The West Virginia University football coaching staff met with the media on Tuesday, August 7, 2017, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.

 

Associate Head Coach (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers) Tony Gibson

 

On whether anyone has moved up or down the depth chart as fall camp begins

No, not right now. We just haven’t done enough yet. Really, we’ve had a couple live days but you’re talking 25 snaps each day. We’re not to the point where we’re game ready, but we’re not even really ready for that part of it yet. We’re just kind of easing them into it. Next Saturday or this Friday, I guess, coming will be a big, big evaluation day as we turn them loose and just let them play football.

 

On how he plans to use redshirt freshman Dylan Tonkery

He’s getting better every day and I like where he’s at. I think he’s starting to catch on. He’s playing physical and a guy like Dylan who was a safety, moving down in the box, obviously gives us a lot more athleticism at that position.

 

On where redshirt freshman Dylan Tonkery will play

That mixes up. It depends on where the ball’s at and where he’s at.

 

On the process of installing new concepts into the defense

We’re still way into that process. What we try to do in camp, obviously, we install our stuff. Don’t worry about scheming against our offense. We’re at the point right now where we have to see unbalanced stuff, we have to see empty, we have to see so many different things that we install. Then, the walk-throughs are huge for that because that’s when we get to prepare our guys for what they’re going to see during the season. 

 

Assistant coach (Cornerbacks) Doug Belk

 

On who is standing out at cornerback

(Redshirt freshman cornerback) Jake Long has done fairly well. He’s a young guy that was a good recruit, was hurt last year and he’s finally getting a chance to get out there. Obviously with the older guys and the JUCO transfers, (redshirt sophomore cornerback) Hakeem Bailey and (redshirt sophomore cornerback) Fontez (Davis) have done well too.

 

On how redshirt sophomore cornerback Hakeem Bailey is adapting to Division I football

He’s probably got as much actual game experience as any of these guys, besides Corey (Winfield) (redshirt senior cornerback). They’re both transfers, but (redshirt sophomore cornerback) Hakeem (Bailey) hasn’t played at this level yet. I expect him to be able to hop in and play right away against Virginia Tech. He’s done well so far since he’s been here.

 

On who will pair well with redshirt sophomore cornerback Hakeem Bailey on defense

Between Mike (Daniels Jr.) (senior cornerback) and Elijah (Battle) (senior cornerback), those three seem to have a really good relationship. They kind of share reps and compete against each other, but they also have off-the-field personal relationships. So, those guys have helped each other and have helped Hakeem (Bailey) (redshirt sophomore cornerback) get acclimated, since those guys were JUCO transfers as well. They kind of understand what the process is.

 

On senior cornerback Elijah Battle’s growth

He’s a lot more mature. There’s a lot less mental mistakes than we saw on film last year. Just trying to mature, trying to get his technique better, and just trying to compete at a high level.

 

Assistant Coach (Defense/Special Teams) Mark Scott

 

On how the punt return is coming along

It’s good. In punt return we have done almost exclusively drills. We have a handful of guys back there catching as many punts as we can. Haven’t gone too heavy into scheme yet. A nice problem that we have right now is that we have three, four, five guys that we feel pretty comfortable with. Depending on once we get to a game situation, how many snaps those guys are playing, what the situation is, where we are at in the game, we feel comfortable putting different guys back there. Again, it is a nice problem to have. We are going to continue to get as many reps and put them into as many different situations as we can to try to put more pressure on them. Punt return, I think we are in a good place; kick return is a lot of the same guys. Right now we are trying to throw as much drill work with our front line and back line blockers and throw some different things at them to really improve what we do upfront to help our returners spring loose a little bit.

 

On redshirt freshman kicker/punter Jonn Young

Jonn was going yesterday and he looked good. I think he feels good; he feels more confident in what he’s doing. We talked about it last week, his body has changed. He is a lot stronger, he has kept his flexibility, which is only going to help with the power in his leg both on kickoffs and when it comes to punts. We will continue to get more work as we’ll go. With kickoff mostly drills, but when we go kickoff return we have seen him let loose and he has looked good up to this point. 

 

On some of the offensive and defensive starters playing on the kickoff return team

They can be anywhere, it just depends. We will probably start them in the back. Kickoff return is one of the ones where you can change week to week, based on what you see. You can tweak things just based off what the opponent is going to give you to best utilize our personnel and how we will adapt.

 

Assistant Coach (Defensive Line) Bruce Tall

 

On how camp is going so far

I’m pleased with the guys. The progress is going. We have a lot to do, but we are progressing the right way this time. We are doing some things we need to do to get better and the guys are buying in and doing it.

 

On the young players stepping up this year after getting experience last season 

More so (redshirt sophomore defensive lineman) Adam (Shuler II). I saw Adam as our second or third guy, which is a starter in my eyes. (Sophomore defensive lineman) Reese (Donahue) as we got through the year started to play more and more at the end. They are a little farther ahead, even though they haven’t truly started, but Adam one game. You like to believe that they have enough under their belt to be starters.

 

On if he is focusing more on the nose guard position

I have to be. We don’t really have anybody. Inexperience is part of the collegiate level. We have to work at that and make sure it is secure. That is where it all starts in the middle.

 

Assistant Coach (Safeties) Matt Caponi

 

On if he has seen good or bad things thus far

In the middle. We are still a long ways away. I like the aggressiveness that we are playing with. I don’t think my guys are scared, which is a good thing. They like to hit. We still have to do certain things cleanup-wise and technique as far as taking the proper angles and tracking the ball. We are getting cut back on too much. Still have plenty of time to work on that, but for the most part I have been pretty pleased with how physical we have been and some of the plays we have made in space and just overall tackling has been pretty good.

 

On if there has been movement in the depth chart

We are just trying to find the right spot for some of the guys. The top three are pretty solid and behind them, we have depth, it is finding the right fit and a good fit. The more positions those guys know, that makes us a better defense. Being able to mix and match and even some of our starters we can do that with. I have been pretty pleased with guys learning new positions, playing new positions and we will continue to do that throughout camp.

 

On who is playing spur behind senior safety Kyzir White

Right now we have (sophomore safety) Jovanni Stewart. The first couple days of practice he was repping free safety and spur. With (redshirt senior safety) Marvin (Gross Jr.) banged up now he will predominately get most of at spur and every once in a while maybe throw him in at free safety; keep him greased up. He is a pretty solid number two for us and behind him we have a handful of guys, (redshirt senior safety) Shane Commodore, (redshirt sophomore safety) Deamonte Lindsay, (freshman safety) E.J. Brown. Just looking for one of those guys to separate themselves from the others. 

 

Assistant Coach (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks) Jake Spavital

 

On what he’s learned since padded practices began

We still have a long way to go. There are a lot of moving parts, especially up front with our offensive line. We’re moving guys out of many different positions and trying to figure out who are going to be our top offensive linemen going in. The hard part with that is if you go, ‘Hey, these are our best five offensive linemen – who is our sixth-best one so if this guy goes down and we have to bump this guy over to tackle and start moving guys around?’ At times you feel like you’re starting from scratch again when you go out there with your group, but that’s pretty much part of it with how we’re repping things right now. Overall, I like where we’re going; we just have to focus in on the little things, pay a little bit better attention to detail and make sure we keep building that continuity and getting on the same page.

 

On his thoughts about the receivers

I’m comfortable with our starting four rolling out there. We have to find some backups because we play at such a high tempo at times that you’re going to end up playing a lot of different receivers. In my previous schools that I was at, we were averaging around 10 to 15 kids a game that were having to catch. So, you have to play a lot of receivers. Right now, the starters are doing a pretty good job with where they’re at. We still have to continue to find those guys to step up whenever they need a breather and come out of the game.

 

On using sophomore running back Kennedy McKoy and freshman running back Tevin Bush in the passing game

They’re helping out tremendously. We’re repping them a lot at receiver, so it’ll be pretty interesting to see what packages we build with that. But they definitely help with the depth of things. That allows you to move people around to backup other certain positons because you have two running backs that are in that role of possibly being a solid backup for us.

 

On if he’d like to see fluidity on the depth chart or starters that hold their ground

You’d like to see that, but there are certain times, too, where you want to see if some other guys, if you put them in that situation, can rise to the occasion. So, you’re actually challenging some guys to see if they can step up and probably help us out. But I think a lot of positions are pretty solid right now; we’re just trying to figure out a couple more just across the board in terms of who are going to be our starters.

 

Assistant Coach (Offensive Line) Joe Wickline

 

On finding versatility on the offensive line

We’re still anchored up on the same tackles. Guards will flip around based on what’s going on both on the first team and second team. We’ll prepare personnel and as things go on, guys begin to make a move so you can look a step ahead and see some things. At the end of the day, the centers haven’t moved, the tackles haven’t moved and we’re just playing with a couple of different combinations inside at guard where, obviously, we lost some personnel last year with (Adam) Pankey and (Tony) Matteo and (Tyler Orlosky). Some of the people have moved just because it’s that time of year. We’re just trying to figure out where we’re at. We’re not far off.

 

On when he has to finalize position changes

Well, I tell them that I’m for them to stop at any time. I’m ready for them, so they dictate that. We still have some work left. It’s not like we’re doing wholesale deals here. Whether it’s left or right, we’re looking at a few different combinations. That’s from a left to right perspective and not an outside-inside perspective, which is really different. We’ll figure it out, it’s not that big of a deal. At the end of the day, the people we are moving, they’ll end up playing on the right and left by the end of the year.

 

On how many contributors he hopes to end camp with

Our goal is to have eight at this time of year. As time goes on, whenever that time may be, you want to have two-deep. You want to have the ability to put another group on the field. Do you have that luxury? That’ll change season by season. It was different three years ago and it’ll be different three years from now. Is it injury, is it graduation, is it moving on, is it for whatever reason? I think we have the personnel; we have all we need. It’s about developing them and us doing a good job in putting them in the right spot, teaching them and doing a good job giving great effort and enthusiasm and being excited about getting better each day. So, we’re looking at five. Then, we’re looking at a third guard and a third tackle and, obviously, a second center. As we move forward, we’re developing that fourth tackle and that fourth guard to be just as good as the guy in front of them.

 

Assistant coach (Running backs) Tony Dews

 

On ball security improvements with running backs

We’re getting better at it. I don’t want to jinx it. We’re working on it. As a coach, I’m obviously putting an emphasis on it this far through camp. I’m going to continue to work on it through camp and through the season. Obviously, the number one thing as a running back and ball carriers is ball security. We have to be able to trust that you aren’t going to be careless with the ball and then, obviously, you’ve got a lot of people depending on you to hold on to that thing.

 

On what has been pleasing about this year’s running backs

Just that we’re continuing to progress. The footwork, the little things, the fundamental things, the ball security, protections. We’re picking things up better and we’re using good fundamentals during pass blocking. So, just continuing to see progress and the little things. The fundamental things, their eyes, just simple things like making a correct pocket during the quarterback-running back exchange. Things like that. All those little things you take for granted until you have a mistake and then you go back and say, “Well, I didn’t do a good enough job as a coach emphasizing those things”. I’ll continue to emphasize those fundamental things and, hopefully, that’ll lead us to continue to do them well.

 

On how carries will be distributed amongst running backs.

I have not thought about it yet. You know right now we’re focusing on making sure everyone’s doing the little things right, making sure we’re doing the very best job we can to get better each day at practice, and then as we get into game week we’ll start to talk about that as staff and figure out which direction we’ll go with that.

 

Assistant Coach (Receivers) Tyron Carrier

 

On his thoughts about camp so far

It’s going well so far. Everybody is getting a feel for one another, receivers and quarterbacks. You’re trying to find out what everybody is really good at and what they’re not good at. Just to bring everybody up to speed and get them better at the things they’re not so great at right now.

 

On which players are challenging starters for spots on the field

It’s everybody behind them. All the backups from (freshman receiver) Reggie (Roberson Jr.) as a freshman, to (junior receiver) Dom (Dominique) (Maiden), to (redshirt freshman receiver) Druw Bowen, (redshirt junior receiver) Ricky Rogers. Everybody is stepping up to the plate. We have good problems, but there’s still a long way to go. There’s still a lot of little mental mistakes. But, other than that, everybody is making that push to become one of the guys.

 

On how sophomore receiver Marcus Simms is coming along

I kind of down his throat a little bit. I never let him make excuses. He’s matured a lot, so he holds himself accountable for everything that goes on as far as route depth, the way you gauge off the ball and especially blocking. He’s taking that very seriously this year. A lot of it is with growing up and figuring out who you are and the things you need to improve on.

 

On the ebb and flow of the depth chart during camp

There are a lot of snaps that are going to be played. My biggest thing is to get everybody up to speed to where if whoever ends up being a starter, when they come out of the game, we’ll never skip a beat. To me, there are some good problems, but it’s so early and you still have a long way to go. The development process is getting better every day.

 

Editor's Note: Photo of Dylan Tonkery courtesy of Dan Shrensky.