West Virginia
Neal Brown shares West Virginia helmet communication was down early vs. Penn State
Penn State’s Great Start At West Virginia | Are Nittany Lions For Real
The new in-helmet communication was an issue for West Virginia in their loss against Penn State on Saturday, with head coach Neal Brown explaining that it wasn’t working early in the Week 1 matchup for the Mountaineers.
Brown explained that communication was an issue early in the game and it forced the Mountaineers to go off their initial gameplan. That included going away from motions before the snap after a pair of bad snaps came on them.
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“We went to it after we took that,” Neal Brown said. “So, if you look at that play, that was in the third series. So, the first series of the game I think we went six plays. My mind’s working right. We went six plays and we had a couple where the play clock — in full transparency, our coach-to-player [communication] didn’t work the first series.”
The coach-to-player communication is new this year and it allows the coach to communicate with one player, typically the quarterback on offense, up to 15 seconds before the snap. That allows for some changes in how a team operates.
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When those in-helmet communications went out, it forced West Virginia to adapt. That included doing things like not going to a huddle and using hand signals.
“It went out, and I don’t know what the case was but we didn’t have our coach-to-player. So, we were gonna huddle the whole time but because the coach-to-player went out, we didn’t. So, we had some issues there.”
Certainly, the West Virginia offense struggled early in the game. Part of that can be attributed to first-game anxiety and the talented Penn State defense. Another part is likely related to those communication issues.
“First play after the turnover, we motioned. Garrett asked for the ball late. Ball hits him. Next play, we’re gonna run a running play because defensively we still got a stop after that. It was still 0-0. We get the ball back. Very next play is a motion play. We’re gonna run the ball…that ball goes boom, off. It was a really hard snap,” Brown said.
“So, at that point, I went off our opening script and just went to some very standard plays, really into that or we went to some motions that aren’t affected by the snap…we got away from those until later…we went back to them later and it was after Garrett had settled down a little bit.”
This also forced Neal Brown and West Virginia to use hand signals more than they initially planned, though they had been prepared to use those signals in the right occasions.
“We did it more than we were planning on. We wanted to play with some tempo vs. those guys because they wanted to match personnel. So, when they went to their their big sets, we wanted to play open…but to play fast you’ve got to still use signals. Okay,” Brown said. “Then, there’s some times when you’re gonna huddle. When you huddle, you don’t need signals. So, you’ve got to have plans for a rainy day, AKA the system goes out. So, you’ve got to still have the signals.”
West Virginia is going to hope to have an easier time communicating on Saturday when the Mountaineers host Albany.
BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) – We have a traffic alert for drivers in the Danville area of Boone County.
Starting on Friday, they should expect delays as crew perform work on the Jill Micah Hess Bridge along U.S. 119.
According to the West Virginia Department of Transportation, northbound traffic will be shifted from the slow lane to the fast lane.
This will take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and drivers are asked to expect delays.
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West Virginia
Community Catalyst Grant applications are open through West Virginia First Foundation through June 30 – WV MetroNews
The West Virginia First Foundation, which was established to use drug lawsuit settlement money to try to alleviate problems related to addiction, reported having access to $378.5 million in financial resources and noted that more than $34 million in grants have been awarded since the organization’s start.
The West Virginia First Foundation met for a few minutes Thursday at Ascend West Virginia in Charleston. The meeting was also available for view through streaming.
Executive Director Jonathan Board highlighted the launch of the Community Catalyst Grant application and a statewide needs assessment intended to identify service gaps.
Designed as a three-year, outcomes-driven investment, the program will support projects focused on public safety response, day report centers and generational prevention efforts. The program opened for applications on June 1 and remains open through June 30.
“We’re very encouraged by the interest and engagement so far,” Board said.
The board also approved a $4 million funding request for the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. The project is focused on expanding access to innovative addiction treatment and recovery support tools while building the technology and infrastructure needed to support implementation across West Virginia.
Additional details about the project and funding agreement are to be released in the coming weeks following the completion of final documentation. West Virginia First Foundation and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute plan to issue a joint announcement once the agreement process is complete.
“They’ve gone through a very rigorous process for the correct funding,” Board said. “Their team has presented an opportunity to fund a project that will build technology, training and support systems of care needed to expand access to an innovative addiction treatment approach throughout the state of West Virginia, and really beyond.”
The West Virginia First Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2023 to manage and distribute 72.5% of the state’s opioid settlement funds, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The organization is aimed at combatting the addiction crisis through grants and regional projects.
The next regular meeting of the Foundation’s Board of Directors is scheduled for Sept. 17 although it’s subject to change.
West Virginia may have come up empty-handed in two tries against North Carolina in the College World Series, but they earned the respect of their head coach, Scott Forbes, who was incredibly complimentary of the Mountaineers following Wednesday’s game.
“I want to congratulate West Virginia. A heck of a team, a heck of a run,” he opened his postgame press conference with. “They are very well coached. They just play the game the right way. It’s a credit to their coaching staff. They come at you a lot of ways. A lot of speed, deep pitching staff, so we really had to work in those two games to beat them. I’ve been in their shoes, and I know what that feels like, and it’s a stinker. But man, they got a lot to be proud of, and they should be extremely proud of how they represented their university.”
The culture at WVU is as strong as it gets
Multiple times this season, West Virginia looked like they were well on their way to a loss and were rewarded with a win because they never stopped playing hard. Everyone thinks of the two games against Kentucky in the Morgantown Regional, and rightfully so, but they also came back to win after trailing by eight against UCF and after trailing by five to BYU.
For a moment, there was a belief that the magical moment was going to come again during Wednesday’s game against Forbes’ Tar Heels. With two outs in the 7th and trailing 12-1, Armani Guzman busted his tail down the first base line to beat out a grounder to short. It ultimately led to a five-run inning for the Mountaineers, all of a sudden turning a laugher into a semi-interesting game. Gavin Kelly hit a solo home run in the 8th to make it a five-run deficit, and in the ninth, Ben Lumsden just missed a three-run shot that would have really put pressure on North Carolina, even with two outs.
To have your team still playing hard when trailing by 11 with their season likely about to come to an end, it says a lot about the character of this group, but also how deeply ingrained the culture is at WVU. There’s a reason this program has turned the corner over the last 14 or so years and is continuing to trend up. They’ve had the right people in place leading it.
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