start on three special teams.
15:20 So he's a guy that kind of jumps out.
15:24 And then Colin McBee is ready to kind of grow into a special teams role.
15:28 He's a local product.
15:29 Him and Donald Brandl both are kind of guys that are –
15:32 Brandl started on a couple at the end of last year.
15:34 People probably didn't notice that, but he did.
15:36 And those are both university high guys.
15:40 You know, I think the other one I would put in that is Derek Berlitz,
15:44 whose brother's had a great swimming career here.
15:49 But Derek's got a chance to get into special teams.
15:52 I think you're – because I want to be able to answer your question.
16:01 Clay Ash, I mentioned him the other day.
16:03 Like, he's done a nice job.
16:06 We're deep at that spot, but he's done a nice job.
16:09 Whether – I think it's too early to tell if he can actually get in the mix or not.
16:12 But he's done a nice job thus far.
16:16 You mentioned Sean Martin.
16:17 You mentioned – question Fox was meant to come in here the other day.
16:21 How important is it that local kids do well here?
16:26 I mean, come in and do well.
16:27 How important to the school, the state, et cetera?
16:30 Yeah, I think it's critical.
16:32 Yeah, I really do.
16:33 I think anytime you're the state university –
16:39 I probably understand this better just because of where I grew up from.
16:42 But I think that anytime you're the state school
16:47 and you represent an entire state, that you need to –
16:53 not only from how you play the game, identity standpoint,
16:56 you need to match kind of the state,
16:57 but you also need to be well represented on the state.
17:02 I mean, from the state.
17:03 And we've been fortunate.
17:06 I think there's two areas.
17:07 Like, we've done a good job I think of getting almost every one of the in-state
17:14 players that's a Power Five player here, the ones that matched.
17:19 I think we missed on one maybe that we really wanted.
17:25 And then our walk-on program is –
17:28 especially the last three years has really been productive.
17:31 And so, I think – you know, my vision for –
17:37 you know, when I first got here and it really hasn't changed,
17:40 we could be close to about a quarter of our team, of our scholarships,
17:45 where West Virginia either homegrown or –
17:48 what I mean is home – you know, we offered them out of West Virginia,
17:52 they came here on scholarship or they grew while they were here,
17:56 meaning they earned the opportunity to be on scholarship while here.
18:00 If we can be at a quarter, which is approximately 20, you know,
18:04 I think that's pretty good.
18:06 Now last year, you know, I don't know if I envisioned this,
18:10 I don't think it's ever happened before, I could be wrong.
18:13 But, you know, there were games where Hudson started at receiver,
18:18 Preston started at receiver, Malone started, Wyatt Milam started,
18:24 Doug Nestor started, Zach Frazier started,
18:28 and those are all West Virginia guys.
18:30 And we were a top 25 offense in the country.
18:32 So, I don't know if I had that vision, you know,
18:35 you all heard me say this several times during the year,
18:40 I need to put John on that and see if that's ever happened before.
18:43 You know what I mean?
18:44 Like, because I could be wrong, but I bet in the modern era,
18:47 I don't know if that's happened.
18:50 You mean on the Kentucky basketball –
18:52 No, no, I got enough problems.
18:55 I got enough problems.
18:58 As you mentioned that Hudson would be one and they were –
19:01 Preston would be another.
19:02 Of players that we were talking a year ago,
19:05 I don't know if anybody really expected to produce to the level that they did,
19:08 or at least people outside the program wouldn't have.
19:11 What are things –
19:13 because it's probably too early to pick out players like that now,
19:15 but what are things that you're looking for even now
19:18 that you can think in your brain right now in April,
19:20 that guy might be that Hudson come in from a year ago,
19:23 if this and this happens, what are things you look for?
19:25 Well, I think that you never know,
19:28 because you have to do it when the lights come on.
19:30 And there's been plenty of players like throughout my time as a coach
19:33 and as a player where guys that were really good practice players,
19:38 but then it wouldn't click over to the games.
19:41 So you never know until they do it in the games.
19:43 But you have no chance if you don't make plays in practice.
19:47 Right?
19:48 So, like Preston, you know, there was two –
19:53 there was a spring – excuse me, a fall camp, a spring and a fall camp
19:58 that kind of preceded him making plays in the game.
20:01 The previous fall, you know, I mean, there was –
20:05 you could see it happening in practice.
20:08 And he started slow if you remember.
20:09 He didn't – you know, he didn't –
20:10 he had a chance to make a third down catch against Penn State.
20:14 That would have been a touchdown that would have tied the game.
20:16 He had a couple of drop flurries to Duquesne.
20:18 But then he found his rhythm and then really played well.
20:22 And so the same with Hudson.
20:25 Hudson had our Monday night football stuff,
20:28 like toward the end of the year, the previous season
20:30 he really started making plays.
20:32 He made plays in the spring in practice and he made plays in fall camp.
20:37 And so, like you could see those guys making a bunch of plays
20:40 and then they just needed an opportunity.
20:43 Like Devon got hurt, Hudson started the game against Duquesne,
20:46 the rest is history.
20:48 You know, and so I think that that's what you really look for
20:53 is like who is winning some one-on-ones.
20:56 You know, like if you're a receiver, who's winning versus man coverage
20:59 and who's making contested catches?
21:01 You know, if you're an O-lineman, who's making point of attack blocks
21:05 against good people?
21:07 D-line, who's tearing off?
21:09 Who's winning one-on-one pass opportunities?
21:12 Linebacker, who's making tackles?
21:14 Who's making plays on the ball?
21:17 Those are the things you're looking for.
21:19 And most of the time, if they're consistently making plays in practice,
21:24 then it's going to translate, unless they've got performance anxiety
21:27 or something like that, then it's going to translate into the game.
21:34 One of the things you wanted to accomplish this spring,
21:36 I mean you haven't gotten home yet.
21:38 Are you on track?
21:40 Are you ahead, behind?
21:41 No, I think that we always talk about these objectives we want to get to.
21:46 We want to stay healthy, which you know,
21:48 Jacoby Spells is going to miss the rest of spring.
21:51 He had to have surgery, so we haven't necessarily achieved that.
21:54 But we want to continue to stay as healthy as possible.
21:57 We talk about trying to figure out the personnel that we're going to have
22:01 and we need to play with in the fall, the ones that are here.
22:05 You know, I think that's a work in progress, but we're on playing to do that.
22:09 We want to get a bunch of repetitions in our base schemes, which we're doing.
22:14 There's certain aspects, like the red zone is something we've got to get better
22:17 as a football program.
22:19 We've got to score touchdowns better offensively,
22:21 we weren't good enough there.
22:22 We've got to prevent touchdowns defensively.
22:25 You know, so we're getting a lot of work in those situational things
22:27 that we've pinpointed that we've got to get better at.
22:32 So I think we're on – you know, we're on plan to reach those goals.
22:37 We want to get prepared for the season,
22:39 meaning we'll start working kind of the back half,
22:42 really the last two weeks after – we're going to scrimmage on Friday.
22:45 Kind of the last two weeks we'll start getting prepared for some things
22:49 we're going to see during the season
22:51 that we don't necessarily get against each other.
22:54 So we haven't gotten to that point yet.
22:56 But I think we're on plan.
22:58 You know, I like the demeanor of the group.
23:03 You know, I challenged them today in our team meeting,
23:05 I thought we came out.
23:06 You know, we were a little flat.
23:08 You know, we had the blue and golden globes last night
23:11 where they get all dressed up and they probably had a good time after.
23:15 And – but I challenged them in the team meeting and they answered.
23:19 So I think that's the signs of a team that's hungry if you can challenge them
23:23 and they'll accept the challenge.
23:25 What you were saying about to Greg, 11 on 11, a lot of it this spring.
23:29 Is that – that was by design because you got an older team?
23:31 Yeah, so kind of our thought process, we get about six into it,
23:35 six practices into it and then the rest of the spring do a lot of –
23:40 it's hard, you want to be careful because you want to get your base stuff in
23:43 and it usually takes about six practices to kind of get your base stuff in.
23:47 But there's always the process of teaching people how you want to practice.
23:53 Because it's a weird sport, we have big gaps, right?
23:56 So, you know, you practice in December for a bowl game
24:01 and then you have a gap until March.
24:03 So it's a long time.
24:04 You work the football skills, but you're not practicing
24:06 with 22 bodies out there at all times.
24:09 And so there's always – and then you do it, you finish it in April
24:13 and then you don't do it again until August.
24:14 So there's always a little bit of time where it takes
24:18 where you don't have just a bunch of people on the ground.
24:21 So we kind of don't do as much 11-on-11 work during the very beginning
24:24 of fall camp or the very beginning of spring ball
24:27 just because we don't want a bunch of bodies on the ground.
24:30 And so now we're to the point where we're practicing better,
24:32 we didn't have a ton of bodies on the ground today.
24:35 And then we can get where we get a bunch of 11-on-11 work
24:38 because really we can drill now all summer.
24:43 You know, we really need to get repetitions 11-on-11 work situations,
24:48 see who's going to be able to compete at this level, who's ready to play.
24:52 And it's, you know, you go team to evaluate, you drill for skill.
24:57 And now with the OTAs in the summer, we can really do that over the summer.
25:01 So it's going to be upper body –
25:03 Yeah, upper body.
25:04 Upper body and you know, he'll probably miss some time during fall camp
25:08 and – but he's going to miss the rest of spring.
25:12 He had a great winter, man.
25:13 So like really hurt for him and us because he really had a great spring.
25:18 It won't be anything that I think that's –
25:21 I think he'll be back at some point early in the fall.
25:25 Hey, man, Russell, time now for him.
25:26 It's time, man.
25:27 And he shows up, like and you've seen –
25:29 you've been to some practices, so you've seen him.
25:32 Really pleased with his development.
25:33 He – I think he'll be a difference maker for us.
25:37 You know, I really do.
25:39 He's been in the program for a while now.
25:42 He did some nice things late in the year, kind of unnoticed.
25:46 But yeah, I like what we're getting out of him.
25:52 Can you say today was –
25:53 Coach?
25:54 Which they might –
25:55 Today was mostly clean, didn't seem like there were turnovers, no oh-ohs
25:58 or the ball wasn't on the ground.
25:59 I think there was one penalty I saw.
26:02 It was significant, like so today was more –
26:06 So when you all were out there, you know,
26:08 we did a two-minute into half drill that you all saw right at the end.
26:15 The defense won the first one, the offense won the second one.
26:18 A little bit of give and take.
26:21 You all were out there for kind of a first down,
26:22 like a second short period which was like a run and like a shot play period.
26:27 That was pretty even.
26:29 And so that's what you want to get to is where there's a little bit of give and take.
26:33 You know, like Monday defense clearly won.
26:36 There were a couple periods on Saturday where the offense clearly won.
26:39 What you want to see as a head coach is a little bit of ebb and flow.
26:42 And we got that today.
26:46 And so we'll see if we can maintain it.
26:50 I will say this, I think defensively we're in the process of taking a step.
26:57 And I think that schematically we're growing
27:02 and then our guys are more confident
27:05 and we're playing with a little bit more of a hard edge defensively,
27:08 which we need to.
27:10 And so through the midpoint, I'm pleased with the progress we're making there.
27:16 (Inaudible)
27:17 No, it's upper body.