NCAAF 2021 04 25 West Virginia Spring Game 720p60

you're watching the 2021 gold blue spring game on big 12 now on espn plus we're here at milan pushkar stadium a beautiful day in morgantown where the spring game makes its triumphant return to mountaineer field after a season of improvement looking forward to seeing the mountaineers in action today nick farrell here alongside with the wolf man dale wolfeley we're here to bring you all the action along with angelica tranone our sideline reporter wolfe spring game is here fans back in the stadium they even had an opportunity to get a vaccine here today if they wanted one a lot to be excited about absolutely and there's a lot that's going on today but the main thing is this that the spring game is back and this is uh a treasure this is something that is a reward for the players for the culmination of the whole spring that they've been having and i know that they are excited and they've improved in all phases when you look at neil brown the head coach he is excited and fired up about this team so a less traditional spring game than what some fans may be used to on the way today we'll of course walk you through it as we progress wolf going to see more drills today yes there will still be some like on like scrimmaging but this will really give fans a true glimpse of what a practice is like under head coach neil brown absolutely you're going to see how he does conduct practice but you know it's showtime nick and that means that these players are gonna have to step up one-on-one competitions man i'm telling you it's gonna be exciting the receivers they've got to catch the ball one-on-one against the dbs whatever it may be o-line d-line but it's going to be fun and we're going gonna enjoy the ride it's time to bring on the mountaineers a lot of competition on the way today as guys continue to battle for playing time in the fall as well as bragging rights we'll check in with the head coach in a moment when we return on big 12 now on espn plus welcome back the 2021 gold blue spring game is about to begin here at milan pushkar stadium you're watching big 12 now on espn plus as pregame festivities continue here on mountaineer field the gold blue spring game a partnership lasting four decades with wvu medicine children's fans back in the stands the band is here cheerleaders here it's really got the feel of a normal spring game now the big news of course other than the spring game is the fact that head coach neil brown has just been locked into a two-year contract extension athletic director shane lyons announced that a couple of days ago so that means that coach brown is locked in at west virginia until 2026 it's a two-year extension on the four years remaining on the original deal that he signed when he joined the mountaineers and of course coach brown coming off a six and four campaign last season that culminated with a liberty bowl victory and wolff coach brown a perfect four-and-oh in bowl games in his career but sure is nice to know that bowl games are important again no matter where they're at and when you're a young team and you look at how coach brown has led the team to where it's at and saying that this liberty bowl was an important game man it really was how about darius stills you know mr west virginia mr consensus all americans saying i'm gonna play against army offensive lineman that just tried to take his legs out you know what i mean that is great that is team camaraderie and that's what neil brown is building here at wvu what you're seeing on the sidelines players coaches staff locked arm and arm for the big 12 unity moment we've seen this before every sporting event in the big 12 this year we'll pause thank you throughout the year in all sports a big 12 conference emphasizing unity seen a lot of these efforts if you've watched big 12 now on espn plus if you've been in the arena or at the stadium for any of these sporting events lots of efforts from the conference and its member teams to emphasize unity diversity and inclusion we're going to go now to our third member of our crew angelica tranone she's standing by with head coach neil brown angelica all right guys well hold on just a minute we've got the head coach jogging this way right now momentarily all right hey coach first we want to ask you we were just talking about the contract extension for you through 2026. shane lyon said that wasn't part because he can see the growth of this program under your leadership how meaningful is it to see that commitment to what you're trying to build here at west virginia well one of the huge draws for me angelica with this with this job was the alignment from dr ghee to shane um and really from the board of governors to dr guillen down and so just really humble humbled by it a lot of gratitude i think it speaks what our staff and our players are done probably more so than myself but we're on an upward trajectory i really believe that we're that we're building toward a championship level program now coach we know we're doing a unique format here today not the typical game we're going to see some competition some drills what are you looking to see from your guys in that setting i want us to have fun you know i want to be entertaining for the people that are here and then are watching on tv i want us to compete and then the last thing i want us to play clean football those are the those are the objectives for this afternoon all right coach we appreciate the time all right nick back to you hey angelica thanks very much and sorry for forcing coach brown to run across the field i guess everybody's getting their work in today wolf well i've been running all over the place going from one tv show to the next stop if i'm doing that he can certainly run across the field yeah you're a big deal wolf i don't know about as big of a deal as head coach neil brown but you know up there up there so here's what's happening today we mentioned it will be some traditional scrimmaging but the first drill is now underway with that whistle it's a special teams drill the avoid drill what we're looking to see and you see it there michael laflin just put josh chandler on the turf the you've got the coverage team that's trying to get past the blockers blockers trying to block the coverage team out of the zone and prevent them from reaching those final cones because that would mean that they would then tackle the return man right wolf this is how they're building their special teams honor code it is an honor to be on these special teams and to really building that culture here at wvu watch this now the one guy's trying to block the other guy is trying to get by this is competition they break down special teams to every dissection that you can in the special teams i mean they're even looking at routines where you're looking for the ball i mean they break it all down so that nothing comes as a surprise during the special teams play the viewer sitting at home starting to get the feel of what this spring game will look like it might be similar to a pro bowl skills challenge you know some of the what the nba all-star game will look like with a three-point shooting contest and that sort of thing but wolf coach brown throughout his entire time here day one in morgantown he said he's going to place an emphasis on special teams and he really means it he does and the one thing i've learned about coach brown the last couple seasons when he says something he means it especially when it comes to wvu football and that's what he does with his staff and they all take it with pride the special teams coaches i saw them they stand up and they compete with each other the coaches to get the attention of those teams and their players it is really something to see i really like it and i like what they're doing with the special teams it's pride man pride it's about energy it's about juice that's what coach brown calls it juice right it's also about fundamentals that's the key that's at the center of all of it well again is you're trying to make these special teams you hear jeff koontz the special teams coordinator talk about special teams in the universal language when you see a wide receiver blocking the defensive back it is no different than the punt return specialist going back there trying to block the defender on the punt return so they're trying to use universal which of course nick developed depth we're watching the special teams portion of the gold blue spring game it's the opening drill a special teams competition called the avoid drill at the push car complex and by the way there are some serious bragging rights up for grabs teams mathis thornton smith and lowe have been going at it throughout spring and the teams are trying to compete against each other earning points earning bragging rights to see who's the best special teams unit in the spring and what else a big prize of gear all right so they're going ahead and they're raising the competition and it's fun so that'll wrap the first competition we'll be back with more from the gold blue spring game in just a moment stay with us you're watching big 12 now on espn plus back here at milan pushkar stadium the gold blue spring game continues on big 12 now on espn plus what you're watching is the mountaineer drill and it looks like the defense is just one wolf yeah the divas what they're trying to do is go 20 yards on four plays and it's really the old oklahoma drill up one-on-one with a running back and you know it's just it's just not knows man it's offensive lineman against defense alignment and a running back but this time they put three there as you'll see here in the second group and honestly this is just who gets lower who's using the proper technique inside hands offense defense leverage and inside hands and movement of the feet works and that was first down you got to stay within the cones nick and this will be second down of course they have to reach to the end zone marquan rucker is your running back in blue the offensive lineman for the blue squad is rucker's looking for a hole look at that wolf marquana rucker sistersville west virginia tyler consolidate i want to tell you this he has repped them very well he is doing well up here in morgantown he goes off the side of john hughes there set up the block on the outside big john hughes he is a senior he's you know he's out of navarro college in from texas so uh you know deep creek or deep view creek high school so again is this is guys that are all over the place you're going to be seeing it that you know the mountaineers have a lot of players from different states when you look at west virginia you know they have 20 guys whether it be the great walk-on program that neil brown is building or the scholarship players like your zach frazier's out of fairmont or your dante stills out of furman or you know now you got doug nester the transfer from virginia tech out of canova spring valley west virginia right right so i'm telling you it's there's a lot of good stuff coming with the west virginia people neil brown and staff are building a wall around it and any good players are saying come here to wvu this is your home this is where you need to be and it's nice to see so a quick note here as we switch between drills going from the mountaineer drill to another special teams competition the kickoff challenge but a quick word on scoring wolf's got his graph paper out he's going to be charting the score throughout the day because it is going to be some unique scoring it's all drill based and for example with the blue team scoring twice in the mountaineer drill they now lead the gold team six nothing but the individual winners of these competitions is what's most important here the kickoff challenge about to begin you've got danny king going up against casey leg leg maybe has the most apt name for a kicker in all of college football what we're looking for here wolf in this drill hang time and location it's as simple as this best ball wins it's as simple as that it's as simple as where coach brown and staff tell you to kick that ball so they're telling him saying this is where i want you to kick it this is the hang time i want you to have and again that's going to lead to what better special teams on the kickoff so danny king kicked the first ball he's a red shirt freshman from cumberland maryland coach brown's been impressed by him so far in the spring that's casey leg with the boot inside the five-yard line and of course fans will remember leg a charleston west virginia native who saw some time last season after fellow west virginia native evan staley went down with a season-ending injury and it does appear that lagg had the best ball now that was a nice kick now remember casey lake he never played football in high school because the cross road lanes christian school only played soccer so again he had to adapt as he got here into morgantown in wdu pinned it right down inside the five-yard line and they do award the points to the blue team 9-0 your score and that about wraps us up here for the first quarter of competition in the gold blue spring game we will see in the second quarter some more traditional scrimmaging some ones against ones and twos against twos that means you will see jared deggie and garrett green at quarterback for the mountaineers most likely as we'll get ready to head into some traditional spring game scrimmaging okay thank you all for being here you're watching the gold blue spring game on big 12 now on espn plus coach brown addressing the fans here in attendance as we catch a little bit of a breather here wolf do you like the energy that you're seeing and feeling in the stadium today well this is different i think the fans are beginning to appreciate about what coach brown is doing and again it's it's different and people are you know really buying into it here i can see by the crowd they like it what you're hearing from coach brown gold offense against blue defense opportunity to see some live ball scrimmaging wolf they've done this throughout the the off season in spring practices and we've seen coach brown highlight some of the big time players throughout we're going to touch on some of those story lines here in just a moment when we come back live scrimmaging in the gold blue spring game stay right there with us you're watching big 12 now on espn plus coverage of the gold blue spring game continues here on big 12 now on espn plus jarrett deggy last year's qb one getting ready to rock and roll as we'll see some live scrimmaging here in the second quarter of the spring game as well as another special teams challenge before we'll break for halftime as well as the annual award presentation the spring game awards including the tommy nikolic award which is given annually to the top walk-on in the program as well as the iron mountaineer awards those of course go to the most active and successful mountaineers in the weight room during the off-season training program all right wolf one-on-ones man let's go good i'm good so let's see what we've got here jared daggie in the shotgun quarterbacking the gold team which by the way trails by a score of nine to nothing here a key message or dante stills applying pressure right away daggy almost throws a pick good pressure up the middle there from stills and mesador well i'll tell you what dante stills and a key message i'm just going to say it right now they are going to be two defensive linemen that the big 12 is definitely going to have to look out for those opposing teams they really have had a special spring ball zach frazier at center for the gold team letty brown is the running back to dougie's right near side wide receiver includes sam james a guy they're looking for more from this year how about a guy that they're looking for more from too bryce ford wheaton with the reception there a guy that neil brown has called uber talented absolutely and you know he is a legacy coach ford other than you know nick was here for 40 plus years he's one of the first black administrators to integrate wvu and the georgia southern conference and it was just you know a great thing to have him big player big time potential it's third and three and situational football is something the mountaineers have been emphasizing throughout this spring including third down success and that's a successful third down your new number one by the way is winston wright west virginia's top returning receiver used to be tj simmons but wolf wright had a fantastic year last season absolutely 47 receptions 553 yards averaging 12 yards per reception he had a breakout season by the way the mountain years two years ago in neil brown's first season is jared daggy shows his legs that's not garrett green that's jared daggy west virginia was last in the big 12 conference on third downs converting only 34 last season much better third in the conference converting about 42 percent of its third down so second and two here that's what they've been working with jared deguian running the ball in the pocket moving want to know your thoughts on a thought from degree here in a moment wolf is oh a little bit of reverse action winston wright with that jet speed around the side to pick up another first down for the mountaineers wolf one positive comment that we've heard from jared parker about jarrett deggy since you bring it up is his ability to extend plays it's improving how important is that for diggy skillset well absolutely i think that was the one thing in the game last year that was missing and he has worked on he's conscious about it and i know that coach brown is very happy with the progress that he's made thus far dagi's got the gold team marching after winston wright picked up a first down a moment ago it is a first and ten letty brown to the left of deggi good pressure from taj alston they'll blow that one dead it's a coverage sack taj alston good to see him back on the field after he's had two tough years with injuries absolutely i'll tell you the numbers lumberton north carolina guy union pines high school and compiled lincoln community college he has been waiting for this year he's healthy and through the spring ball he's been very exceptional thus far so after the loss of yardage it's second and 17 from about the 45 yard line near side three wide receivers for the mountaineers including winston wright but deggy goes to the top of the screen to letty brown not much doing there as it's x-ray low who was in the vicinity to force brown out of bounds you know lenny brown has really been getting light work but coach chad scott said he's been there mentally all about mental reps and now physical reps which is good because the second leader leading rusher in the big 12 had a big season last year took a lot of carries with 199. gold blue scrimmage continues at milan pushkar stadium live action jarrett deggy trying to march the gold team down the field but it is a third and long facing the gold squad deggy pressured again they'll blow it dead and i believe that's van darius cowan who comes up with the stop well i'll tell you then darius cowan man palm beach gardens uh florida palm beach gardens high school and alabama he's what a senior he's been hurt himself another guy right six foot four 245 pound banded and he's just starting to come into his own remember this is year three in the system they're just starting to come together they're just getting it the light bulb is just going off nick that was something that in our conversation with defensive line coach jordan leslie wolfe he brought that up that even these veteran guys you know this spring has been important for young guys because they need to get acclimated to what's happening to what's expected of them but after the loss of last spring it's been really important for these veteran guys because now they're really starting to get it last spring really had ramifications or the loss of that and you know when you look at the coach and leslie and he's now the bandit coach he's defensive coordinator andrew jackson is a new hire on there as the defensive line coach but they work so uh together and they combine all the time so they're really working a lot together as the bandit to the defensive line because they mix so much in and the pressure packages that you see all right so we saw the first team go at it this is the second drive of four in this live scrimmaging period and it's garrett green the red shirt freshman who is taking the snap gives the handoff to the bottom of the screen good hit two on the play by drew joseph from south charleston what a hit on the near side well i'll tell you what yeah that's nice i'll tell you what somebody woke up fresh today most definitely wolf most definitely fumble on the play who's going to get on it there gold team really gold defense it's the second string d really applying some pressure here wolf let's watch the replay with the ball on the ground okay coaches aren't gonna like that because it's about ball security how do you control that ball and they got to get that together second drive of this four-drive scrimmage it's the twos versus the twos garrett green the dual threat qb from tallahassee florida in the shotgun and gets it he has avarious sparrow on his side goes over the middle and it's incomplete do we get a flag yes we do neil brown wanted to see clean football not gonna like that wolf no that's uh one negative play for the offense one negative play for the defense number two defense ball replaced at the spot of the foul first down look at the contact here upper right part of your screen yeah too soon that's a redshirt freshman that's daryl porter he is out of fort lauderdale florida he's gonna learn but he's had a very good spring he's a solid solid number two right now and let's see how much more he gets going one of those defensive backs that west virginia needs some production from this year west virginia may be a little low on numbers in terms of linebackers and defensive backs but did just sign charles woods from fcs illinois state how about that throw by garrett greene the crowd loves it complete to kate and prather a big time freshman out of maryland oh boy those two are some youngins there they got a lot of talent but you see what coach brown is saying there you go here's the replay watch his eyes what he sees six four oh 203 be good to let him look maybe a little bit more but i'll tell you this to montgomery village northwest high school maryland kaden prather prather one of several four-star recruits in neil brown's latest signing class in early enrollee guy that they can expect big things from in the future whistle will blow that one dead it was jordan jefferson getting good pressure on garrett green jj he is out of navarre in florida brevard high school he's repping well for wvu he's repping navarro proud to have him he's a big tree stump man he's like 6'3 295 and he's right in the middle anchoring it played in 17 games in his mountaineer career including six games in the pandemic short shortened 2020 season it's a second and 15 now after the loss of yards reece smith on the near side in the slot for the mountaineers another young talented guy to keep an eye on near with prather on the bottom of the screen garrett green goes top side a lot of gold jerseys there to bring up a third down well that's sam brown right there out of savannah georgia let's take a look at what garrett green sees from behind gets a little curl right there sam brown is 6-2 203 out of savannah saying and he has got the world of potential for it he's just got to reach out and get it brown's back on the top of the screen garrett green on third down more situational football what can the youngster do the handoff goes to avarious sparrow takes it inside the five-yard line let's look take a look here from behind and watch the whole develop right there look at that big offensive line that's the second line this means that wvu is getting depth net offensive line department which again that has been very tough over the years here at wvu so we will get a field goal attempt here for the blue team currently leads 9-0 if you're keeping track of the scoring at home it's tyler sumter who will take the kick grayson malicious with the hold good view from behind as sumter splits the uprights tyler something putting it through the upright and guess what that's your six-year super senior super senior builds himself he does he's got a he's got a lot of charisma to him i like him i like what i see of course you know evan staley is another super senior that is out right now but he's recovering expect to be back this fall so there will be a big competition going on between about actually two or three maybe even four kickers so with that score by the blue team 12-zip the score now the 2021 gold blue spring game continues from milan pushkar stadium back with another drive ones versus ones that means we'll see jared deggy maybe some letty brown may also see some tony mathis here wolf that's a guy at running back that west virginia is really trying to groom to become the backup behind letty brown the thousand-yard rush i think he's in that position right now although avaria sparrow has been doing well this spring uh tony has really stepped up and done a great job mathis is to diggy's right on first down on the third series he will get the touch but right there to eat them up is van darius cowan once again i'll tell you what i really like what i'm seeing he is healthy for the first time since his transfer from alabama and he's getting the system down i'd like this this is a good sign for wvu quick note on some stats daggy was three for four on his first drive for about 20 yards garrett green perfect three for three 57 yards that included a 51-yard bomb that led to the field goal of connection with true freshman caiden prather looking left has a man it's bryce ford wheaton who'll be just shy of the sticks that's his second reception let's take a look here a couple looks here comes the pressure he feels it gets rid of it still makes the delivery again i like i like his feet though he was square he was ready to throw nice release brandon yates the big left tackle former all big 12 honorable mention too giving dagi just enough time to get that throw out that was nice to see right there i thought tony actually had a little bit more room that was a quick whistle but again i like what the offensive line is doing that's a big emphasis this year of course you know two years ago they ever 72 yards running per game last year's about they doubled it the 140. i'll tell you they're really improving their running game big emphasis this spring first and ten for degree and the gold unit at midfield he's going to have to roll out can he extend the play finds tony mathis who will find contact after a gain of about one wolf a quick thought on the offensive line the depth that you've discussed a moment ago how important that is tell me this how important simply is experience on this offensive line when you've got so many young guys that were forced to play last year or even two years ago well when you think about it you got zach frazier he just blew my mind because i've never seen a freshman what a terrific exception i've never seen him come in and do something like that playing center and guard and then of course you look at brandon yates who was honorable mention all big 12 as a redshirt freshman hey i put out there a week ago the blind side is real and he was left tackled admirable job by him as well he's only getting better each time he walks out in that field every time both yates and frazier were all big 12 honorable mentions an incredible season for frasier the former fairmont senior polar bear who started as a true freshman something that you never see on the offensive line at west virginia third and three for the gold team degree with mathis in his sidecar goes top of your screen and it's another completion to winston wright absolutely winston right he is elusive and let's watch from behind one more time he's going to do a quick release get rid of it and it's on target when he's in the run he is moving catching him in stride that just means more extra yards after catch small sample size here wolf podeggi seems very composed locked in for the spring game as we talked to coach brown he told us that he feels very good about the maturity level and understanding the system and what's expected of him i think coach brown even said that dagi might be one of the most improved players on this roster which is a good sign if he's going to be your starting quarterback next year that's a great sign looking deep this time winston writes there oh what a fantastic catch by west virginia's leading receiver from the 2020 campaign snag that one out of the air over jared bartlett from the quarterback to the receiver look at the touch right there that's a pretty ball that's a pretty catch that's a first stop so gold team inside the 20 degree leading the charge ones versus ones here on this third drive of the scrimmage with the gold team trailing 12-0 had a flag thrown early there as dagi goes to mathis yeah while they sort that flag out let's talk about you know letty brown had 31 receptions last season out of the backfield that was number two in receptions they had 202 yards and he had two receiving touches number eight defense five yard penalty still first down so just when i was pumping up vandarius cow and he goes ahead and jumped outside but you know what if you're gonna if you're gonna make a penalty go ahead make it an aggressive penalty because it means that you're in tune into the game goal team continuing to march after the flag it is a first and five michael laughlin is your man in motion the tight end had a touchdown last season give is to tony mathis they'll mark him down at about the nine-yard line for a short gain of two well in the real game right here when you're watching the replay i think you know he's gonna go ahead he's gonna go north and south he's gonna put his shoulder down and you're going to see him explode because that's what he's done this spring guy who's becoming more comfortable running the ball in every which way you talk to running backs coach chad scott says he thinks that mathis is the type of guy that is an inside zone type of player but he's getting more comfortable deep throw into the end zone did he catch it no it's incomplete intended for bryce ford wheaton on that far side that was cool let's take a look at the end of play let's see how that went down the feet oh that's going closer that's close oh boy yeah i'm sure you didn't have control there good call but again that's what you're looking at and the potential that you could have make the catch next time it's all right it's about the same spot where ford wheaton had a humongous touchdown grab against baylor in that double overtime victory for the mountaineers early in the 2020 regular season there's another one that's incomplete and that's uncharacteristic from winston wright to drop that one it sure is but you know last season you know they had some drops that they had to deal with and i i really like what happened with the uh what they're doing this year jerry parker is telling spring hey listen let's remove the drama let's not worry about don't worry about anybody else close the wagons circle up this is our room and we're going to take care of it i think that they've done a really good job so far this spring and i'm looking forward to this group of receivers remember they have eight wide receiver letterman returning when you see the kick the kick is good for the gold team so finally danny king does get the gold squad on the board we told you earlier that while evan staley is still out with an injury king is a guy who has impressed during this kicking competition for the mountaineers and we'll see more special teams drills later on but still now one more drive for the twos blue team coming back on offense with garrett greene at quarterback once again one more quick note on the wide receivers wolf something in our conversation with jared parker earlier this week telling us that he admits that the wide receiver is underachieved period and he's taking it personally but we heard from bryce ford wheaton and this is just a remarkable number that just has stuck with me he told us that during the winter during the true offseason before spring ball the wide receivers tracked every single catch and they caught more than 89 000 balls that seems like a lot that's a lot of balls and you just saw garrett green almost get that pass intercepted and look at the break from the defender on the ball that's uh muhammad i'll tell you what the coach is going to say hey catch that ball but then again you just saw garrett green redshirt freshman out of tallahassee florida makes a great play the passes that he could also get you a little bit in trouble he's got to learn that and learn to understand when to throw it when not to throw it but not to push it green goes back to caden prather second reception for the true freshman wolf we've been talking about the wide receivers here we've got a special treat coming for you in just a moment we'll go to them after this play angelica tranone is standing by with a fan favorite former wide receiver for west virginia we'll get one more here on this third and six garrett green in the shotgun two wide receivers to the top of your screen green under duress has to roll out but this is what he does well to extend the play did he get to the first down marker it looks like he's short he's short but he just saw what he can do and that's what's so exciting about him and his future you know when you think about it gary greene played up until high school all just baseball so they will extend the drive and as they do it let's check in with angelica tranos with tj simmons all right guys i've got tj simmons here with me a former wvu wide receiver first tj before i get your opinion on these receivers what's it feel like to be back here at milan pushkar stadium man it feels good haven't been in morgantown in a while it feels good to be back feels good to see the people in the fans now i see you've got the number one obviously that was for tj tj was number one last year but we got a new number one on the receiving core that's winston wright what can you tell us about what he can do this year you know that's my little brother man i've been i've been raising him up since he got here i've been his mentor and he's going to do big things last year was just the start he's got going to have a bigger role this year go have big shoes to fill that one jersey on just like i did and i think he's going to step up to the plate all right last one for you though t.j we heard the confidence is a big thing for this wide receiving group this year what can you tell us about how these guys have grown so far this spring um as you guys can see we had we went through a rough pass last year during the season had a lot of drops and at some point during the season we turned that all around and i think they're still building on that momentum first real spring with coach parker didn't get a spring last year he got time to groom him you're going to get a full summer and i think these guys are going to be ready to play by time fall columns tj thank you great to see you best of luck all right angelica and tj that's spectacular hey what a great play there wolf by daryl porter jr the interception in the end zone this is a pick hey when you look at this right here on the replay wow he's seeing the ball makes the play game time when it counts redshirt freshman again we're going to step aside the punt challenge is coming up next the gold blue spring game continues in a moment we'll also chat with amy bush of wvu medicine children's in a moment time for the punt challenge here as the gold blue spring game continues at milan pushkar stadium you're watching big 12 now on espn plus while we enjoy another special teams challenge we welcome in amy bush the chief operating officer of wvu medicine children's amy we appreciate you joining us here in the booth in a socially distanced manner this spring game and the partnership between wvu medicine children's how important is it so this partnership really means everything to us you know this started over 40 years ago with coach nealon and it's been told to me that coach deland wanted to add a teammate to his roster and it was w medicine children's and and it's just continued to grow ever since and we're really appreciative of that yeah you know amy i really experienced that uh with coach nealon when i came in 1986 and it was 1984 i believe that you guys formed that uh partnership and the players coming in every friday meant so much to me that it taught me so that today now i feel like i have to go ahead and i want to go ahead but i feel like it's my duty to keep it going and keep serving wvu medicine children's yeah you know when the football players visit it's it's the highlight but it's not just that it's really important for you know we hear about philanthropy we hear about giving money and to bricks and mortar technology to provide this subspecialty care but more important we want the kids to have some normalcy in life and so when they're in the hospital fighting they become our hero we get to visit with them they get to visit with us and hopefully we make a difference and so you know not only going in to visit but we have the traditional wave when the football players come over for the game and as we open our new hospital we'll have every floor on the inpatient side where the football players can can look back and wave to those kids and then on the top floor we're gonna have a broadcasting room so the kids can actually go up if they're well enough and watch the game on the big screen so exciting time so by the way a quick note blue team now leads 15 to six after the special teams challenge we're with amy bush the ceo of wvu medicine children's we have a great view from the booth of the children's hospital amy give us an update on the progress there so we can't wait to open the doors to our new hospital here in the coming months and uh beautiful picture you can see it there on the screen i can see it out the window here in the in the tv booth but one of the unique things about our new hospital is it's it's designed for kids and the caretakers to take care of those kids in a kid-like environment but it's also very important to note we have a new birthing center in there and we're connected to our adult flagship hospital so if mom or baby needs higher care they can get it right there on the same place well amy we really appreciate you taking the time to join us today to shed some light on this really amazing partnership that's raised over three quarters of a million dollars for wvu medicine children she's amy bush the ceo of wvu medicine children's thanks for joining us thanks for having me have a great day yeah you too amy we're having a lot of fun here as the gold blue spring game continues wolf they're going to play more football how about that coach brown has extended the second quarter because he makes the rules and they're going to scrimmage a little bit more jarrett daggie to letty brown that's good for a big pick up to midfield yeah nick again that's what's nice about being the the head coach especially with an extension that's right wolf that's right you get to call the shots you get to make the rules right it's all it's all good to be neil brown here we go second and one wasn't enough for a first down just shy of midfield diggy's been pretty solid overall five for seven for 45 yards looking deep again that one to sam james but it falls in complete coverage nick troy fortune yeah sam james last year 31 receptions for about 300 yards and again the roswell uh or richmond hill georgia richmond hill high school got seven players from georgia hands to face number 90 defense 15 15-yard penalty first down gold team so we'll be a first down for the gold team we thank you for being along with us here on big 12 now on espn plus looks like the rain is holding off for the gold blue spring game the first one since 2019 got some scrimmaging live scrimmaging going on the ones versus the ones right now the blue team leads the gold team 15 to six scoring both in live scrimmaging and from drills as we said neil brown making the rules making the scoring he's the one keeping track of all this daggy though hoping to get the gold team back within striking distance here as it is a two score game he's got letty brown to his left and a pair of wide receivers on the top of the screen here that one goes to letty brown and he's bottled up right away you know you know having amy come in here and talking about children's hospital and what it what has meant through the years not only for myself you do think of jeff hodge stether brian joe's react all the players that really stepped up and all the players that go over there every friday it's something that you're taught you you keep doing it because you're taught that and that goes back to coach kneeling and i just can say this nick it is special special special anyone who can get involved with wv medicine children's i highly recommend it because there's nothing greater than taking care of one's own and these are our children all part of coach nealon's legacy right wolf all part of it man he's a hall of fame coach hall of fame man betty brown with the carry there a moment ago just as a quick reminder you won't see any contact on these running backs today and of course letty has been limited in terms of his contact in the spring trying to keep him as fresh as possible but also trying to develop those backup running backs in sparrow and mathis deep ball to winston wright couldn't hang on to it but we do have a flag as alonso would die might have had a no-no yeah it's just look at this contact quick release but again the contact comes at the end of the play yeah interferes with them good call deliberations here over the flag and then where the spot will be we'll get the call here in just a moment two fouls on the play both by the defense offside number 12 defense that penalties decline passer interference number four defense that penalty is enforced 15 yards automatic first down all right two things nick tell me that offside second time again if you're gonna make a mistake it's aggressive means they're attacking means they're they're giving what they can you don't want to see it but it's spring ball we'll straighten that out second thing is listen right junior he's already a handful oh my god already has been in the shotgun again right is on the near side along with isaiah esdail far side bryce ford wheaton and sam james more pressure coming from the blue team it's esdale with the reception inside the 10. he'll be bottled up at about the nine yard line how about this for a note we've been joking about neil brown but he does this is a good one wolf he says isaiah asdale has the best hands on the team of anybody except for coach brown who by the way was once called touchdown neil brown in his day he does have a fantastic pair of hands he was really called touchdown brown i didn't know that you went down there kentucky told me that that's a fact touchdown neil brown he set all kinds of records at boyle county high school only for rhys smith a current mountaineer to break a ton of them dagi with another opportunity here inside the 10 to give is to letty brown he'll bowl his way down to about the seven yard line what made what made betty so special was that he could break tackle after tackle getting close to halftime here as we have extended this second quarter for more live scrimmaging we saw two drives for the ones two drives for the twos this is now the third drive for the for the proverbial starters here for the mountaineers at halftime we'll have an awards presentation the annual spring awards the iron mountaineer as well as the tommy nikolic award given to the program's top walk-on and then the qb challenge something to really look forward to we'll get to see deggy and garrett green go one on one as letty brown spins and is marked down at about the three you know lady brown in a real game i think he blows through that tackle that's a touchdown yeah i believe so you know touchdown or he's going to be right in the goal line right one or the other because letty is tough hey the newman goretti graduate out of philadelphia is special mountaineers were 88 percent effective in the red zone last season 61 of their trips ending in touchdowns degree wants to go for six here esdale with those hands no he didn't hang on to it almost in the corner of the end zone well that's the second time we've seen that with the receivers let's take a look here at the replay follow the ball coming down in his hands you got to put that in secured but i'm going to tell you this isaiah ezdale has had one terrific spring ball he has stepped up here coming into his senior season campaign good to hear wolf you've been with the team for just about every practice and developing depth at all these positions you know there's a lot of talent in this wide receiver room but that group what we've heard is it's been the most competitive of the competitions among the wide receivers well it has and not many people have been able to see what they've done this spring but if you're going to take my word for it i'm telling you this is a group that is much improved and they are going to be dangerous in the big 12 to opposing defenses so they don't give letty the touchdown there it'll be third and goal from about the one yard line it's the gold blue spring game with the blue team ahead by nine letty brown gets hit in the backfield but jared daggie there you go swept it in what what do you want your diggy to do move his feet more carry the ball and that is exactly what we just saw there look at the replay yeah i know coach brown was fired up about that he faked everybody out right he reads it fake the camera man right there there it is touchdown jared that's what was missing last year in the run game him being you know better in the pocket moving around more was missing in the passing game and he has improved this spring so a score update the p-80 is good it's danny king once again the score will be 15-13 with the blue team holding a slight edge a quick break here gold blue spring game it's halftime we'll be back in just a moment with an awards presentation here on big 12 now on espn plus the gold blue spring game continues we promised you a quarterback challenge at halftime and it looks like that's what we're about to get jared deggy against garrett green the two quarterbacks for west virginia you're gonna see three different styles of throws first the fast screen second the naked out third the bucket fade and you're looking for these guys to hit the center net wolf that's how they'll score points yeah i used to do this all the time but that was with my head when i was blocking go ahead there's no wait a second we're hearing something from pa announcer bill nevin who do we have here with a football in his hands wolf is that who i think it is that's miles deuce mcbride from the basketball team former cincinnati mueller high school quarterback listen to the crowd well for a minute i thought it was the undertaker coming out man a deuce mcbride deuce all right now if you've watched any espn broadcast of any of west virginia's basketball games last year by the way deuce he has played quarterback in his lifetime they talk about it all the time and so we're gonna get to see what he's made of today and milan push cars do you think he's been practicing oh definitely there's no doubt too much pride but here's the thing deuce is a gamer deuce is a gamer he's a gamer on the hardwood you know he'll be a gamer for this skills challenge wolf there's no doubt all big 12 guard for the mountaineers second team all big 12 led the team in scoring 16 points per game last season wow i think he's a gamer you're right he's a gamer so again it's deuce against garrett and jarrett three types of throws a fast screen a naked out and a bucket fade for the first two throws looking for the guys to hit the center netting and according to the rules that we receive from the team you missed the net you lose points that's the number one diggies oh for two so far but no points lost because he hit the net third one's golden right there so that's one point for jarrett so far garrett green now with the reps he got one can he get two nope he's got one so one point for daggy one point for green so this is all about net right so deuce ought to be pretty good because nothing but net now man listen to the crowd canning deuce he's even got a jersey on wolf with the number four come on this is awesome here's deuce this is the first one maybe shake off a little bit of rust on deuce from cincinnati ohio misses the second one but he does look good out there wolf third one missed that one too okay well i'm going to tell you what that's a lot better than anything i could do and the form was nice because you notice his footwork nick right his footwork is right there i think the arm's a little bit rusty but let's see what else uh they have coming up in the next competition here for the thrills huh believe that the next throw that we're going to get here is the naked out or perhaps the bucket fade we'll see it'll become apparent here in just a moment here comes the out daggy hits the net but can't find the hole so now garrett green same type of thing rolling out looking for that center netting couldn't get it that's tough man there's no doubt about it all right so here comes deuce he just got a little bit of coaching i think there from neal making sure he walked him through the footwork here deuce come on baby did you see deuce do the fake yeah right right he took it through everything so scorch he's coming back he's hit one garrett greenshit one deuce is still scoreless but we know that deuce is a second half type of gamer big time shot against texas tech at the buzzer then he goes down and defends mac mcclung big time win for the mountaineers at home over the red raiders that was just a couple of months ago don't count him out yet wolf yeah that was exciting time so last one bucket fade this is your your money shot so to speak here diggy to the corner of the end zone hit that one for a point that's pretty nice look at that float through the air man that's the touch great touch should be the last attempt here for diggy can you go three for three oh off the rim deuce doesn't know too much about that though wolf does all of them so garrett green currently trails jared daggy by two he missed the first one second one off the rim two so you see the poise from daggy green misses all three so deuce has an opportunity here for a little bit of bragging rights he could make them all three he could make all three and tie dagi missed that one a little wobbly too all right deuce this is it man gotta hit one right gotta hit one deuce look at that and listen to the crowd go nuts for him you know what a game there's only a few thousand fans out here there's only one national tv going on and he comes out here no big deal he's a hooper right he's a b-ball player and he comes out he does this so deuce mcbride on april 2nd declared for the nba draft he could return to west virginia he has that option maybe you know maybe he could suit up for both teams or something like that wolf i mean never say never i don't know if hugs would ever let him but i'll tell you this coach brown would love to have him what a guy what a competitor deuce mcbride pretty awesome scene there we're going to take a quick break and we'll be back with more on big 12 now on espn plus you're watching the 2021 gold blue spring game on big 12 now on espn plus we're live at milan pushkar stadium we're taking a break for halftime but we've got an opportunity here for to catch up with angelica tranone who's down on the sidelines amidst everything angelica all right deuce you got a football jersey on and if it's one thing that we have known from watching games all season long it is that you were a quarterback in high school so you were out here participating in the quarterback challenge first how did it feel to be back on a football field a little rusty i mean i think everybody saw that but it really felt great i'm really appreciative coach brown bringing me out here and just have some fun when was the last time you did anything football related probably a while about three four years ago all right shaking off a little rust but hey while we have you here i've got to ask you you declared for the nba draft said you were going to put the prep in just give us an inside look how are things going for you what have you been working on as far as your basketball game is concerned really just everything honestly getting used to the nba ball the nba line you know been working out with taz and sean they're also trying trying to go through the draft process as well so it's been a fun been a fun spring so far while deuce it was fun to see in a football jersey we hope to see in a basketball one soon thanks for the time thank you all right deuce and angelica thank you right now what's happening near midfield award presentations every year the coaching staff recognizes the top athletes in the weight room and so far the awardees for the iron mountaineer award zach frazier from fairmont west virginia grayson malishevich a spring valley product tony mathis the running back who's competing for more playing time this year and they've just awarded scotty young the arizona transfer as a fourth iron mountaineer award winner i think we've got one more can you guess who it is no the baddest man in morgantown wolf letty brown the fifth iron mountaineer you know i came up with that did you wow well i just stole your thoughts i'm taking credit where credit is due but you certainly can't take credit for all of letty's hard work in the offseason and hey look at this crew right here you've got letty brown scotty young tony mathis grayson malashevits and you've got zach frazier a couple of west virginia guys a couple of really talented players on this team wow zach frazier one more time i'm telling you the man is impressive a young man a young brother he comes in he plays not one but two positions as a freshman a true freshman in the big 12 mind you with big nose guards big three techniques and he does an outstanding job freshman all american honors and now he's out there in the weight room you know what they said about him he said zach what do you want for your birthday present he said dude i want weights yeah he sounds like your type of guy so those are your iron mountaineers now time for the tommy nikolic award which is granted annually to a distinguished walk-on within the wvu football program the winner was just announced it is spring valley's own grayson malishevich again the award goes to a distinguished walk-on mountaineer it's the sixth time in the last seven years that a west virginia native has won it and it's in memory of former walk-on tommy nikolic who played for the mountaineers from 79 to 82 and died of cancer in 1983 looks like we've got one more surprise here from coach brown what we're going to do is we're going to let you all here as we announce our spring awards the first three awards were voted on by the players the first award is what we call the juice award this is the guy on each side of the ball that has the most energy the most positive energy the winner on offense garrett greene wolf your thoughts on that the juice award to gary not surprised he's a leader even at his young age the winner established himself on defense eddie watkins ah the alabama native out of there out of hillcrest high school hey he's repping he's got the juice gotta love it next award voted again by the players and this is the love to practice award and really this is about the best attitude toward work offensive winner zach frazier another award there for zach frazier the fairmont kid the practice award he's got a weight room award for the previous awards can't get better than that troy fortune all right zach frazier going for the royal flush nick troy special teams jp hadley jp hadley also rewarded for the practice award good news too jp hadley likely the guy that could be the team's long snapper last couple of years west virginia has had some tremendous long snappers too voted on by the players perfect effort award these are the guys that strain the most every day in practice on offense mike o'loughlin so it's the perfect effort award first one to michael lockland for the offense festering oh that's cool too from helsinki finland edward vestiran the true freshman also awarded the french finished school of helsinki i mean but i thought we were going to start talking about that i was shocked i love what they're doing international our next award is our special teams the scout awards now from coach brown he's just dulling him out with blocked punts mohamed all right i like that again what are you doing you're building a culture for special teams it's an honor code you want to play special teams that's an honor for you whether you're first second or third team doesn't matter next award okay for spring ball the most outstanding walk-on i'm going to announce them all three at once and you all come forward please morgantown's own nick malone nice uh what a great moment for the morgantown kid a walk-on nick malone being recognized here as well tyler conley and drew joseph oh and another west virginia native and drew joseph from south charleston recognized for his efforts as a walk-on this spring terrific for malone and for drew joseph as well as tyler connolly an ohio native and to me this next one is what spring ball is about okay it's the most improved first year player and i'm going to announce them all and you'll walk uh walk forward please george first year players being recognized here now by coach brown reece smith jordan white garrett green jackie matthews and taurus simmons rhys smith jackie matthews all right and taurus simmons i think i might have missed one there wolf i don't know because i can't remember that far back yeah well look at that group though but again let's go back to the walk-on awards that neil brown and staff are building this walk-on program award again very well player got more awards by the way the guy i missed was lanell carr who did see some times last year for the mountaineers again that was most improved first offense tony mathis and parker moore parker moore and tony matthews a couple of guys who have just been terrific and to hear them being recognized not surprising vandarius colin i think he's really going to step into this senior year bringing some heat and final message the most neil brown says this is the final award players most competitive players again the most productive sorry most productive players of the spring oh no get it right eventually wolf winston coach brown's just named winston wright as one of the most productive players along with isaiah asdale on defense dante stew dante stills on defense younger brother of darius stills back for one more season thought about the nfl draft wants and malachi ruffin has been recognized for a special teams award earned the most individual points among competitors in team special teams drills but look at that nick again that's how important special teams has been in the spring so that looks like it's it for award presentations we've still got a lot more coming your way here during the gold blue spring game including some one-on-one duels when we return right here on big 12 now on espn plus gold blue spring game continues on big 12 now on espn plus getting ready for some one-on-one drills in the third quarter of the scrimmage but right now we send it down to angelica tranone who has darius stills alongside her angelica all right darius it used to be the stills brothers now we've just got dante out here representing wvu because you're getting ready for a big weekend coming up the nfl draft next weekend what have you been working on since your time here after the bowl game up until now to get prepared for the next one really just getting stronger because whenever you train for pro day and combine they don't focus on strength they focus on speed and agile and everything like that so really i've been getting my strength back i haven't lost a lot of strength but just being able to push more weight for more reps but really just get stronger now for this year we know high expectations on this defensive line almost all of the guys there you've played with what are your expectations for this defensive line for wvu and 20. my expectation expectations just not skip a beat because really the only person that's leaving is me and that's okay because we got uh akimesador coming up he's definitely gonna be the next guy up after dante so i'm just very excited to see how they develop and to least okay i'm just excited to see how they develop and just decide to see how they all turn out this season all right darius thank you best of luck next weekend we hope it will be a memorable day for darius stills whenever he's selected the nfl draft is about a week away also for tony fields who is in the running to be selected we're talking about darius stills who's a guy who was doubted in high school at fairmont senior his little brother dante who's still amounted here is one of the guys that maybe was more hotly recruited but now darius has set himself up to be in position to be selected next week i believe that derries is going to have a very successful career in the nfl he has worked hard he has done all that he can he has represented wvu with freight class and and look right here we've got one-on-ones here lenny brown yeah the one-on-ones are continuing here wolf we've seen some good competition that was josh chandler samado against letty brown next we'll see michael laughlin the tight end for the mountaineers against x-ray low one of those red shirts seniors who could really make an impact for west virginia yeah he's gonna be very important o'loughlin gets the win on that one-on-one as what we continue to watch what's unfolding on the field by the way tai score now 18-18 in the gold blue game quick peek inside the booth reveals that we're joined by shane lyons not only west virginia's director of athletics but the nafta athletic director of the year shane big story this week is the extension of head coach neil brown's contract through 2026. why lock up the head coach now well you know as a matter of looking at the whole body of work what neil's done for the first couple of years and i see great progress you know we we improved last year from where we're at we talked earlier nick about the stats and offensive side of the ball the defensive side of the ball and i just felt you know now's the timing you know we have a lot of minimum momentum going forward and it was just a matter of looking at it and saying why wait until the end of the next football season i had great hopes and let's tie neil brown down for another couple years in his contract yeah i can't agree more and when you look at it with his contract uh in the creeps and the increase in the staff which again is a huge investment on your part for wvu athletics but then when you look at the facilities that you're doing and it's just amazing that the program is going in such a positive upward direction yeah and you touched on a wolf i mean you know the the trajectory is is going up and i just feel the momentum and you know our you know my goals running this department and running this for the state of west virginia that everybody has great pride in is you know we want to get you know back to to competing for big 12 championships and national championships and you know it doesn't happen overnight but i just you know we're building something and why stop now let's keep moving forward with the momentum that we have we're chatting with athletic director shane lyons who not only announced the extension of coach brown's contract but who has been such an integral player in the success of college athletics not just football throughout this pandemic shane to be recognized as the athletic director of the year has to be particularly meaningful to you in light of the fact that there was a real period of time just eight nine months ago we didn't know if we would be playing football yeah you know it was a year last year we you know you look at this stadium it's good to see people back in here not having a spring game last year and then about this time we were starting to determine whether we could even have football you know uh with the sp august coming back up so you know it's been a long year but you know we see light at the end of the tunnel and you know again it's it's been a great honor you know to to have the award but there's a lot of fingerprints to go on that award from my staff and and others and around the college athletics so uh you know very humbled and take great pride in that well shane we're certainly looking forward to what's ahead and enjoying the rest of today's game we appreciate you joining us well thanks you guys thanks for job you all do and let's go mountaineers more still to come on big 12 now on espn plus the gold blue spring game continues right after this time to let them play it's the fourth quarter of the gold blue spring game here on big 12 now on espn plus live scrimmaging once again underway as garrett green is in the shotgun green to reece smith great connection of youngsters out near midfield we joked about smith earlier wolfe with the fact that he is from neil brown's hometown of danville kentucky played at the same high school broke a ton of records that were once owned by coach brown had a really great freshman campaign those two look like each other don't they i don't know i don't know the same body you know elusive quick very talented all rich smith does is catch passes boyle county high school need reliable wide receivers like that though he had 11 receptions for 128 yards last season with a long of 39. by the way when he was in high school more than 4 000 receiving yards and 65 touchdowns as a boyle county rebel all he does is catch balls derrick green working with the offense in a big hole there for avari espero the native of orlando florida moving the sticks yeah that was a very nice hole uh he didn't have to do much i mean that was a right a parting of you know the red sea right there very nice by the way you've got doug nester at right guard i believe for the mountaineers that's a guy we haven't had a chance to talk about yet another spring valley guy wolf transferred in from virginia tech can really be a big component of the mountaineer offense this season well absolutely you see that ball overthrown there but doug naster he played 19 games with virginia tech started 17 of them he's got plenty of experience been watching him this spring had a little late start but then he got into it and really started to come into his own again though iron sharpens iron you know as a one person sharpens another and that's very true when you put dante stills and doug nestor going up against each other they have had a lot of work this spree that was an incompletion a moment ago by garrett green gold team is in front 20 to 19 now after trailing 15-0 early on by the way i think that was green's first incompletion of the day in live action if you're keeping track at home that's what barrow goes for short yardage that was a draw play and that was where he's going to affect the pass the offensive line you know assimilates past protection they didn't bite the defense did not bite and that was a nice job here's the third and ten coming up for the blue team needing a score to pull back in front remember scoring not just during live scrimmage periods but awarded after each drill so that's how we've gotten to this point during the one-on-ones the winner would earn a point for his team green with sparrow to his left he's going to run it himself they'll blow it dead at about the 31 maybe yard line that's going to be well shy of the lead stick here's a replay look at him he pulls it he gets up the field now that possibly just could have been what putting them in field goal position there with his legs except i mean that is something that jared green brings to the offense moving the ball with his legs extending the plays it was trell bradley who was in the vicinity to force the stop there so here we go blue team's going to go for it here three receivers to greens right he looks that way throws one incomplete intended for ree smith really appreciate you being along with us here nick farrell alongside the wolf man dale wolfely as the gold blue spring game continues angelica tranone is the third member of our team on the sidelines today wolf you know i was thinking during our last break coach brown was handing out so many awards i think i should give you one what do you think most productive or most reliable analyst what do you think about that sure that's what that floats you've heard that you've heard of you think so i just wanted to get in on the fun everybody's taking home some hardware i wanted to make sure you got something too well i appreciate that hopefully it comes with a steak or a hamburger okay because that's the only thing i'm looking forward to not a trophy just just a little something that's all i need but i do appreciate the sentiment i got you wolf taking a quick pause here as live scrimmaging continues with the gold team ahead of the blue team 20 to 19. the head man himself neil brown recently signed a two-year extension that'll lock him in in morgantown through the 2026 season mountaineers went five and seven in his first year at the helm then in year two improvement across the board six and four overall including a victory over army in the autozone liberty bowl so garrett green still quarterbacking the blue squad as coach brown shares some instructions with the offensive line now when you look at it you see garrett green and jared deggy they both have had the same number of reps whether it be ones and ones or ones versus twos they've had the same number this spring green wants to go deep here down the field sam brown with a combat catch but he couldn't haul it in as it was broken up by daryl porter jr we've he was the guy who had the interception earlier could be a big-time player for these mountaineers this fall well absolutely let's take a look at the replay play action pass looks left goes right you know you got to put the ball out there a little bit more that's tough on the receiver should have probably still made the catch but that's tough when you have to slow up out of your full stride you want to hit them on the full stride but i definitely liked how the youngin looked them off left and went right by the way quick note on porter former three-star recruit from fort lauderdale florida his father daryl porter senior played eight years in the nfl sure as sparrow gets the carry there for about seven yards again let's take a look at the replay sparrow good footwork makes the move oh that that's a jump cut right there that's nice you can't teach that that's instinctive bradley the safety there again for the stop made a couple of plays recently red shirt junior from west orange new jersey we believe we're going to have one more series after this one one more series of live scrimmaging green bottom of your screen looking for reese smith but overthrew him there you go look at the pump and the throw youngster he's gonna he's gonna learn and this is what you see with the red shirt fresh fruit he could have let it go earlier it could have been an int so again he's learning it's a it's a process you don't learn through anything but experience nick i don't care that's what coach brown did say wolf is that it's all about making those mature decisions at quarterback that's something diggy is doing better green maybe needs to learn it's going the right direction reese smith all he does is catch balls he's not going to drop that one a good throw by green composed there left so again you see him looking over that's that's gaining some there that's the moxie right now going on it was avery wilcox who made the stop there for the gold team as the blue team marches into enemy territory green evading extending the play that throw is caught for a short game by sparrow in a shoot string catch too he could have taken off so he's making decisions right now he runs under extends the play again look at this nice catch by avaria really good hands yeah very good again we really like the feed to the tailback and swing passes letty brown was one of the top receivers on the mounts in your roster in 2020 a lot of plays looking like that those short catches brown's so good with his hands out of the backfield yeah and look at that darrell porter coming with the nice break on the ball this youngster he he has some real good potential i like the way they bring him let's talk about shadow brown who's come in here recently in the last two months uh the corners they have coach has their full respect already in the short period that he's been here he's a teacher as sparrow goes for another carry wolf a quick thought on those defensive backs you imagine that nick troy fortune who has been a starter since his freshman season is going to continue to be a starter this year but that's gonna leave another spot open for a couple of guys to battle you have to imagine that daryl porter is among those guys maybe jackie matthews the junior college transfer who has really shown improvement according to head coach neil brown those guys are probably fighting for that second spot and defensive coordinator jordan leslie said that jackie matthews is one of the most improved on the defense this spring green's gonna tuck it and keep it has daylight inside the 20. that's what you talk about that dual threat mentality there from garrett green using the v the vision to find that spot from behind look at this this is mature it's not that he pulls the ball that is what garrett greene gives you again as he's going to keep maturing and keep understanding what decision he should make and that is pretty nice right there when you go back to what neil brown is the head coach did nick against troy he would every second quarter at the beginning the first series the second quarter he would put it in his number two quarterback and that paid huge dividends when neal's last year at troy because their quarterback went down mid-season they still went to the bowl game and they still won do you think he'll do it this year wolfe i think that gary green is progressing in this offense and that yes i do believe he'll have the opportunity but again why not why not throw a change up again you got jerk daggy who's a redshirt senior and then you have garrett green who's a redshirt freshman so you're looking at the two together have you went right to garrett green which may happen but then again you want a guy that's already been maturing and making those decisions so again you're gonna have to live with that but if you can bring him in and give him some spot action that's a way to build a quarterback green looking for the end zone here but he overthrows his intended man kaden prather out of bounds that'll bring up a third and short here for the blue team you know nick when you think about it when i was a registered freshman playing i was offensive lineman if you're running away from me i screwed up you could still have a successful play at quarterback it's not so easy because when they have a big mistake it's a big mistake of course we're gonna go the other way now right green completed 75 of his passes last season for the mountaineer saw action in two games only threw four times look at the hustle there into the end zone by avarious sparrow for a nine yard touchdown scamper red zone nine yards you gotta like that offensively if you're looking at the replay look at that big hole yeah big hole again the offensive line is really making some moves two years ago you heard jerry parker talk about they were really good on the outside runs not so good on the inside last year they were really good on the inside runs not so good on the outside and this spring their whole emphasis in the run game has been putting that together for this offensive line and creating depth casey leg with the point after and it is good so the blue team now has a 26 to 20 lead over the gold team here at the 2021 gold blue spring game we believe we'll still have one more series of live scrimmaging before we start to wrap things up here in today's contest we'll just want to get your thoughts very generally like what you're seeing from the guys so far today yeah i do i mean this is a normal spring game to me i've seen some good i seem so you know not so good you're always going to see that right absolutely but in spring ball this is again the culmination for spring didn't have it last year didn't have the growth from it went right to the season so this is an excellent opportunity and again i like hey you know what two seasons ago in 2018 dana holgerson had eight scholarship players in the team that played that are around the team right now do you get that oh so we are changing pace here by the way quick no no live scrimmage here we're going to go back to a special teams comp well that's the goal that's the newly extended head coat again right hey that's right this is my show that's all right you can have this show glad to have you so it'll be a field goal challenge danny king a guy who has impressed you've seen him make a couple of kicks today against tyler sumter the grizzly veteran six seasons the super duper senior as he refers to himself right wolf they're gonna go head-to-head here it's basically like a game of horse if you're familiar i know you're a big basketball guy wolf so you go until you miss right you make you make you move back and you go until somebody misses they're going to start on the left hash with the ball at about the it'll be held at about the 25 yard line so this is looking at about a 35-yard field goal from the left hash sumpter's first one is good so that means that danny king has to answer to extend the competition they'll move it back about nine yards how about this how about this pressure right here though it's a showcase who's going to step up who's going to perform king's boot he's good there's a nice leg right there nice by the way it's colton mcgee with the hold there on the king kick so they'll move it center of the field looking now at a 44 yard or so stakes get even higher here malishevich with the hole the tommy nicholas award winner sumter splits the uprights and made that one with plenty of distance pressures on trying to emulate that final situation minute to go got a kick to win that's what we're looking at here another opportunity for danny king has to make has to answer that one had plenty of leg from king right there you know what they should do nick they should line me up on the other side and let me rush i mean you want to talk about putting pressure on him on national tv let me go oh no look at that wolf is that pressure or do you think that they would just kind of laugh and then kick it anyway well i think there would be a chuckle yeah right got another one that one's good from the right hash similar distance and they've moved it back just a touch farther in fact about 49 yards the pressure keeps building that's right distance extending we've just got word here by the way game producer chuck scatterday telling me that there may still be more live scrimmaging after this field goal challenge can king keep the challenge alive he does boy they're going to be kicking from the flying wv here in a moment well yeah that's good for wvu's future right and again let's not forget evan staley's on the sidelines right now but he'll be in the mix coming fall in this competition so this really is going to be one of the competitions to watch in terms of you know all of these guys have experience with the exception of king who's a redshirt freshman staley has kicked well leg has kicked well sumpter kicked well at the end of the season for the mountaineers that one just short from the left hash so the money ball cumberland maryland's own can he put this one through the uprights and win the challenge for the gold team if you're keeping an eye on the score at home 32-32 so this kick isn't just about bragging rights it's about putting your team in front treasure is on listen to the blue team saying miss it miss it king with the boot no good missed it just a hair left well i'm glad you're keeping scoring that because i don't know what they could do with that well if i told you you were supposed to be keeping score and i forgot as after the first one sumter and king shake it midfield so they both kicked really well made three in a row fourth one both of them missed so we will see more live scrimmaging here okay with a first down coming up tie score 32-32 with the 20-21 gold blue spring game they're going to spot the ball here at about the 35-yard line we'll see who they send out will we see more garrett green will we get dagi again will we see one of the other quarterbacks it looks like in the huddle we've got goose crowder and matt cavallaro goose crowder well you're going you're going to throw back on goose there that's a nickname out of high school goose well will crowder is his first name goose of course from the movie top gun that's where he got the nickname so he says it is crowder a true freshman who's going to quarterback the blue team here this is a guy that neil brown has had on his radar since his troy days he follows through with the commitment here to come to wvu so first look at crowder on the day swing pass to marquan rucker goose is one for one i'm telling you i like this youngster marquan rucker again out of cisterville west virginia he's he has done some impressive things this spring he's a big six foot 200 pounder richard freshman crowder the quarterback with rucker to his right alabama native 6-3-190 stream pass good coverage by the gold team to bottle him up for a short loss or maybe right back to the line of scrimmage it was preston fox who made the reception by the way you know talking to defensive jordan leslie he talked about what was the best thing that the defense did this spring and he said was run to the ball the third year in the system run to the ball that's what he liked the most we asked what gets you upset what really sets you off he says when you don't run to the ball so they actually took it to heart the defense and did a great job so far really the most fundamental of fundamentals as we see it again jared bartlett getting pressure on crowder with nowhere to go but truly when you talk about fundamentals in spring ball that's it for the defense oh absolutely i mean you are seek the pill right seek the rock you know seek the football and that's you got to be very excited when you have 11 guys believing in the same system and to be quite honest with you you could go too deep and say there's 22 defenders out there that really believe and are really understanding where defensive coordinator jordan leslie and defensive staff are coming from again you know they're all about being teachers they really are teaching you know i've seen some great players man just so good but they have a hard time translating what they know to teaching it to others and they're not automatically great coaches but when you see a great player who can also be a great coach that's a really special talent and i see this on this defensive staff office staff as well we can go both ways but this staff is excellent and let's just be quite honest the way that the investment that shane lyons that we're just talking about is making into this program is truly going to be something special this this program is rising this program is on the rise fourth down situation here crowder pass picked off the gold team with a big time takeaway avery wilcox with the int on the tip pass you want to talk about legacy nick ray wilcox is his father played back here oh my goodness hey pops is proud right now absolutely let's see if we can get another look at what crowder was seeing it was a deflected pass and wilcox just made the most of it well there you go play action pass look at him now he scared him straight down we were talking about garrett greene going ahead and looking the defense off well that's what will grouder is going to learn hey you know will crowder should be at his prom right now that's very true you know what i'm saying he's coming in there he's got a lot of talent he's a youngin man we'd love him we're going to put arms around him and give him big bear hugs and say hey that's okay you're you're in power five football man big moment for wilcox the safety with the interception we're kind of waiting to see if we can get some word here on if there will be more scrimmaging we think that the gold blue spring game will be wrapping up here shortly gold team leads the blue team 38-32 we've seen quite a lot of different drills today special teams competitions the mountaineer drill we saw some one-on-one action and plenty of scrimmaging we've had an opportunity to evaluate jared deggy garrett green we've seen the running backs that's a big competition in the spring and will remain a storyline into the regular season and also with the wide receivers a lot of competition there and we've seen some youngsters make some big plays like wilcox well you really want to see what your youngsters can do remember again when they raise their hand to the team and coach brown said hey how many of you guys have been in a spring game about 30 percent of the team raised their hand 30 right okay because there was no springboard last year got a lot of new guys so we got a lot of experience but we've had to play a lot of young guys and so that's what you're seeing here it's just another opportunity another six weeks to make progress look at that right back out there he throws a pick doesn't matter sam brown to the end zone we're gonna have a tie ball game how about that youngster you know what they say forget the last play shake it off right so just like the bucket drill that we saw earlier we didn't get to see crowder do it but he dropped it right in the bucket here it's a fade beautiful i'm telling you what youngster to another youngster redshirt freshman sam brown how well actually he's a sophomore i apologize but he's also out of savannah georgia winston right savannah georgia and torrey simmons of savannah george so we're going ahead we're starting to recruit that georgia hurry up i'd like that nick what if we're in for an ending for the ages now wolf by the way now tied at 38.38 i imagine that this is the way the game game maker might want this to end right because now we've got one more series and it's a true opportunity to see what can you do when the game is on the line right all this spring coaching staff wants to simulate situations right wants to simulate moments like this red zone success two minute drill third downs well 38-38 it's the spring game it's on the line absolutely and the other thing too you have to look at what they've really focused on this coaching staff has been situational football meaning is they're going to ask you this is third and one this is third and medium third and long hey they actually dead neck and put it on the ball on the red zone in the red zone 23 yard line said there's 16 seconds left in the game go ahead and play offense versus defense got to score you lose i mean this is the type of situational breakdown that they have created this spring and i tell it they're they're really becoming familiar with situations especially when it's a young team it's a big time improvement the handoff goes to marquan rucker he's tackled at the line of scrimmage now in it quarterback for the blue squad is matt cavallaro a red shirt sophomore from pennsylvania he enrolled at wvu in january 2020. he didn't play last season and he's a transfer in from lackawanna college played one season there in 2019. wolfe small crowd today but you can hear the let's go chant right now right this if you just listen to it it doesn't matter how many mountaineers there are out there they're always loud they're always proud this is what i enjoy this is what i love this is why i came to wvu to enjoy mountaineer fans as well as a program under head coach don naylor and it is only blossomed from there bob huggins always says and i know we're changing sports here but bob huggins always says mountaineer fans man they live and die with the mountaineers and you imagine that these folks that are here today they can't wait to be back in the stands hopefully this fall for the 2021 season and have a big crowd have a big chant and watch these guys play i know that the university is planning but also hoping because no one knows what's going to happen but that is special because you see the fans here now what about when it's full capacity it'll be a great day whenever it is that it does happen we appreciate you being with us here on big 12 now on espn plus wherever you are watching online nick farrell and dale wolfley here with you as the gold blue spring game continues to wind down it is a tie game 38-38 matt cavallaro at quarterback now for the blue team trying to put a drive together as it is one of those situations wolf end of game situation what did neil brown say though about what he wanted the result to be he said ah in a perfect world i'd like it to be a tie ball game because the good guys are going to win that's right i can guarantee you that no matter who wins or loses this game the good guys are definitely going to win and there are no losers here because this is a team and that's what spring ball is all about and when you see this and you when you go ahead and you hear the country roads and coming together these guys really like each other i like this young team because they like each other these coaches do you ever see how the coaches twitter and they're out there tweeting i guess tweeting that you do you tweet out there is that what it is they're all tweeting them about each other when they're doing the mic'd up because these coaches really like each other these players like these coaches now once again this is the third year heading into the third year number 65 offense five yard penalty still second down this is the third year fan coach brown is heading into this so again he's getting all those from past and previous out of his program that don't want to be in his program if you don't want to be here we don't want you if the score remains tied by the way i'm told there will be a tiebreaker challenge and i promise you it will be one to remember the big man challenge that's what's on deck if the score remains tied wolf did you see speaking of twitter they put a couple of videos out wvu at wvu football on twitter of the big man challenge taking place how cool is that you know what i love it everybody on this team loves noah drummond out of bridgeport bridgeport kid right yeah out of bridgeport and then you had tavis lee out of martinsburg two west virginia kids i'll tell you this tavis good thing he's better at defensive line than he is as a db and a good thing noah drummond is better at offensive line as he is a wide receiver but watching that you saw that noah drama came out and he tried to he tried to actually blow right through tavis lee like you're trying to avoid as a receiver all right we're getting the work from tough ground here there you go the game maker if the game ends in a tie what do we get to one last was some type of competition some are serious some are about having fun oh this is serious come on this is serious stuff right i know players to get serious that's right we're on national tv big man one-on-one there it is the announcement from coach brown the big man one-on-one challenge you can see how hyped these guys are it looks like it's going to be the quarterback a true freshman defensive lineman we're waiting to see who else will be his challenger is beaufort georgia another georgia signee mill creek high school making them proud representing the gold team so dudley on the gold team a freshman that we are firing dudley so there we are he just announced braden dudley is the guy who will be going playing essentially defensive back and it looks like it's your guy from bridgeport noah drummond who will be the offensive player look what if he tries to move this time nick instead of running through the defender so folks if you haven't seen this on social media it's this simple garrett green's gonna throw a pass noah drummond's got to catch it dudley's got to break it up the winner will give his team the victory in the spring game two big men going at it oh look at the defense from dudley wait a minute i we're the where are the refs they've been here okay he was not given the proper opportunity look at him he's strutting off saying no way man look even even alonzo would die you can see him right there asking where is the hole where is the hole he's even looking at the camera where is the hole i don't know man sometimes rules don't apply in the big man challenge braden dudley with an all-time highlight the big man challenge at the gold blue spring game he gives the gold team a 39-38 victory so wolf we're gonna pause for a moment we don't normally do this but this broadcast is going to continue on through the playing of country roads john take me home country roads just turned 50 a few weeks ago let's take part in one of the greatest traditions in college football oh oh oh me tuesday ready he's good well wolf we don't normally get to do that on television but there truly is nothing else like it and even though it's not a full house at milan pushkar stadium there will be one someday soon that was terrific and it's just beautiful man so we'll get the final word here from the gold blue spring game with the head coach himself neil brown he joins angelica tranone down on the field right now angelico all right coach you said you wanted to have some fun here in this you definitely gave the fans just that but what impressed you out of the competitions and the scrimmage here in this high scoring spring game well first of all i want to thank everybody who came out who's watching this broadcast this is our our spring game is so unique because all the proceeds go to wvu children's and that's something that's probably during this pandemics probably been the most disappointing thing is is we have such a strong relationship with the children's hospital we share a parking lot and for our guys not to be involved so today was an opportunity to give back to them and we were very grateful for that and we wanted to have fun we wanted to play clean football which we did for the most part i thought both quarterbacks did some good things i thought defensively we struggled to block them and we do have some talent up front i think dante stills and akeem mesador both had really good days um up front and then i thought daki really played well early in the game which was i was glad to see i was glad to see him pull the ball and run one in something we've been talking about and i thought garrett did some nice things too and it was good to see goose crowder get in there and throw the touchdown to sam brown and sam brown and caden prather both caught big long balls and that's something that we've really been emphasizing this spring so the end of the spring season where does this program go from here well we've got to continue to get better you know that's what we we've been talking about we're on this climb and this climb is to be a championship program and we've got a ways to go we haven't arrived but we are better i like i like the makeup of this team our culture is getting where we where it needs to be i think our guys love to play and i think they love each other when you have those two things you got a chance and i really like the staff that we have here too i think the chemistry is is really strong all right coach thanks again and congrats on the contract extension yeah thank you and listen i appreciate nick and uh and wolf man up there for uh for for doing the game and this was fun hope everybody at home enjoyed it and i know our guys enjoyed performing thanks coach well well if you you hear that that that is about as good of an endorsement from the head coach as like i said the analyst award he knows man he knows well he sure does because he's the he boss but i will say this is this team this throughout this entire spring has really improved in all phases and i'm impressed and i'm looking forward to this fall future a lot of young talent out there it's gonna it's gonna get riper and riper they're going to perform it's going to be a good season absolutely been a fun day here at milan pushkar stadium mountaineers begin a new season september 4th at maryland we look forward to the start of that new campaign our final score gold team beats the blue team 39-38 for dale woofley angelica tranone and our entire production crew including director eva buckman and game producer chuck scatterday i'm nick farrell saying so long and reminding you that all games airing on the espn networks are streaming live and archived on the espn app this has been a presentation of espn you

Channel: WVURxMan

Views: 9,103

Rating: 4.968504 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: UEJVoHqoang

Length: 108min 20sec (6500 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021