West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media Monday.

 

Opening Statement

We had a good bye week. Last week the two or three developmental practices we had were as good of developmental practices as we’ve had since I’ve been here. I’m really happy with the way the guys responded last week. The coaches got out and had a good two days of recruiting and got back to work yesterday. We had a great practice last night – we treated yesterday like a Tuesday, and we’ll treat today like a Wednesday practice moving forward to Thursday’s game to where we have a full game week after the bye week. Health-wise, we’re in as good of shape as we’ve been all year. The bye week was good for those guys that have lingering injuries this time of year – that exists on every team across the country. We used it to our benefit and had everybody practicing yesterday. I think we’re in a good place right there. 

 

As far as the team’s mentality, I think we’re going to be ready to play. I know we’re anxious to do our absolute best when it comes to finishing the year the appropriate way. I know we’ve lost a couple in a row right here, and the guys aren’t happy with that. We’re anxious to get out on Thursday night and play. We’ve got a huge task ahead of us – Kansas State is a very, very solid team loaded with upperclassmen. (They have) a lot of seniors, a lot of juniors – a lot of guys that have been in their program not only two years, with some of their junior college guys. They’ve got a lot of former walk-ons and program guys from when Coach Snyder came back after taking a few years off.  He came back, and he has guys that have been in the program four or five years now, and it really shows on film. These guys know what to do. They’re sound. It means a lot to them. They play hard – they’re mentally and physically tough. They’re going to be physical and they’re well-coached, work hard, blue-collar guys that are extremely productive, extremely efficient and extremely sound with what they do. 

 

With them offensively, their quarterback is playing well. Waters has been in their program for two years now, and he’s playing really well. He’s extremely efficient. The thing that stands out with Kansas State, and they were like this last year too, on offense – I think Dana Dimel is doing a great job for them. They’ve had some staff continuity going on for five years. They’re just really efficient. They don’t turn the ball over; they don’t do anything to hurt themselves. They don’t have many negative plays. Their third-down efficiency is really good. Their red zone efficiency is really good. They’re just an efficient outfit on offense. I think Lockett – No. 16 – is one of the best players in the country. He hurt us last year and he’s hurt a lot of people over the last couple years. Just a true program guy that does things the right way and is productive on the field as well. They have one of the better offensive lines we’re going to face. They’re all juniors and seniors – their center is a great player. They just do a lot of things up front that pose a bunch of problems. We’ve got our work cut out for us. 

 

They’re defensively sound. They’re not going to trick you. They’re going to be incredibly sound in what they do. They keep everything in front of you, and let your guys screw it up. We just have to play hard and be very, very technically sound. It’s the same defense that we have seen out of them for the last couple of years, so nothing is new. That’s not the problem. Trying to figure out what they do is not the problem – trying to effectively attack it is definitely a challenge. As you can image, they’re sound in the kicking game. Everything that they do with the program is sound. The biggest thing that stands out is obviously Lockett, just with the return game. I’ve said this to you and everyone else, on special teams it’s not always about the returner, it’s not always about the kicker, it’s about the other 10 guys that are on that specific unit. They do a great job of coaching those other 10 guys and then with a dynamic guy like him, our cover units are going to have to be sound as well. 

 

Senior Night is obviously special. It’s an odd class. We’ve got 19 guys that go through senior night and of the 19, only five of them – if I’m not mistaken – are fifth year seniors. One is a fourth year senior, and we have 10 transfers. Thirteen of the 19 are transfer guys so there’s just not very many guys that have been in the program for four and five years. We had to get some four-year transfers, and we had to get some junior college transfers to come in and increase the talent, which I think we’ve accomplished that, and to get the numbers to where they’re healthy as well. I think we’ve accomplished that. We’ll talk about these guys, and their last game in Morgantown Thursday night, and we’ll talk about it again next week with their last regular season game, and we’ll talk about it during the bowl game as well. I certainly appreciate what they’ve meant to the program. 

 

On how the bye week effected the run down players, especially the offensive line

Last week I thought we had a very productive week with the developmental people. The older guys went out there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and got some good lifts in which helps in the recovery. It helps with blood flow and healing. There just wasn’t all this stuff (pounding of the pads) so they went out there did a bunch of individual stuff. They spent a lot of time down in the weight room, a lot of time in the indoor with (director Mike Joseph just stretching and a lot of recovery stuff. A couple of days off does wonders for you. Not only the linemen, but you take guys like Rushel Shell and Wendell Smallwood who have been banged up and have played a lot snaps. Those guys came back in a better place as well.

 

On the odd nature of the 3-3-5 defense with Kansas State

I think there is something to that, and hopefully nobody else starts doing it. It’s unique. I always wanted to be multiple with the defense, which we had this conversation a bunch. Obviously Gibby (Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson) has put his own little spin on it. It has a lot to do with his past and what he has been a part of, so it is different. I like the versatility of it. We practice against it every single day, so it is a little easier for me to understand what is going on. As an offensive coordinator calling plays against a variety of defenses, it makes it a little trickier to figure out where all those bodies are. Again, going back to Kansas State – locating where their bodies are and what their game plan is not hard. They are just so sound with their technique and their effort. That’s what makes that defense hard to prepare and hard to play against.

 

On not going over 300 yards in the last couple games 

The opponent has something to do with that. TCU is pretty good, and defensively, they don’t give up very much in the pass game. The only team better than them at that in the Big 12 is Texas. Texas doesn’t give up any yards in the pass game. They are just good at it. They seen it a lot, and they recruit at a very high level. They have good athletes with good schemes and great coaches, so that is going to make it harder for a team that is not throwing the ball 90 percent of the time to get chunks and chunks of pass yards. I think the opponent is the biggest thing that has to deal with that issue.

 

On the mentality of the team after a two game losing streak compared to last year’s five game losing streak

I think that the upperclassmen is going to play a big part in it. We have some guys that I think want to win, and I think our locker room is good. Our state of mind is good. Next year’s senior class is going to be a different discussion. The 30 some seniors that we have next year, the majority of them have been in the program for four or five years. That is what Baylor, TCU and Kansas State all have going for them right now. It is a situation where they have that stuff in tack for a long time. We are getting there. It’s going to take another year before we are totally at that place. With that said, a lot of the juniors – Karl (Joseph), KJ (Dillon), Kyle Rose (Nick) Kwiatkoski, and Jordan Thompson – it means a lot to those guys, and I think they are going to give it everything that they got. Our health is a lot better than it’s been previously for a variety of reasons. I think Mike and his staff has done a great job. We do have better depth to where we are not playing a ton of people. A year ago at this time, our injury report looked a lot different than it does right now. I think we are in a totally different place. With that said, we play the No. 11 team in the country. They are a good opponent, and again, the opponent has something to do with it.

 

On recruiting from the JUCO route the last few years

I’ve seen an influx in the junior college recruiting in the last five years. Kansas State has been doing it at a high level for a very long time, and their success is by still having a ton of program guys. The fact that we have 128 guys in the program at this point as opposed to 90 makes it a little bit different to be able to have our developmental practices and prepare these guys. If you look at their roster, they have some junior college guys mixed in, clearly, like they always have, but the majority of their guys are program guys that are making a difference – (Tyler) Lockett and Travis Britz. Those guys are program guys that just play their tails off. It means a lot to them, because they have been on campus for five years. I think there are some similarities, and I think we are getting to that point where we have some four year guys. Of course, we are always going to mix in some junior college guys. I doubt that next year or the year after that, that we are going to have 67 percent of our senior class transfers like it is this year, but that number will continue to go down. We will always have to fill a need with the transfer guy whether it is a four year guy or a two year guy.

 

On if Kansas State’s quarterback Jake Waters resembles Collin Klein

It is a little different body type. They are both athletic. Collin Klein is just a smart player that was big. People say that he couldn’t throw the ball well, but he came out here and completed 95 percent of his passes two years ago. They both can run the ball. Waters just keeps getting better and better. He is a tremendous competitor. He has developed with guys and you can tell by how the team is playing overall. The efficiency is the same.

 

On Kansas State’s quarterback Jake Waters

He is mobile. They do a lot of quarterback run game. They will do some things where he is doing the option. They are just going to flat out snap it to him, and he is going to run the ball. They do some different things. They do some unique things in the run game with the quarterback that poses problem. You have to account for him, but then he can still throw the ball and he has some pretty quality receivers. No. 14 (wide receiver Cory Sexton) is a heck of a football player as well. He has some weapons that he can throw too. They pose problems, there is no doubt.

 

On Coach Snyder’s success with the players

It’s amazing. He’s the most respected guy in our profession. He does it the right way. It’s developing a culture of good family values. Program guys work hard and develop depth. It means a lot to him. They do the right things, and play the right way. They don’t beat themselves down. I can go on and on.

 

On Clint Trickett’s transfer situation from the other transfers on the team

That is one reason why we are winning some games. It means so much to him. With that said, he got here in August, so it took him a while to be able to be on the same page with coaches. He had a couple of buddies from way back when, but still he didn’t know 90 percent of the team. That still takes time in order to get accomplished. It does mean a lot to him, and he understands what it means to the people of West Virginia. He gets the support, and it has been good to have him down in the locker room so he kind of spread the word as well. We’re going to continue to try and recruit some West Virginia kids to be in the locker room, and be able to spread the word as far as what it means growing up as a Mountaineer.

 

On common themes throughout the last two games with Kansas State

We screwed it up in the fourth quarter last year, and we screwed up in the first quarter a couple of years ago. They are obviously a different team. This year, they are more like they were two years ago. They were a heck of a football team two years ago, and they are a heck of a football team right now too.

 

On facing another ranked opponent

It is the fifth top-15 team this year. It is a big game on national television, and it is going to be a great atmosphere. We know that we are going to be the only game on and everybody is going to be watching. We are playing a quality football team who won a bunch of games. It is important for them to win as well, and I think we are probably used to it already. Does it help in getting the victory? I don’t think it helps in getting the victory, because they are used to it too. They are used to challenging games, and I think our guys are going to be ready to play. I don’t think quote on quote that “it is too big for us to handle” because we been through it already this year. That is what the Big 12 is all about. I said it a hundred times. Everybody is disappointed that we didn’t win a couple of weeks ago, but we are going to have another opportunity in about three days.

 

On calling plays to protect the quarterback

When you have a defensive front that gets after it like those two teams did we have to be careful with how we call plays to protect him. That’s not different than any other team I have been on with a quarterback that we have to protect. He is our starting quarterback, and we don’t have a very experienced back-up so we have to be careful in protecting him. I think everybody tries to protect their guys, so we try to figure out what Clint (Trickett) can do right, and I think he’s best attribute as far as being a quarterback is understanding what we are trying to do with the ball and make it happen. 

 

On senior night speaking to the team before the Kansas State game

Yeah we are going to have that. That is not this game, but that is more bowl game. This is the last home game for the seniors. It is special. Then there is the last road game for the seniors, and that is pretty cool too. Then there is the bowl games for the seniors which is truly their last game. Whatever it takes to spin it to where they play good.