Between The Eers: Is WVU Officially Back?
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome in everybody, Scott Callahan here on Between Years
00:12 and I've got my guy Christopher Hall here with me.
00:15 And we're getting close to the bowl season,
00:18 well West Virginia's bowl game,
00:20 I guess we are in bowl season.
00:21 So we're gonna break down that game a little bit
00:24 between West Virginia and North Carolina
00:25 on tomorrow's episode of Between Years.
00:27 But today, we're gonna talk a little bit about the momentum
00:31 that West Virginia has maybe created here
00:33 with an eight win season,
00:34 the pickups they picked up in the 24 class in high school,
00:38 plus the portal additions that are gonna be on the way.
00:41 And it seems like this is the first time, Chris,
00:44 that there's actually been a chance
00:46 of something materializing here with Neil Brown.
00:50 I'm a little skeptic though, because again,
00:53 we kind of maybe sensed it a little bit in 2020
00:56 when they went six and four, they won the Liberty Bowl.
00:59 But there was reasons to really be kind of skeptic there
01:02 because you really didn't have core pieces
01:04 to really build around going into 21.
01:07 This is a much different situation
01:09 because you have three high level freshmen
01:11 in Gallagher, Wray and Jaheim White
01:14 that are gonna be leading this team.
01:15 You have a star quarterback in Garrett Green.
01:18 It just feels like there's something there.
01:20 Do you feel like West Virginia just might actually be back?
01:26 - The question is back to what?
01:27 (laughs)
01:30 - Back to relevance, how about that?
01:32 - Okay, I don't know how, I mean,
01:34 you can say they were somewhat relevant under Dana,
01:37 especially 2018 going into that season.
01:39 But they are kind of turning the corner.
01:42 A lot has to do with Country Roads Trust,
01:45 how this college football landscape has changed so much
01:48 with NIL and the transfer portal.
01:50 And after 2020, you mentioned like,
01:53 hey, they look like they were starting to turn the corner.
01:55 It was a young team.
01:57 They had to kind of rebuild the roster,
01:58 but then the portal thing.
02:00 - There's the South Carolina rumors
02:01 are popping up about Neil.
02:04 - Yeah, the NIL era kind of came in
02:08 and you just kind of seen young talent
02:10 being plucked away from West Virginia.
02:12 And they could never,
02:13 they're still kind of reeling defensively.
02:15 We talked about on the recruiting show,
02:17 like how many guys had to go get in the portal.
02:20 It's just, they haven't had depth.
02:21 They went in thin this past season
02:24 and you're kind of looking at,
02:25 they still might be thin defensively next year,
02:27 even with the additions.
02:28 So yeah, I think they are turning the corner.
02:30 I don't know back to,
02:32 if you want to say back to an eight win season regularly.
02:35 Yeah, but they have a chance
02:37 to probably do something special next year.
02:39 I'm sure there's going to be a lot of
02:41 national media members and people from different outlets
02:44 to have West Virginia as a dog horse
02:45 or even as a contender for the Big 12 championship.
02:48 And when you got a guy like Garrett Green
02:50 that signal starting and had the year that he had,
02:54 you expect more progression and even a better year
02:56 with all the tools that he's going to have
02:57 returning around him.
02:59 So yeah, I think they can start
03:00 turning their corner next year.
03:02 I'm not as high, maybe going into next year as others,
03:07 just because you look at the schedule,
03:09 you start off with Penn State again,
03:10 like injury, you're going to get beat up again next year.
03:13 And we're already talking about depth on the defensive side.
03:16 So I know a lot of people can be excited for 10,
03:19 maybe 11 wins season next year,
03:21 but for me, it's just pump the brakes.
03:23 They have yet to show consistency offensively,
03:26 especially on receivers.
03:28 Like there's still a lot of questions.
03:30 You got to get that thousand yard rusher back, right?
03:32 Like I know CJ and Jaheim,
03:35 I think they combined for over 1500 yards,
03:38 but you've yet to have a thousand yard receiver.
03:40 So there's still a lot of questions.
03:42 You're going to replace someone like Zach Frazier,
03:44 who was the leader of that offensive line.
03:46 Don't accept a big drop off offensive line,
03:49 but losing a guy like that in the locker room
03:51 is going to be big.
03:52 So, and then you look at the defense,
03:54 like you're going to lose Lee Koba.
03:57 Like he was the leader of the defense.
03:59 Gary's still out on Aubrey Burks.
04:02 You lose B.D. Bishop.
04:04 So yeah, there's still a lot of pieces
04:06 that they got to put together
04:07 and it's got to all fit together in spring ball
04:10 and ride that into fall camp.
04:14 And you know, August is a long way.
04:16 A lot of things can happen.
04:17 A lot of people can still depart.
04:19 Like it's far from over.
04:20 We're just at the beginning stages of the off season.
04:23 And a lot of things can happen.
04:25 A lot of guys can get offered a lot more money
04:27 and all of a sudden you're looking at the roster,
04:29 like, okay, who's going to step up?
04:31 So to me, it's way too early until they get on campus
04:35 and they start practice.
04:36 Then you kind of have your team, but yeah,
04:38 they've got a lot of great momentum.
04:40 It's the, I think it's the first time under Neil Brown,
04:44 where he's had a chance to retain his roster
04:46 for back-to-back seasons.
04:48 So you can feel the momentum.
04:50 I know the recruiting rankings weren't high,
04:52 but there's a lot of potential down the future
04:54 for those kids.
04:55 So it's kind of a wait and see for me on,
04:58 well, there'll be back to relevance
05:00 and a contender for the Big 12, I guess.
05:03 It's just really a wait and see.
05:05 I'm not really high on saying, hey, everything's fine.
05:07 We still don't know what Neil Brown can do
05:10 when they have expectations,
05:12 'cause they haven't had expectations
05:14 going into the season yet,
05:15 but just 'cause they haven't had to be able
05:17 to put it all together.
05:19 - Yeah, and I think too,
05:20 everyone just kind of assumes the roster
05:23 is going to be set here in a couple of weeks
05:26 once these portal additions come in.
05:28 That's not necessarily the case.
05:30 Like we've seen the work that the trust has done
05:33 to help kind of provide opportunities
05:35 that'll keep players here.
05:38 And you'll see that the commitment amount,
05:40 commitment announcements that they're putting out,
05:42 but that doesn't really mean anything, right?
05:45 Because these aren't binding contracts.
05:47 It's not to where if they commit,
05:50 they absolutely have to stay there.
05:52 This isn't like the NFL.
05:54 This is more like a verbal commit more than anything.
05:57 And we know how those work in the high school ranks.
05:59 So when you start adding money
06:01 and all these other opportunities to the table,
06:06 anything can change at the flip of a hat.
06:08 And I think we're going to see it at some point.
06:11 It may not be this year.
06:12 It may not be several pieces,
06:16 but it might be one or two guys,
06:17 and you start to really question
06:20 what do these commitments to the trust really mean
06:22 and all that other stuff.
06:23 So although it looks good now,
06:25 you have all these guys committed to the trust,
06:28 we'll see how many actually play it out.
06:30 And when we get to fall camp,
06:32 how many of them are still actually there.
06:33 If that's the case and they are there,
06:35 I think they do have a good chance
06:37 because you saw what they did this year, winning eight games.
06:42 A lot of these kids were pups.
06:44 They were just kind of getting their feet wet.
06:46 They really didn't have a full grasp of anything.
06:49 They were kind of figuring things out as they went.
06:51 Jaheim White really didn't even get heavy reps
06:54 until the end of the season.
06:55 Same with Trae Lynn Ray.
06:57 Rodney Gallagher was kind of sporadic
06:59 until the end of the season.
07:01 I think those guys having a full offseason,
07:03 they kind of feel like they're the guys now.
07:06 They can kind of take ownership of that,
07:08 and I think it's going to be beneficial for them.
07:11 And I think it'll be beneficial for Garrett, too,
07:12 because now he's going into an offseason
07:15 where he knows he's 100% the guy.
07:17 He's had success, and he's one of the top quarterbacks
07:21 returning next year in the country.
07:22 So I think it does provide an opportunity
07:26 to really blossom into something here.
07:28 I think, really, if you win next year,
07:32 that, to me, is when you kind of get the okay on Neil Brown.
07:36 Like, you know he's your guy
07:38 because if you take a step back from an eight
07:42 or potentially nine-win season,
07:45 I mean, do you feel like there's enough confidence there
07:49 that he can get back to that and then some?
07:52 Because I feel like if he takes a step back from eight wins,
07:55 everyone's going to be right back in the same boat again
07:57 as they were entering this season
07:58 and questioning whether he was the right guy or not.
08:02 So much of that depends on how the season plays out.
08:05 You know, you're playing an 11-power five.
08:06 You're going to play a good Penn State team
08:08 that's going to spend its entire offseason
08:10 trying to stop Garrett Green.
08:11 How much does he want to progress this offseason?
08:13 How much has Hudson Peete?
08:16 If he peaked, that's a problem because he can't get off
08:19 press coverage.
08:20 I mean, you're looking at freshmen
08:22 that's going to have to gain a lot of strength
08:24 in this offseason.
08:25 - Sophomore slumps are very real.
08:27 - Yes, and there's a reason for sophomore slumps
08:29 because the success they had their freshman year
08:33 doesn't necessarily transfer over to sophomore year
08:37 because, again, you're going to have
08:38 11-power five defense coordinators looking to stop them.
08:41 - Does that apply with Garrett, too?
08:43 - Absolutely applies to Garrett Green
08:46 because, again, you're going to have
08:47 11-power five defensive coordinators
08:49 trying to slow him down
08:51 and trying to take away what he does best.
08:53 So where he improves this offseason
08:55 is going to be a key factor.
08:57 And one of those areas is just having trust
09:01 in the receiver to beat him.
09:02 Now, he did that at times where he anticipated receivers,
09:05 but you got to find consistency
09:06 and you got to get consistency at receiver play
09:08 for that to happen.
09:09 So there's a lot of work that needs to be done offensively
09:12 and then you have to worry about Jaheim White.
09:14 Same thing.
09:16 If they take away his strengths,
09:17 where did he improve in other areas
09:20 to be able to not just replicate
09:23 but improve on what he did this past season.
09:25 So to me, it's still a young team.
09:28 A lot of those skill positions, they're still young.
09:31 And then you have the transfers that are coming in
09:33 that are going to have to find their way as well.
09:35 So it's a work in progress.
09:38 I'm more on the lines of you're probably repeating
09:42 the same win-loss hurdle from this year
09:45 because you just haven't seen the consistency.
09:47 And then if you, offense and defense,
09:50 both have a bad game that week
09:51 where the defense can't pick up the offense slack
09:54 and vice versa, that's probably going to be a loss.
09:56 So it's all about consistency at this level.
09:59 And you got to get better consistency at a defense.
10:01 And a lot of that just has to do with depth.
10:03 If you don't have the depth, you're going to lack consistency
10:06 and you can probably find that on the offensive end as well
10:09 with the receiver.
10:10 So there's still a lot of work to be done.
10:12 I know it's exciting and I'm probably being a Debbie Downer
10:14 at this point, but--
10:15 - Hey, you were the optimistic one all year anyway, so.
10:18 - Yeah, so I was optimistic on this year
10:20 and we don't know what the rest of the Big 12,
10:22 just like we don't know the final roster at West Virginia,
10:24 we don't know what the rest of the Big 12's going to look like.
10:27 Like Penn State may not even be that good
10:29 coming into next season,
10:30 even though they're bringing their quarterback back next year.
10:32 - Another thing to keep in mind now,
10:35 there's the two-time transfer thing is out.
10:37 We're all talking about that in basketball,
10:39 football, you really didn't think about it
10:42 because we're in the middle of basketball season.
10:44 So some of these guys that transfer to West Virginia,
10:47 if they have played well, like I'm not going to name guys,
10:51 but you know who those transfers are that play well,
10:53 they may get opportunities elsewhere and they may jump again.
10:56 So that's another thing to consider.
10:59 Last thing I do want to ask,
11:01 how much do you feel a bowl win will actually help
11:05 what they can do in the off season
11:07 in carrying that momentum into 24?
11:10 Or does it even--
11:11 - A bunch, it doesn't matter.
11:13 You know, I've been trying,
11:14 people have tried to convince me like West Virginia,
11:17 you know, if West Virginia wins, it doesn't matter
11:19 because all the opt-outs, yada, yada, yada, but it matters.
11:23 It matters a whole lot because you see it, you know,
11:27 everyone wants to sit down and play bowl games.
11:29 There's too many bowl games,
11:30 but every bowl game I've watched,
11:31 the kids are excited to play, it's a lot of fun.
11:34 It's been, you know, fairly good football.
11:36 So I'm always like, take the bowl wins when you can,
11:40 like, especially if you're West Virginia,
11:42 it's not like there's a history of just dominating bowl games
11:45 by any stretch of the imagination.
11:47 So take what you can.
11:48 And of course, if they lose, that hurts your momentum, right?
11:51 With all the bowl opt-outs,
11:52 you're expected to win, you're favored to win,
11:54 that's going to kill your momentum.
11:55 It also can, if someone like Gary Green,
11:57 that can provide a lot of motivation,
11:58 it may actually help him better if they lose.
12:01 If he has a bad game, he's going to come out
12:03 pretty pissed to start the season.
12:04 You saw that after the Oklahoma game against Cincinnati,
12:08 he just came in really focused and played his tail off,
12:12 and he played his tail off the final two games.
12:13 So you always wonder how they handle success.
12:17 They did not handle success this past season
12:19 when they had opportunities to maybe further,
12:23 you know, add to that win total against some teams,
12:25 and they didn't handle success well.
12:27 So that's something that they're going to have to
12:29 really work on this off season.
12:30 And if you go in overconfident,
12:34 Penn State will humble you rather quickly.
12:37 And how do they handle it after that?
12:38 If you lose Penn State at home with everything,
12:42 you know, saw it in '98 when the High State
12:44 was coming to town with that team,
12:46 with Amos Zaraway and Mark Bolger.
12:49 They lost that first game and kind of humbled them
12:51 pretty good, because High State was really good that year.
12:54 So there's a lot of ifs, ands, and whats
12:58 coming up next season.
13:00 You expect someone like Garrett Green to be a good leader.
13:02 He's been a great leader in that locker room.
13:05 But it is such a long off season anymore.
13:08 Day to day, you just never know what college football
13:11 and the NCAA is going to bring you next.
13:13 So I'm optimistic in a sense that they're moving
13:16 in the right direction, but schedule is brutal.
13:20 And again, you start off like Penn State,
13:22 as good as defense that they've had
13:23 and the coaching staff that they have,
13:26 they can expose you in week one.
13:28 And then all of a sudden, everyone's
13:29 going to follow that blueprint.
13:31 And you can really find yourself in the hole early.
13:34 And then add everything else that
13:36 can go along with season.
13:37 So I'm more of a let's wait and see.
13:41 I do like the direction of the program.
13:43 I've always liked Neil Brown and his staff,
13:45 what they've done in practice.
13:47 I'll always use Chad Scott as an example,
13:49 because it's kind of where you start when you walk
13:51 on the practice field.
13:53 When you see what he's coaching these kids to do,
13:57 implementing the game works every single time.
14:00 Every single time.
14:01 It's like clockwork.
14:02 So you can go down the list of the coaching staff
14:05 and how they implement the fundamentals
14:08 within their scheme.
14:09 And when they do what their coach should do,
14:12 they have success.
14:13 I always feel confident in what they're coaching.
14:16 It's just a matter of a level of buy-in,
14:18 which it seems to be happening at a really high rate.
14:22 And just the way the culture is, it's
14:25 going in the right direction.
14:26 But there's so much that goes into a season,
14:28 with injuries, catching teams kind of at the right time.
14:31 How are they reacting that week from a win or a loss?
14:36 There's just so much that goes into it.
14:38 But West Virginia needs to really start
14:39 to get where they're dictating the tempo,
14:42 dictating on the outcomes on Saturdays.
14:44 That's the level they need to get.
14:46 But you're still working with a lot of young talent
14:48 at the skill positions.
14:50 Yeah, I mean, I don't want to insult the intelligence
14:53 or sound like I'm coming off as such of prospective transfers.
14:58 But I mean, even us, if you tell us
15:02 that Arizona went 9-3 this year, which they did,
15:06 I'm not going to sit there and say, well, yeah,
15:08 but this happened and that happened.
15:10 They really had this kind of a schedule.
15:12 And I'm sitting here thinking, damn, Arizona had a good year.
15:16 If you watched Arizona, that's a program on the rise.
15:19 And that's a program also that may or may not
15:22 match their win total next year, but doesn't necessarily
15:24 mean they took a step back.
15:27 They're a work in progress as well.
15:28 And that's a place where you're going to play next year.
15:31 There's a lot of good coaches that are building
15:33 their programs right now.
15:34 And then you look at someone like Texas Tech,
15:36 just had back-to-back top 25 classes.
15:39 We know what Oklahoma State does.
15:40 Just go down to the big 12 schools
15:42 that West Virginia is struggling against as well.
15:44 There's a lot of--
15:46 again, there's a lot more questions and answers
15:49 heading into next season.
15:51 Yeah, like I said, I don't want to--
15:52 I don't want to insult the intelligence transfers,
15:54 but I don't think any of them are really
15:55 going to dissect West Virginia's schedule
15:57 when they look at it.
15:58 If they go back and see that they won nine games and said,
16:01 yeah, well, Carolina, they held out a bunch of guys.
16:05 A bunch of guys skipped the bowl game.
16:06 They didn't have the full complement of their roster.
16:10 No one's going to pay attention to that.
16:11 If you have a nine-win season, that's
16:14 going to hold a lot of weight.
16:15 And I think we've already seen what an eight-win season can
16:18 do, because I've personally talked to these transfers
16:21 myself, and a lot of them have said
16:23 that they really believe this is kind of like the first step
16:26 into becoming a contender in the big 12.
16:29 So we'll see.
16:30 I think it's going to be interesting how not only
16:32 the bowl game goes, but to see how the result of the bowl game
16:36 carries into the offseason.
16:37 So we're going to talk about that bowl game
16:39 tomorrow here on Between the Years.
16:41 We thank you guys for tuning in.
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16:47 at the same handle.
16:48 For Christopher Holt, I'm Skylar Callian.
16:50 Thank you guys for watching.
16:51 We'll be back here tomorrow night.
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16:59 (upbeat music)