West Virginia

Brown, Lesley aware of what went wrong defensively, but say physicality wasn't an issue – WV MetroNews

Published

4 months ago

September 2, 2024

Brown, Lesley aware of what went wrong defensively, but say physicality wasn't an issue – WV MetroNews

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley share belief that effort and physicality weren’t the cause of most problems the Mountaineer defense endured during Saturday’s 34-12 season-opening loss to No. 8 Penn State.

But as the team looks to move forward ahead of Saturday’s 6 p.m. contest against Albany, both Brown and Lesley made it clear the unit was nowhere near good enough in what was largely an all-around forgettable Week 1 showing.

“Defensively, our issues were not because they knocked us off the ball. That wasn’t the case,” Brown said. “We did not do a good enough job in any of our run games. We did a really poor job in our pass lanes, because we were too fast. When we were running d-line games on passing downs, we were too fast and left big gaps. I haven’t calculated the scramble yards, but it’s quite a bit — probably 50 or more. We over-pursued the ball in outside zone.

“It’s about simplifying what we’re trying to do in the run game and making sure our cutback lanes are in better spots. I didn’t have an issue with our physicality, but our execution was not very good. They out-gapped us on a couple of unbalanced plays.”

Brown singled out linebacker Josiah Trotter and safeties Anthony Wilson and Jaheem Joseph for strong individual efforts in the setback. West Virginia forced an early turnover when defensive lineman TJ Jackson recovered a Drew Allar fumble. That was the Nittany Lions’ only turnover and about all that went wrong for Allar, who was otherwise efficient and completed 11-of-17 passes for 216 yards with three touchdowns.

“We weren’t consistent enough,” Joseph said. “We had spurts in the game when we executed and spurts when we didn’t, and it showed with a lot of explosive plays.”

Allar guided a unit that finished with 457 total yards and 409 over the final three quarters when it amassed all of its point production. The Mountaineers did not record a sack or quarterback hurry.

“His completion percentage was not very good with pressure. Now they know that, too, and there’s a lot of seven-man protection,” Brown said. “Pick your poison. If they are going to seven-man protect, you have to bring a lot of people, and if you do, you’re leaving yourself in man coverage. You have to pick and choose. He played very well, but he had space. There was never a time in the game where he was uncomfortable and that’s on us.”

PSU’s success on first down was pivotal as the Nittany Lions totaled 224 yards on 28 first down plays. Each of Penn State’s first four touchdowns, which covered a total of 128 yards, came on first down.

“The easy answer is pressure. The hard part of pressure against what we know they like to do and what that guy has always done is that’s when he’s always making you adjust,” Lesley said. “You can pressure yourself into a touchdown play on first downs if you’re not careful. We had a couple on first downs where we sent pressure and we were very effective at it.

“We saw two personnels we guessed we would see and as you’re adjusting through that, you’re staying pretty basic to figure out where are they going with this and what are they trying to do. Some of those first down yardage plays came in that scenario. When we settled in, I thought we were fine.”

All but 49 of PSU’s 22 rushing yards came over the final two quarters following a 2 hour and 19 minute weather delay at halftime. The Nittany Lions also scored in the final seconds of the first half and on the opening possession of the second half to turn what had been a competitive 13-6 game into a three touchdown margin.

“We talk about effort, aggression and toughness and I didn’t see a lack of any of those things. That aggression sometimes can bite you and against good football teams, when you make those mistakes, they find them,” Lesley said. “They’re mistakes that are very fixable. I hate that we have to fix them in that kind of atmosphere and team in Week 1, but it is what it is. The last thing I told them before we left the hotel is we don’t need to do anybody to do anything special. We just need you to do your job. That’s tough in that kind of environment.”

Ultimately, being out of position on several key plays and allowing Allar to settle in and develop rhythm proved problematic for a defense that surrendered nearly 20 yards per completion and 7.6 yards per play.

“From a team perspective, sometimes stats don’t tell the story but in this game, they do,” Brown said. “Rushing, we averaged 2.7 and they were 5.3. They rushed for 222 and we rushed for 85. The big reason why is negative plays — something you can’t versus those guys and snaps caused ours. Turnover margin is 3-1. The middle 8 [minutes] really is where the game was decided — 14-3 them.

“Our rush defense was not good. We gave up explosive runs and a lot of quarterback scrambles. The explosives killed us and the quarterback run game. We generated zero pressure. He’s struggled with pressure and we didn’t generate any. That was disappointing. We struggled when they went unbalanced and tempo’d us, so I’m sure we’ll see that again.”

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West Virginia

Akron CB Golden-Nelson commits to West Virginia

Published

4 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Akron CB Golden-Nelson commits to West Virginia

West Virginia continues to remake the defensive backfield, and the coaching staff took another step there with a commitment from Akron transfer cornerback Devonte Golden-Nelson.

Golden-Nelson, 5-foot-10, 180-pounds, started his career at Memphis where he spent two seasons and appeared in four games prior to entering his name into the transfer portal and ending up at Akron.

Nelson confirmed the commitment to WVSports.com

During his time with the Zips, Golden-Nelson appeared in 29 games over the past three seasons where he has recorded 66 tackles, 10 passes defended and a pair of interceptions.

In 2024, Golden-Nelson recorded 33 tackles, and 7 passes defended.

Golden-Nelson entered the transfer portal Dec. 17 and received an offer from West Virginia Jan. 3 from new cornerbacks coach Rod West. He also was offered by Oklahoma State, Houston and UNLV.

The Memphis native has played 1,060 snaps during his time at Akron including 613 this past season where he graded out at 66.2 according to Pro Football Focus. He allowed only two touchdowns in his career.

Golden-Nelson took an official visit to West Virginia Jan. 7 and that was enough to close his recruitment giving the Mountaineers another piece in the defensive secondary.

Golden-Nelson has one year of eligibility remaining.

WVSports.com will have more with Golden-Nelson.

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West Virginia

Financial commitment there for West Virginia coaching staff

Published

11 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Financial commitment there for West Virginia coaching staff

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez has at least $5 million that he can dedicate to his on-the-field coaching staff in each year of his five-year contract.

There is at least another $2,500,000 tied up in support staff for every year of the agreement.

While the assistant coaches and support staff members are now starting to be announced which means contract terms are not far behind we’re getting an idea of just where the group will fall in terms of that total.

The Mountaineers made a heavy financial commitment to secure the services of Oklahoma co-defensive coordinator Zac Alley with a $1,500,000 contract that extends until Feb. 28, 2028.

That checks out with the sentiments that Rodriguez shared in his introductory press conference where he made it clear that he had the financial means to secure a top-level coordinator on that side of the ball.

And Alley is certainly that as he served as the Sooners play caller last year. The unit finished No. 3 ranking in defensive touchdowns, No. 5 in fumbles recovered, No. 10 in team tackles for loss, No. 11 in first-down defense, No. 19 in total defense, No. 23 in rushing defense, No. 25 in sacks and No. 30 in scoring defense.

As for other known commitments, West Virginia will pay $725,000 for running backs coach Chad Scott and $225,000 for inside wide receivers coach Blaine Stewart. Those two financial commitments were already in place under previously signed contracts when the pair worked for former head coach Neal Brown.

But the decision to re-hire the pair in essence will save the school money which they would have been owed, and the school would have had to hire replacements had they not been retained.

Both are under contract until 2026.

Other known contract details obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request include offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr at $450,000, wide receivers coach Ryan Garrett at $250,000, defensive line coach William Green at $250,000, and tight ends coach Michael Nysewander at $225,000.

Each is under contract through Feb. 28, 2026.

That makes the total $3,625,000 with just seven of the coaches in place. The Mountaineers also have announced several others that haven’t had contract details released yet such as cornerbacks coach Rod West, bandits coach Jeff Casteel, quarterbacks coach Rhett Rodriguez, special teams coordinator Pat Kirkland, assistant running backs coach Noel Devine and assistant special teams coordinator Chris Hearing for example.

That also doesn’t include others who are expected to be in roles but have yet to be announced such as offensive assistant Travis Trickett, safeties coach Gabe Franklin, nickels/sam coach Henry Weinreich, assistant offensive line coach Derek Dressler, and a number of others on the coaching staff.

It’s clear that West Virginia is making a commitment to staffing under Rodriguez and the “at least,” in the assistant salary pool is likely going to be the floor.

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West Virginia

Iowa State wrestling remains perfect in league, takes down West Virginia

Published

19 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Iowa State wrestling remains perfect in league, takes down West Virginia

The Iowa State wrestling team handled West Virginia on Wednesday night in Big 12 action, earning key bonus points to claim the dual, 24-18 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Both teams scored five match victories each, but it was the 13th-ranked Cyclones (5-3, 2-0) who earned two pins and a technical fall to get by the Mountaineers (7-2, 1-2).

Paniro Johnson and Cody Chittum each had a fall, Evan Frost earned a technical fall and Evan Bockman a major decision as Iowa State held a 17-12 edge in takedowns.

Frost opened the dual at 133 pounds, as the eighth-ranked grappler downed Tommy Maddox, 20-3 in 5:29. Jacob Frost followed with a decision before Johnson and Chittum claimed falls to give the Cyclones a huge advantage on the scoreboard.

Jacob Frost, ranked 15th at 141, earned a key win in terms of seeding purposes in the postseason by besting No. 29 Jordan Titus. Chittum is ranked eighth at 157 pounds.

West Virginia got a win by No. 3 Peyton Hall over Aiden Riggins by major decision and another major decision from Brody Conley before Bockman earned a win in a ranked battle.

Bockman, ranked 12th at 184 pounds, downed No. 16 Dennis Robin, 9-1.

From there, West Virginia scored the last three matches, as Ian Bush, Michael Wolfgram and Jeff Strickenberger all won by decision. Iowa State’s Daniel Herrera, ranked 26th at 285, and Kysen Terukina, ranked 19th at 285, were tipped in close matches.

The Cyclones return to the mats on Saturday when they meet Rider and Bucknell at the Virginia Duals.

133: #8 Evan Frost (ISU) TF Tommy Maddox (WVU), 20-3 (5:29)

141: #15 Jacob Frost (ISU) dec. #29 Jordan Titus (WVU), 9-6

149: Paniro Johnson (ISU) WBF Sam Hillegas (WVU), 5:48

157: #8 Cody Chittum (ISU) WBF Sasha Gavronsky (WVU), 3:41

165: #3 Peyton Hall (WVU) Maj. Dec. Aiden Riggins (ISU), 16-6

174: #28 Brody Conley (WVU) Maj. Dec. MJ Gaitan (ISU), 14-2

184: #12 Evan Bockman (ISU) Maj. Dec. #16 Dennis Robin (WVU), 9-1

197: Ian Bush (WVU) Maj. Dec. Nate Schon (ISU), 13-2

285: Michael Wolfgram (WVU) dec. #26 Daniel Herrera (ISU), 5-3

125: Jett Strickenberger (WVU) dec. #19 Kysen Terukina (ISU), 4-1

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