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Brown of WVU is optimistic after last Saturday’s conclusion of spring drills.
WEST HARTFORD, W.Va. When West Virginia plays Penn State at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, August 31, head coach Neal Brown hopes to field a ferocious football team.
The annual Gold-Blue game took place last Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium, where the Mountaineers concluded their spring training in front of an announced crowd of 18,540.
After the game, Brown remarked, “I think we are a hungry team that likes to compete.” “That was clear from the way we conducted business in procedures one through fourteen. It was evident that this is a practicing group.
“I’ve been stressing to our coaching staff that I want the best people that love football,” he stated. “A lot of our better guys truly love football and love to compete, but I’m not claiming that every player on the roster is there. As the spring progressed, that became clear.”
As West Virginia finished the previous season with wins over Cincinnati, Baylor, and North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, positive momentum started to build.
With nine wins, West Virginia achieved its highest result since finishing with ten wins in 2016. For the first time in six years, the Mountaineers also made a comeback to the season-ending USA Today Coaches’ Poll, ranking No. 25.
Brown thinks that his team’s success kept them moving forward.
program for winter conditioning run by veteran strength coach Mike Joseph and his team.
Brown said, “The winter program was really good for us.” “We tried a few different things, and I felt like we were more effective, particularly on both scrimmage lines. Although we mids (safeties and linebackers) need to keep working throughout the summer, I was happy with it.
“We’ve continued to be a team that’s physical,” Brown stated. “We’ve improved after working hard at tackling. We will, in my opinion, have stronger coverage units on special teams. That was the focal point.”
Brown went on.
We added some depth to both the offensive and defensive lines, in my opinion. We feel good about more of the men,” he remarked. “There is fierce rivalry among our linebacker group. As we anticipated, our receivers are progressing from year one to year two. In our running back room, we need CJ (Donaldson) to recover from his illness. Jahiem (White) has had a good spring and I believe he has the potential to be a great player.”
The top two quarterbacks for West Virginia, Garrett Greene, a senior who scored 29 touchdowns in 2023 both passed and ran, are also back.
While Brown acknowledges that the secondary defense is still developing, he is confident that this fall’s team will be better than last.
Garnett Hollis, a transfer from Northwestern, will be helpful to us, and I believe some of those freshmen will as well. Some of the guys here have played a few safety snaps, and we’re still moving those guys around,” he declared. “There are some new faces back there that are going to make an impact.”
Ayden Garnes, a transfer from Duquesne, is one of those fresh faces. He recorded many interceptions during workouts this spring in addition to his interception in the spring game.
Garnes concluded the season with 11 pass breaks and two interceptions for the Dukes while playing in Morgantown versus West Virginia. He has a good chance of earning a starting cornerback position this autumn.
About Garnes, Brown remarked, “He shows up.” He is one of the freshmen in the secondary who enjoys playing. He’s fiercely competitive. He is a versatile player who can run. He made a flash throughout the entire spring.”
After spring practice reached its halfway point, Brown stated that the squad intentionally worked a lot of 11-on-11 drills.
He gave an explanation.
“We have a ton of fundamentals, alignment, assignment, and playing in kind of controlled circumstances leading up to our first scrimmage. There could be a team run phase followed by seven-on-seven play and other such activities, according to Brown. “After practice nine, it’s really playing 11-on-11 football and making guys go out and play and compete.”
Which is what the seasoned coach anticipates when the Nittany Lions visit here in August. This will be Penn State’s first visit to Morgantown since the series’ conclusion in 1992 due to the university’s Big Ten Conference membership.
The last three matches of the
In Morgantown, the Penn State series in 1988, 1990, and 1992 drew a minimum of 66,000 spectators.
The highest number of spectators to ever witness a West Virginia-Penn State football game was 110,747 for the game in State College last year.
The first game against the Lions at Milan Puskar Stadium, which had its capacity lowered to 60,000 in 2004, is expected to draw another capacity crowd.
Visit WVUGAME.com to learn more about season tickets, including the brand-new $304 mobile pass that was unveiled yesterday.
